Game - Kung-Fu for Kinect
Platform - Xbox One Kinect
Developer/Publisher - Virtual Air Guitar
Virtual Air Guitar, the developer of Beatsplosion, is back with an all new game for Kinect in Kung-Fu for Kinect. I was a little nervous for this game at first after Beatsplosion because the game was built for the previous version of Kinect. After loading up the game, however, those worries were quickly dashed. Kung-Fu for Kinect takes full advantage of and built for Kinect 2.0. The game uses comic book like graphics and super imposes you right into the action. Now, this isn't your normal Kinect game where you just see a holographic, see through avatar. No, no. Your actual image while standing in your game room is right inside the game. There are a number of different challenges you can partake in as well as a very long story mode, which was impressive for a Kinect title. You do not need a lot of room to play the game, and the player movement in game correlates extremely well for those with small spaces to play. Kung-Fu for Kinect is optimal for those with not so much room and the in game mechanics make it really simple to enjoy and play appropriately.
Once you start up the game, I suggest starting with the story mode first. It walks you through the levels, each one starting with a comic book style flip book embedded with you in it. Once the level starts, you move your character left, right, up or down simply by punching or kicking. These don't have to be active punches either. Any little hand or foot movement moves your character in that direction, which I found incredibly useful as it helps save your energy for the fighting and aids those with small spaces. When the enemies show up, it's go time. Unleash your inner Chuck Norris by doing whatever moves you see fit, including the four super moves provided to you in game. Personally, I'm a black belt, so I tried out a lot of more advanced moves. Surprisingly, the Kinect responded very well to spin kicks and other more involved moves.
Various amounts of ninja and other enemies will come at you from different directions with different weapons. Make sure to mix up your variety of moves, however, as combos and more advanced moves reward you with higher scores. Punch, punch, uppercut works great. So does Punch, front kick, spinning back hand. Also, front kick, reverse punch, elbow strike worked well for me along with backhand, side kick, spinning hook kick. Your imagination is the end of what you can do in Kung-Fu for Kinect and I was most impressed with the lack of any lag in your movements showing up on screen. Every move was shown on screen instantly as if you were looking into a mirror. Even the super moves were integrated well, especially considering your body had to be posed a certain way to make them work. Four super moves are at your disposal; Power Punch, Somersault, Ground Pound and Lightning Strike. Integrating these into combos was easier than I thought and didn't require much effort at all. The lightning strike sees you lift one arm up and one to the side in the shape of an "L", while the somersault is pulled off by pushing both arms out to the side and forming a semi-circle over your head to the other side. Your character flips in the direction your arms ended, and it's a great move to avoid the larger groups of enemies in later levels.
Over 15 levels, you would expect the fighting to become repetitive, but it's nothing of the sort. The comic book style graphics and old Kung-Fu movie style music lets you really feel like you're part of the fight. Now, as silly as that may seem being that you're playing a game, it's augmented by the fact that you're actually looking at yourself rather than just some cartoon avatar of yourself in the game. Technically speaking, Kung-Fu for Kinect is as sound of a game that you are going to get. There is no visible lag with the Kinect and all of your body movements are fluidly shown on screen. There is nothing wrong with the hit markers as all of your strikes only register when an enemy is struck, and you just can't stand there and play patty cake either. Some enemies are guarded up high and will only be susceptible to low strikes. Once you hit them to drop their guard, then you can strike up top. Of course, you'll need to be quick as other enemies start to come at you from the opposite side. There is more strategy involved than I first thought, and you'll die quickly if you treat Kung-Fu for Kinect as the Kinect version of a button masher fighting game.
Not only is the game incredibly fun to play, but man does it get your cardio pumping! Kung-Fu for Kinect is such a workout that after three levels I was drenched. You won't have to worry about heading out in the rain to hit the gym, just pop in Kung-Fu for Kinect to get your workout. Certain modes are even geared more towards exercise than the game itself. There are a number of challenge modes such as seeing how many enemies you can eliminate in a certain time, how many you can eliminate before dying yourself and so on. The game shows your personal high point on the main menu of each challenge, so it's an easy task to keep track of just how well (or bad) you are doing. I played through each challenge and my favorite (as well as the hardest) was the two-minute drill so to speak. Here, you are tasked with seeing how many enemies you can eliminate in two minutes. Sounds easy, right? Yeah sure, lol. Two minutes doesn't sound long, but since you are moving, punching, kicking, spinning, elbowing etc for the entire time it begins to take its toll. Considering the only way to get more enemy defeats is to do punch, kick, spin and elbow faster, well, you begin to understand.
You need not worry about the game being too much of a challenge for your physically either. The adjustable difficulty can be changed at any point in the game in order to compensate for your strengths and weaknesses as well. There are both friends and world leaderboards to show how you stack up against the competition and they even provide some subtle psychological incentive to keep going. I wanted to see just how the Kinect would stand up to faster action, so I really put it through a test of speed. Using a wide variety of combinations as fast as I could muster (I swear I heard my Shihon in my ear telling me to go faster), the Kinect stood up to the test. I must say I was incredibly impressed with not only how accurate Kung-Fu for Kinect was, but the fact that it was able transfer everything I did onto the screen in real time as if I was simply watching myself in a mirror really speaks to how much effort Virtual Airguitar put into its development. There is more effort put into the development of Kung-Fu for Kinect than some AAA games, and it really paid off. Unfortunately, Kinect only games have a reputation for being money grabs, but Kung-Fu for Kinect is nothing of the sort and really is a complete game.
The menus are easy to navigate. It has a good story mode, challenges that are actually challenging, great music that ties into the kung-fu genre and bright, colorful graphics that make you feel a part of the the comic book in which the game takes place. If you're worried about it being a game you'll get tired of in 10 minutes, don't be. You'll have hours of fun in the story mode and even more competing in the challenges against the rest of the world on the leaderboards. There is an emphasis on both physical fitness as well as enjoyment of the game, and Kung-Fu for Kinect is a must purchase game for anyone with the peripheral. Kung-Fu for Kinect is the most complete and well rounded Kinect game of all time, and truly is a fun game to play. I suggest picking it up as soon as you get the chance.
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