Kung Fu Rider And Sonic Adventure Review

First off, let's just say that this week was really bad--the whole GameFAQs contest mutiny, bunch of tests, sucking at video games, little sleep, having to deal with my family.  So all Saturday, I just slept.  I feel good now but there goes my weekend.

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Now I always talk about how violent video games suck and I'm getting tired of all this gore and downright disgustingness on TV, movies, video games...yeah, I like a few violent games like Call of Duty: WaW Nazi Zombies, but at some point, I have to draw the line cause at some point, the act of playing depressing games where you slice people's heads off is getting old really, really fast.

But there was this Playstation Move game that I thought was really neat and family-friendly.  It's called Kung Fu Rider.  What you do is ride a chair, grocery kart, etc. down a hill and try not to hit stuff. You use the Playstation Move controller to jump, speed up, duck, do airborne tricks, grind rails, karate kick Yakuza dudes trying to knock you down, etc.  It's a pretty stupid idea, but I thought it was a breath of fresh air to see something interesting that didn't resort to murdering people.



The problem with the game is that it just plain sucks. It's sold for $40 when it should be just a $10 downloadable.  Besides a lack of content and repetitive gameplay, the controls are horrible and it's hard to play.  What's up with all these recent motion-control games that suck so bad?  Tony Hawk: Ride is a good example.  What a crappy game--I mean I love the Tony Hawk games of yesterday, but this is a joke.  Oh man.

Oh yeah, I did read one YouTube comment about the game and it goes like this:

This game is like crazy taxi which sucks too

Clearly, this guy was neglected by his parents which explains why he is an uneducated moron I suppose.

Kung Fu Rider: Another game flushed down the toilet, never to be seen again.  That's sad.

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And here we go with Sonic Adventure for the Xbox 360.  I beat Sonic's story and it's not bad.  First problem I noticed is that the graphics are quite shiny--when you take an old game and put it on a clear, crisp screen, all the polygonal character models just come into play.  And yes, the cutscenes make Goldman from HotD look like Citizen Kane.  Yeah, it's sort of fun to watch.

Despite being a game that came out in '98, it's not getting good reception.  The number one problem is that the controls are just as slippery as more recent Sonic games like the Sonic the Hedgehog (360/PS3 game in '06).  To me, I thought the controls were better in this game--less fear of dying, just zipping around, etc.  The controls were still a little too slick for me though, but I think it has to do with the Xbox 360 just ruining everything cause I don't think this game was that bad on the Dreamcast.

There's some glitches in the game.  I didn't run into any when I was playing, but people complained about falling through the floor and all that nonsense.  I think it has to do with Sega butchering their ports to the Gamecube and PC so it's no surprise if this game's a little glitchy.

And the big question is...were we duped into thinking Sonic was so awesome back in '98?  IGN gave this game a 3.5 FREAKIN IDIOTS!!!!  TBQH, I thought Sonic Adventure 2 was much better than 1, that's my favorite Sonic game.  Overall, my biggest complaint is that there weren't enough levels cause it's not that bad, but I zipped htrough it fairly quickly.

I think people are going to complain no matter what.  As a matter of fact, it's not like people liked Sonic Adventure even when it was released in the Dreamcast Days.  When Perfect Dark came out on XBLA, reviewers were like "it's no good compared to the piss-your-pants goodness of Halo/Call of Duty" which is just stupid cause that game gets at least a 9/10 in my book.  Sonic Adventure for XBLA, I'd give it at least 7.  It's only $10, the game's rough around the edges, obviously outdated, but it's still a decent Sonic game.

Sonic the Hedgehog = everyone's favorite punching bag these days.  Get rid of Sonic, Sega sucks, etc.  Like I said before, if Sonic dies so does Sega which means no Daytona USA sequels so these games mean more than just the 800 MSP you "wasted."  I worry about the future.