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Kung Fu Hustle: SOE’s free-to-play, online fighting game

by admin posted Apr 7,2010

Kung Fu Hustle, presented by Sony Online Entertainment, is a free-to-play fighting game based on Based on the Stephen Chow movie of the same name, which will be released for PC in 2010. The game was originally designed for the Chinese Market, but SOE has finally confirmed to publish this Martial Arts game in North America. There will be five bodies to choose from (two male and three female) and two fighting styles; Iron Fist and Flying Dagger. What sets your character apart above all will be the different hairstyles and clothing options. One of most remarkable Kung Fu Hustle’s competitive components is that it support up to eight players simultaneously.

After creating a character, you’ll want to check out the Story mode, in which you start out as a nobody from a small village, much like the protagonist in the movie. The Axe Gang has stolen the town’s bell and so, after learning your chosen Kung Fu discipline from a scroll obtained from a beggar, you set out to retrieve it.

As you walk left or right through the horizontally scrolling levels, numerous Axe Gang henchmen will show up to attack you. Based on what we saw today, few of them are going to pose much of a challenge on their own, but like their movie counterparts, they’re not shy about attacking in numbers. They also believe in augmenting their kung-fu skills with axes and guns, so you need to keep an eye on enemies who are across the screen from you as well as those who are within striking distance.

Kung Fu Hustle’s controls take a little getting used to, but after a few minutes of mindless keyboard mashing, we chanced upon a few moves and combos that we liked. While moving with the arrow keys, you’ll perform punches, kicks with Z and X, blocks and actions (such as picking up a fallen enemy’s weapon) with C and V, hit the space bar to jump, and use the number keys to trigger any power-ups that you’ve picked up or purchased. The cartoon-style characters animate nicely, and as you progress through the game, you’ll unlock additional moves for them, as well as increase their maximum health and chi levels.

Most of the enemies on show at E3 look very similar, considering that they’re all wearing the Axe Gang’s trademark black suits. Beating up the same guys over and over again definitely seems like it could get old, but there are boss battles in the mix (we defeated a guy about five times our size who was wielding a double-headed axe), and playing cooperatively with friends should help to keep things interesting. SOE is also hoping that the game’s online leaderboards, which track a number of different stats, will give levels plenty of replay value.

When you play online, Kung Fu Hustle will purportedly work in a similar way to Guild Wars, in that you’ll meet other players in towns and can them team up with them to play through instanced levels. We had enough fun with Kung Fu Hustle today that we’re certainly looking forward to playing it for free when it comes out. Whether we (or you) will feel inclined to spend money on new character emotes, wacky costumes, or temporary experience multipliers (among many other things) remains to be seen. Look for more on Kung Fu Hustle in the coming months.

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