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Intro
The fighting genre has thinned out a bit, but that has only made it more
difficult for new titles to break into the ranks of such established franchises
as Tekken and Virtua Fighter. However, some titles do sneak through
and get a solid fanbase, a la Dead or Alive. As a big fan of the genre,
I'm always willing to sit down with a newcomer and hopefully get in early on one
of the new dynasties. Unfortunately, Kakuto Chojin is so shallow and devoid
of personality that it isn't even close to being considered a contender.
Gameplay: 4.5/10
Once you've explored the standard Practice, VS, and
Story modes, it quickly becomes apparent that even these modes are as bare as
possible. While VS and Practice are beefy in some titles, it isn't uncommon for
them to be slim, so that's no surprise. The real surprise comes in the Story mode,
or more importantly, the lack of a story; regurgitated lines are repeated before
and after matches, giving no real clue as to why a character has entered the tournament,
and their endings are completely inept with either inadequate or awkward explanations
of what happened during and after the tournament.
Sporting
a cast of painfully mediocre fighters, gamers can look forward to a cast of characters
that range from a Bruce Lee knock-off to a Brad Pitt Fight Club knock-off. All
characters are so unimaginative that they have zero personality and none really
stand out, despite each speaking vocally in their native tongues. While most fighters
within a game have fans, there generally tends to be a few characters that gamers
gravitate towards, whether it be Ryu, Akira, Law, or Kyo; Kakuto Chojin
has none and that really hurts the game as it is a testament of just how generic
its characters are. With low, medium,
high, and special attacks, the moves are in relative short supply for all characters.
Combos have basic movements that are similar throughout all the fighters and the
second set of moves, Chojin, are unlocked after the game is complete and do little
to add to the moves' roster. The basic fighting engine does have some positives:
the characters seem to carry their weight, which gives moves a more realistic
animation, and the up-close combat gives the fighting a visceral feel. The ability
to run around the bland arenas is also a plus, as is the usefulness of side-stepping
- something that is oddly rare in fighters. However, these perks really don't
do much for the limited number of moves, which really give the game an unrefined
feel. With some nicely designed characters
that have zero personality, a basic fighting engine, and nothing aside from an
unlockable second set of moves to add to replay value, Kakuto Chojin fails
to provide any real competition to its contemporaries, and offers nothing in the
way of adding anything to the genre.
Graphics: 7.5/10
Impressive character models are often offset by an
extremely glossy finish. Even the clothes shine, which really makes the fighters
look like bulky models, since clothes shouldn't shine like oiled skin. Like the
characters, the arenas are also bland, but they also happen to be very similar
with little more than a few objects being tossed in to denote a new arena. One
perk, aside from the high quality models, are the animations; characters move
fluently to the point where fights look extremely slick.
Sound:
6.5/10
Similar to the graphics, the sound has a lot of generic qualities
with only a few perks. Actually, there's actually one perk: the fighters all speak
in their native tongues. It seems like something inconsequential, but having a
French fighter speak French was an exceptional feature and it seems so natural
that it's surprising that it hadn't been done before. Aside from that, everything
pretty much goes downhill. The music ranges from below average to average. What
is really annoying are the repeated phrases at the end of matches; I would hear
the same phrase around ten times for every completed tournament, and considering
most of the phrases are completely random, it's enough to get the urge to jump
through the screen and staple the fighters' mouths shut. The effects border on
laughable as all fighters seem to make the exact same noise, no matter the move's
strength or the character's dimensions: everything results in a 'thap', with blocked
moves varying only slightly. Control:
6/10
Standard controls can become hampered by some lagged response time,
often making it feel like combos have to be entered at last halfway before they're
acted upon. Since the combos are the same for all fighters, the standardization
makes it easy to hop from character to character, but this sacrifices far too
much to be overly positive.
Overall:
4.5/10
Kakuto Chojin would be barely serviceable as a rental, and
even then, it's only because the fighting genre is so limited on the Xbox. Then
again, the offerings of DOA3 and Mortal Kombat: DA are far more
enjoyable than this, which is both a shame and odd, as the developer has staff
from Dream Factory, the same company who developed the excellent Tobal
series. Despite the pedigree involved in Chojin's development, in the end,
this is a flawed and disappointing release. [
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