Written by: Mark

 

 

 

It would be fair to say that until we saw the release of the Playstation Move, the Playstation Eye has received very limited support in terms of games designed exclusively to be used with the hardware.

 

That is until we are presented with "Kung Fu LIVE" which is an interesting concept that utilises the hardware to put you as the star of your own side scrolling beat em up game.

 

The question however is whether this concept would prove effective or simply become lost in the recent revival of motion controlled games?

 

 

It becomes obvious from the outset that Kung Fu Live is going to be an incredibly frustrating experience simply from what is required before the action can commence.

 

With the game using the player as the controller the first requirement is definitely space and I will admit that I struggle with this in my front room and this is the main reason as to why I have avoided buying the Microsoft Kinect. Despite this I found that I just met the minimum requirement to play Kung Fu Live however before proceeding any further I had to tell the family to stand well clear to avoid being caught by my flailing arms and legs!

 

Once the camera is set to capture the action (which is a lengthy process to get right) the next and probably the biggest issue surrounds having the correct lighting in order for the game to fully capture the player.

 

 

At this point it seemed to take countless attempts and messages telling me that my gameplay may suffer before I eventually decided to give this up as a bad job and start the game anyway as it seemed that I just could not get the correct requirements.

 

I would say that the setting up process proves far too much of a frustrating experience and really does not put the player in a good frame of mind to tackle the game and this is a real shame particularly when you consider that Kung Fu Live is certainly not the cheapest downloadable game available.

 

 

The game itself takes on the form of a side scrolling beat em up in a similar guise to those which were extremely popular back in the 1990’s except the twist is that you are the star.

 

The action takes place in a variety of different settings which are pretty well animated and sees the player being attacked by numerous assailants and it is the job of the player to defeat these in order to progress. The actual combat is pretty fun to see yourself or in some cases a flickering poorly animated version of yourself attacking enemies utilising various techniques which respond to your movements such as kicks, punches, blocks and even the clever use of being able to pick up objects and utilise them in battle.

 

 

In addition a variety of special moves can be used and are pretty simple to execute, plus defensive techniques such as somersaults but don’t worry this simply requires you to perform required body positions rather than somersaulting across your front room! However I would say that this can prove awkward to perform and often the on screen characters do not respond as well as hoped.