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Intro Whether you are a beat 'em up fanatic or a love story romantic, a film geek or a history buff, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (the movie) had a little something for everybody while managing to avoid employing those crappy plot devices that make the Bruckheimer/Bay crew so famous. So when developer Genki teamed up with publisher Ubisoft and announced their intentions to make a game based on the movie, I sighed. We, as gamers, all know how poorly these movie-to-game translations work. But nevertheless Ubisoft has done well in the past, so I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and braced myself to prepare for one of the biggest bastardizations of one of my favorite movies-turned-game since Star Wars: Force Commander. Gameplay: 4/10 In case you missed the film when it was released some two years ago, the story revolved around three characters: Li Mu Bai, a Zen warrior trained in the martial arts of the Wudan and owner of the legendary sword Green Destiny; Shu Lien, former lover of Li's best friend and Li's love interest; and Jen, an aristocratic girl driven to thievery by her secret master Jade Fox. Much like the movie, the game's plot follows these characters in the wake of the theft of the Green Destiny sword and the subsequent events that follow. However, unlike the movie, the game focuses much more on combat, and less on plot. Usually emphasis on combat is something to get excited about (yay fighting!), however a poorly designed control scheme, ridiculously redundant gameplay, and the lack of any kind of decent narrative device prevent Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (the game) from being fun. Being as the game centers around combat, logically this would be the most polished and fun part of the game. Attacks are assigned to the four face buttons - two for unarmed attacks (weak and strong) and two for armed attacks (again, weak and strong), letting players string together the standard 3-hit combo common to beat 'em ups everywhere. Additionally, the black button is used for dashing, the white for grabbing baddies, the left trigger controls blocking, and the right button controls jumping, making for an overly complex scheme. Didn't the recently released (and excellent) Prince of Persia do all this and with a lot less buttons? Regardless, Crouching Tiger's overly complex control scheme makes for a very frustrating fighting experience with little innovation to make it worth while. The one innovation that Crouching Tiger does make is its combo blocking. To at least attempt to mimic the brilliant fight scenes that took place in the movie, the developer conceived an elegant system that allows enemies to throw elaborate attacks and combos while allowing the player character to dodge and weave under, around, and through the attacks in the most graceful way possible. To help players become acquainted with the blocking system, Genki has included a helpful little icon in the corner of the screen that indicates exactly when players should block. However, timing on blocking is always the same. Once the timing for one enemy is figured it out, the timing for all the enemies is figured out. It's certainly an interesting system that may have been interesting had it been developed and honed a bit more, and if the rest of the game wasn't so damn bad. The camera utilized by the game can best be described as frantic. Controlled by the right analog stick, it will often flip around at very inopportune times - the middle of an attack, a perilous jump, nothing is off limits to the dreadful rule of the camera. And while it is controllable, it never seems to put the action in a good shot, instead opting for enemies that are just off screen while the player runs around trying to find a good angle, yet it miraculously automatically compensates whenever the player backs into a wall. The game also allows players to perform all the acrobatics and jumping of the movie, including "flying" and bounding from wall to wall. Unfortunately, the developer decided that this allowed them to include a platforming puzzle in nearly every level in the game. Due to the troublesome camera which causes terrible perspectives and can never seem to adjust just right, the jumping puzzles soon turn into an exercise in frustration and end up detracting from the game more than they do enhance it. The story follows the movie,
while still allowing enough open-endedness for the protagonists to be continually
attacked by hordes of baddies (which didn't really happen in the movie, with the
exception of the bar fight). The story unfolds in sections that correlate to the
three main characters with Jen's story being told first. Each character section
has 5 accompanying missions within which the plot unravels. However, once you
have beaten the game with one character, you must then play back through the game
with only minor differences and a new character. Basically, Jen's missions are
basically the same as Li's and Shu's, with few exceptions - alternate paths, different
bosses, substituted objectives, or different sides of the same fight (as is the
case with the treetop battle of Jen vs. Li). Because the game's unlockables (which
include Story Mode, wherein Lo is playable) are obtained only after beating the
game, the completist will have to beat the game with all three characters, if
they can even stomach one full play-through.
Graphics: 3.5/10 Sound:
5/10 Control:
3/10 Overall:
3/10 [ top ] | |||
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