- Joined
- Mar 18, 2003
- Messages
- 17,746
- Reaction score
- 6
If there?s one thing I?ve noticed about PC games recently, it?s that we?re
continually being distanced from other players. Back when levels looked like
they?d been clumsily tacked together out of cardboard, we?d run at each other
with a whole array of crazy weapons, getting into the thick of it with rocket
launchers, chainsaws and pretty much anything else that made a huge gaping hole
wherever your crosshair was pointing. Nowadays however, with our shiny graphics
cards that can process huge environments, we?re encouraged to submerge into the
shadows and watch the world through our battered rifle scopes; finger poised
over the mouse button to strike. Where is the physical contact? The glorious,
honourable, enthralling dance of hand-to-hand combat? Well, if you?re willing to
take a step on the slightly crazy side for once, and experience something
original; it?s just about to smack you in the face in the form of Rag Doll Kung
Fu. [br]
[br]
Rag Doll Kung Fu, the unique fighting/platform game to recently leap from the
imagination of Lionhead?s Mark Healey, is at the very least a breath of fresh
air from the tense combat recreations in games of late. It?s fast paced, light
hearted fun in which you can funnel all your anger and aggression into beating
up puppets. In fact, the whole game centres around (as the name implies) these
?rag doll? puppets; even your own character must be controlled by clicking and
dragging their limbs with your mouse. You pull the strings, so to speak, for
every action; from unleashing lethal kicks in a mid-air jump, to simply walking
forward a few steps, everything requires you to master this original style. [br]
[br]
Thankfully, it?s not nearly as hard as it sounds. While admittedly, when you
first start playing, you?ll probably be completely stumped as how to get your
character to walk forwards, let alone battle deadly ninjas with only your fists
- but within a few minutes you?ll be throwing yourself around the levels,
bouncing off objects and flailing your limbs like some sort of oriental
combat-trained monkey hyped up on stimulants. [br]
[br]
The gameplay, while extremely fast paced, requires a great deal of skill to
master. Of most importance is to keep your ?Chi? up- spiritual energy that
determines the power of your moves; including how high you can jump or how hard
you can hit. To keep your Chi flowing, all that?s needed is to move the mouse
round in circles while you?re playing; which, while confusing at first, you?ll
gradually learn to do instinctively as you pull limbs and power punches. [br]
[br]
The environments of Rag Doll Kung Fu, as you will have probably seen from the
screenshots, are wonderfully designed, multi layered two dimensional levels.
However, what you can?t see in the screenshots is how they move; the sky changes
from day to sunset to night as you play, a constantly merging palette of colours
that gives variation to the atmosphere. Items can be snatched from the ground;
ranging from nun chucks that have to be swung by controlling your character?s
hand manually, to mushrooms that can be scooped up and eaten (which, in a true
hippie style, allows you to fly free like a bird while gazing wide eyed at all
the pretty colours). Of course, because a true Kung-Fu master is at one with
nature, you can also snatch coloured butterflies from the environments which
gives you the power of the elements to control at will, and a truly skilful
player can use them to turn the tide of a battle. Yeah, I know it?s crazy, but
it just works. [br]
[br]
The single player ?Story? mode is where you?ll develop most of these skills I?ve
been mentioning, as you?re pulled through a colourful set of challenging levels.
