Everyday Gamer

I think I’ll skip the personal introduction since I think you’ll learn a ton about me and what I like from reading my blog. Like the others, I’m the very definition of an Everyday Gamer, the gaming equivalent of the weekend warrior. I’m also very much into (semi) gaming-related tech toys and hope to give helpful insight into things like HD DVD, Blu Ray, and LocationFree setup. All things that you can do by extending the capabilities of your gaming console(s). Of course, gaming is still king, and to that effect, let’s get on with the show and serve up a quick review of Yie Ar Kung Fu, available exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade:

One of the original fighters and an inspiration for the likes of Street Fighter makes its way to the Xbox Live Arcade with Yie Ar Kung Fu. The story: Your character Oolong has spent his entire life training for the Martial Arts Championship. As predicted, the tournament attracts martial arts masters from around the world, all fighting to be named champion. Sound familiar? Well, that’s probably because Yie Ar Kung Fu was a big inspiration for fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, all of whom place you in a global martial arts tournament to find out who is the world’s best fighter.

One noticeable difference is that you play the entire game as one character, and you cannot choose to play with anyone other than Oolong. Obviously, fighting game fans are used to having different characters to select, and this is just the first of many disappointing aspects to this game. The fighting in the game is also a disappointment for anyone more familiar with current fighting engines or even Street Fighter-type fighting games. Yie Ar Kung Fu is generally a very shallow fighter, and your character’s limited moveset is compounded by the loose gameplay. Oolong basically has just high and low kicks and punches, and the ability to jump. Most of the time, you’ll spend your fighting time jumping back and forth trying to land a cheap shot on your opponent. Not only is this repetitive and shallow, but your opponents’ cheap tactics will frustrate most gamers. It takes a while to get used to how your character responds to your commands, especially jumps, because it all seems very loose. Once you are used to the controls, however, you shouldn’t have any problems moving around the arena while you look for opportunities to strike your opponent.

Not all is lost however, because old-school gamers might still enjoy the way Yie Ar Kung Fu forces you to make slight adjustments from match to match while you figure out each opponents tendencies. The gameplay will always consist almost entirely of you jumping around to land cheap shots, but the way each opponent moves around and the types of weapons they wield differ, so there are slight differences to your general jumping and attacking patterns.

Yie Ar Kung Fu offers enhanced graphics over the original that include hand-painted backgrounds, which look very nice and are a big step up from the original version. Doing a comparison between the two versions, it’s pretty clear how much effort was put into creating these new backgrounds, which still retain the same scenes as the original (including mountains and a dojo). There isn’t much variety, however, because each opponent doesn’t have their own arena, so you’ll end up fighting in the same arena for a few matches. The music is also digitally enhanced over the original, but there aren’t any memorable tracks that stick in your mind the way some Street Fighter tunes did.

This game obviously won’t appeal to everyone, but folks looking for that old-school challenge that few modern games offer will surely find $5 worth of entertainment here. The game requires dedication and focus, especially in the latter matches where you really have to be patient and wait for an opening before you are able to attack. Yie Ar Kung Fu is available on Xbox Live Arcade for 400 points.