Kung Fu Panda 2 Review

Kung Fu Panda 2, based off its movie counterpart is the second game in the Kung Fu Panda series in which you control a Panda called Po as he and the rest of his Furious Five team look to save Gongmen city from Shen’s thugs. So the question here is, does Kung Fu Panda 2 bring the action like the film? Or does it join the elite list of failed movie to game transitions?

Watch the video review below! 


Story
The game continues after the end of the Kung Fu Panda 2 movie, where the evil Shen has been defeated. Everyone is jumping in celebration however the festivities are cut short once Po and Viper found out the Shen’s thugs still wish to take over Gongmen city.

This causes the Masters, the Furious Five and Po to team up and drive the thugs out of the city which leads them deeper in to the mystery behind all the chaos.

You just did not call me a reindeer!

Kung Fu Panda 2 develops the story well by allowing you to travel with each of the three masters and experience what’s happening in their respective areas. This obviously means that the story can be completed in any number of combinations allowing the player freedom and giving the ability to understand the plot at their own pace.

Cutscenes look good and are really well used in helping the story to move along however the dialogue seems drained and at most times the characters mouths are not synced to their lines. The characters themselves stay true to their movie counterparts in both their body language and speech.

The hand is quicker than the eye...

Gameplay
The game mainly takes place in Gongmen City and several places outside it. Most objectives are pretty simple as you would have to defeat a certain number of enemies in order to advance, whereas in certain places, the Furious Five help you get into the next area for example, Tigress providing a ladder for you in order to get over a wall or Monkey swinging you on to the top of a building, its adds a little interactive elements into the game but other than that it is really not needed.

Controls are simple with their being two types of attacks Po can use, a strong attack and a quick attack. These can be used in combination or own their own to deal damage to the enemy on the ground or in the air. You can also counterattack the enemy’s special move by hitting the dodge button when Po’s body turns red.
Po can learn special moves from the masters in which he can use during battle. These special moves are called Chi attacks and they consume your Chi energy shown by the three circles underneath your health bar. Po can also make use of the Furious Five to aid you in battle whenever they are available, you can tell which one of them is there by an icon with their face in it.

When my butt hits the floor... your world will be turned upside down!

Combat is fairly limited in terms of the moves you can pull off. The addition of the Chi attacks do give you an advantage when being swamped by the enemies and are pretty cool to use but even so the enemies are pretty easy to beat, so they are rarely needed.

It’s disappointing to not see a more of variety of moves used in the game as it is one all about Kung Fu which I’m sure they would have had a sea worth of techniques they could have implemented. This could have added more meaning to the actual combat as it can be taxing on the mind fighting enemy after enemy with the same moves.

The implementation of the Furious Five to aid you during a battle is a good way to ease up the barrage of attacks being aimed at you and bring the flow of the battle back in your favour. I also liked how it was limited to only one attack and you had to wait a certain amount of time before you could call them. This made sure that the difficulty level didn’t suddenly shift but also it makes sure that the option had to be used tactically in order for it to be effective.

Graphics
Visuals stay true to the Kung Fu Panda 2 movie in their colours and looks but even so the textures in the surrounding environment look kind of messy and don’t make much of an impact. The actual character models don’t look as smooth as they can be and seem to give off a jagged look which doesn't makes sense for example, the character Po who has a more round look to him.

Eeermm.. that wasn't me...

Final Verdict
Kung Fu Panda 2 stays true to its roots by not betraying every aspect that made the movie so popular. The sudden drops in frame rate does weaken the rush of taking on four enemies at a time and the graphics could have been made to stand out a lot more but it’s the overall story and cutscenes that will appeal to fans of the movies and the series.

Story = 8/10
Gameplay = 6/10
Graphics = 5/10

Final We Know Gamers score = 6.3/10