One of the problems with it though, is that it can feel little more than a
tutorial at times, because just as you?ve finally mastered the basics of RDKF,
it ends rather abruptly. Despite its relatively short length (only about three
or four hours), the story mode makes up for this by featuring a series of
hilariously funny hand-filmed video clips in-between levels. They follow your
character as he learns the ways of Kung-Fu from his master, and goes on to
rescue Ming Mong from the evil clutches of your arch nemesis ?or something along
those lines! Don?t expect wonderfully acted scenes or elaborate design as most
of the videos have been filmed in a completely random park, with spontaneous
actors and hilariously dire Chinese imitations. It all just adds to the
tongue-in-cheek humour; believe me when I say you?ll enjoy a good laugh at the
tongue-in-cheek humour throughout the cut scenes. [br]
[br]
To prolong the single player experience, there are a number of extra games you
can unlock, most of them centring on Olympic-style contests such as a high jump
or a sprinting race. Unfortunately they?re of little real fun, and unless you?re
dedicated to reach those high scores, the only mini-game that?s truly
entertaining is a survival match against opponents where you have to use every
ounce of skill in your body to thwart wave after wave of evil ninjas. As you can
see, there aren?t too many single player activities which means it?s far more
likely that once you?ve beaten the Story mode you?ll want to dive straight into
the multiplayer action. [br]
[br]
Ah, yes, the internet. This handy contraption will allow you to battle it out
with up to eight people at a time, and you can reap the benefits of all the
single player attractions; elemental butterflies, giant sized footballs,
mentally damaging mushrooms? except this time you get the satisfaction of
humiliating your mates at the same time. If you happen to be painfully
unpopular, you can still learn a great deal simply by watching how other people
play (and then humiliating them instead). There?s even a handy feature that
allows you to customise your own character by importing custom-made skins! While
the multiplayer aspect of RDKF won?t keep you entertained for hours on end
unless you?re playing with friends you know, it?s certainly fun to dip in and
out of it when you?re bored. [br]
[br]
Now, while I?m sure loads of you will find Rag Doll Kung Fu to be an excellent
game; I must stress that it?s not for everyone. The control system is extremely
fiddly at first, and even when you become more adept, it can still be clumsy
when you?re attempting a more delicate action (like picking up a mushroom) when
you?re under pressure (from, say, five angry nun chuck wielding ninjas). Even if
you do really take a shine to the controls, and end up being able to mould your
body and style to any situation, like a true Kung-Fu master the game still has
only a relatively short lifespan. But for seven quid, who?s complaining? Simply
put; if you?re looking for some frivolous Kung-Fu action to play when you?re fed
up of all the stressfully serious shooters out there; Rag Doll Kung Fu could be
one for you.
continually being distanced from other players. Back when levels looked like
they?d been clumsily tacked together out of cardboard, we?d run at each other
with a whole array of crazy weapons, getting into the thick of it with rocket
launchers, chainsaws and pretty much anything else that made a huge gaping hole
wherever your crosshair was pointing. Nowadays however, with our shiny graphics
cards that can process huge environments, we?re encouraged to submerge into the
shadows and watch the world through our battered rifle scopes; finger poised
over the mouse button to strike. Where is the physical contact? The glorious,
honourable, enthralling dance of hand-to-hand combat? Well, if you?re willing to
take a step on the slightly crazy side for once, and experience something
original; it?s just about to smack you in the face in the form of Rag Doll Kung
Fu. [br]
[br]
Rag Doll Kung Fu, the unique fighting/platform game to recently leap from the
imagination of Lionhead?s Mark Healey, is at the very least a breath of fresh
air from the tense combat recreations in games of late. It?s fast paced, light
hearted fun in which you can funnel all your anger and aggression into beating
up puppets. In fact, the whole game centres around (as the name implies) these
?rag doll? puppets; even your own character must be controlled by clicking and
dragging their limbs with your mouse. You pull the strings, so to speak, for
every action; from unleashing lethal kicks in a mid-air jump, to simply walking
forward a few steps, everything requires you to master this original style. [br]
[br]
Thankfully, it?s not nearly as hard as it sounds. While admittedly, when you
first start playing, you?ll probably be completely stumped as how to get your
character to walk forwards, let alone battle deadly ninjas with only your fists
- but within a few minutes you?ll be throwing yourself around the levels,
bouncing off objects and flailing your limbs like some sort of oriental
combat-trained monkey hyped up on stimulants. [br]
[br]
The gameplay, while extremely fast paced, requires a great deal of skill to
master. Of most importance is to keep your ?Chi? up- spiritual energy that
determines the power of your moves; including how high you can jump or how hard
you can hit. To keep your Chi flowing, all that?s needed is to move the mouse
round in circles while you?re playing; which, while confusing at first, you?ll
gradually learn to do instinctively as you pull limbs and power punches. [br]
[br]
The environments of Rag Doll Kung Fu, as you will have probably seen from the
screenshots, are wonderfully designed, multi layered two dimensional levels.
