Developed by WhaleFood Games and published by Blowfish Studios, this game brings us an eclectic mix between soccer and martial arts to show off the vice of kicking our rivals without the referee giving us a red card.
KungFu Kickball is available for PC, Xbox series X, Xbox one, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
With a flashy title, a wacky and colorful intro with Cartoon Network-style graphics and character designs reminiscent of Dragon Ball, one could say this game has it all. But what this game has the most, by far, are problems.
Plot twist: there is no story.
The game itself does not have a story. Simply a group of diverse martial artists who compete in a tournament of a strange sport, in which using their repertoire of punches and flying kicks they must manage to carry a ball through a 2D court to the rival’s goal and hit a giant bell with the ball. ball to score a point. In the middle we can hit the opponent without hesitation, the only rule is that the one with the most points at the end of the time wins. What seems to be so simple is really very complicated, due to the erratic movements of the ball that will hardly comply with the commands that we have applied to it.
We will have a cast of interesting characters with some tributes to iconic characters from pop culture. Like for example some similar Krillin and Master Roshi from Dragon Ball, one similar to Po from Kung Fu Panda and one Bruce Lee style. In turn, the scenarios take on great importance since they are extremely diverse and we will have different obstacles that will hinder our strategy to score.
We will be able to play in 1vs1 and 2vs2 matches, with friends or with the AI. We have 4 offline game modes: arcade, versus, tournament and training; plus an online mode. Despite these 4 modes, the gaming experience itself is quite weak, especially the arcade mode. The arcade mode is a succession of fights in different scenarios against all the fighters on the list. We have no explanation for why we fight, no dialogue box between the characters that gives content to the lore, no cinematic that rewards for the effort of winning the game, absolutely NOTHING. The easiest difficulty mode in arcade could be beaten even by my dog (who doesn’t even have thumbs to play), the intermediate mode is a more interesting challenge and even a “fair” difficulty and in the most difficult mode… it becomes almost impossible because our opponents are like a mixture of Bruce Lee and Lionel Messi (Bruce Messi or Lionel Lee? That is the dilemma).
Too difficult to be a black belt.
The gameplay is quite acceptable, we only have 3 active buttons: one to hit, one to jump and one to teleport. End. It is very easy to understand the controls, but from there to knowing how to play well there is an abyss of distance. At the beginning, most of the time we will spend pushing the ball to the opposite side or dancing on the spot while we miss the shots, but over time we will catch the timing of the game and it becomes more enjoyable. The game itself is fun for a while alone (just for a while) and it’s quite promising to be able to play with 3 friends in a two vs two punch style. brawlhalla, as long as everyone has a more or less even skill for the game. As far as the intrinsic gameplay of the characters is concerned, it is incomprehensible how a game with such a diverse roster of combatants does not have different fighting styles, they are all more or less the same with subtle differences in their strength or mobility. The most marked differences are merely aesthetic.
The learning curve is very steep for higher levels, proving that it is extremely easy to understand the basic game, but has an almost infinite skill improvement ceiling. This is far from being a good thing, because the arcade mode is so lacking in content that it gets boring quickly, adding that you suddenly find yourself with a challenge so high that it is almost impossible to overcome which makes you want to change the game. There is a training mode, which is very poorly explained and does not really serve to improve our skills. The tournament mode is absolutely irrelevant and finally the online mode (which we can only play if we have PS Plus) which we will reach many times without having properly trained for it due to the lack of empathy in the game to accompany us on the learning curve.
You have to give it a good thing, the game is fun to play with friends for a while, but playing it alone is very boring in the short term due to the lack of content, the null replayability potential and the lack of diversity of the characters, which of They look different but when played they are all more or less the same (in fact, they didn’t even bother to name the characters). With a very small repertoire of movements and without too many changes in the moveset between players. Something that is a pity, since having the possibility of using the abundant resources that fighting games offer us such as grabs, special movements or combos and this game does not bring absolutely anything of that.
Half hair down
The graphics are made in 2D with a pixelated aesthetic that is quite pleasing to the eye. However, the lack of depth of the scenarios and the repetitive sprites of the characters makes the game graphically fall far short of what any modern console can offer. The structural design of the scenarios is correct and increases the challenge without hindering the gameplay.
The sound section consists of a few, although correct, sound effects of ninja screams and blows. To this is added a background music with rhythms of jazz, rock and some other genre, which is played in the form of an indefinite loop during the battle and has no relation to the game. The soundtrack, unfortunately, is completely irrelevant to the combat action. a pity