However, what you can?t see in the screenshots is how they move; the sky changes
from day to sunset to night as you play, a constantly merging palette of colours
that gives variation to the atmosphere. Items can be snatched from the ground;
ranging from nun chucks that have to be swung by controlling your character?s
hand manually, to mushrooms that can be scooped up and eaten (which, in a true
hippie style, allows you to fly free like a bird while gazing wide eyed at all
the pretty colours). Of course, because a true Kung-Fu master is at one with
nature, you can also snatch coloured butterflies from the environments which
gives you the power of the elements to control at will, and a truly skilful
player can use them to turn the tide of a battle. Yeah, I know it?s crazy, but
it just works. [br]
[br]
The single player ?Story? mode is where you?ll develop most of these skills I?ve
been mentioning, as you?re pulled through a colourful set of challenging levels.
One of the problems with it though, is that it can feel little more than a
tutorial at times, because just as you?ve finally mastered the basics of RDKF,
it ends rather abruptly. Despite its relatively short length (only about three
or four hours), the story mode makes up for this by featuring a series of
hilariously funny hand-filmed video clips in-between levels. They follow your
character as he learns the ways of Kung-Fu from his master, and goes on to
rescue Ming Mong from the evil clutches of your arch nemesis ?or something along
those lines! Don?t expect wonderfully acted scenes or elaborate design as most
of the videos have been filmed in a completely random park, with spontaneous
actors and hilariously dire Chinese imitations. It all just adds to the
tongue-in-cheek humour; believe me when I say you?ll enjoy a good laugh at the
tongue-in-cheek humour throughout the cut scenes. [br]
[br]
To prolong the single player experience, there are a number of extra games you
can unlock, most of them centring on Olympic-style contests such as a high jump
or a sprinting race. Unfortunately they?re of little real fun, and unless you?re
dedicated to reach those high scores, the only mini-game that?s truly
entertaining is a survival match against opponents where you have to use every
ounce of skill in your body to thwart wave after wave of evil ninjas. As you can
see, there aren?t too many single player activities which means it?s far more
likely that once you?ve beaten the Story mode you?ll want to dive straight into
the multiplayer action. [br]
[br]
Ah, yes, the internet. This handy contraption will allow you to battle it out
with up to eight people at a time, and you can reap the benefits of all the
single player attractions; elemental butterflies, giant sized footballs,
mentally damaging mushrooms? except this time you get the satisfaction of
humiliating your mates at the same time. If you happen to be painfully
unpopular, you can still learn a great deal simply by watching how other people
play (and then humiliating them instead). There?s even a handy feature that
allows you to customise your own character by importing custom-made skins! While
the multiplayer aspect of RDKF won?t keep you entertained for hours on end
unless you?re playing with friends you know, it?s certainly fun to dip in and
out of it when you?re bored. [br]
[br]
Now, while I?m sure loads of you will find Rag Doll Kung Fu to be an excellent
game; I must stress that it?s not for everyone. The control system is extremely
fiddly at first, and even when you become more adept, it can still be clumsy
when you?re attempting a more delicate action (like picking up a mushroom) when
you?re under pressure (from, say, five angry nun chuck wielding ninjas). Even if
you do really take a shine to the controls, and end up being able to mould your
body and style to any situation, like a true Kung-Fu master the game still has
only a relatively short lifespan. But for seven quid, who?s complaining? Simply
put; if you?re looking for some frivolous Kung-Fu action to play when you?re fed
up of all the stressfully serious shooters out there; Rag Doll Kung Fu could be
one for you.
