The Legend of Kay epitomises the RPG/platformer crossover by successfully creating a challenging, engaging and charming adventure set in anthropomorphic animal-inhabited ancient China.
Unlike other action RPGs, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker comes to mind, the puzzles in The Legend of Kay are neither terribly deep or particularly engaging, however a certain degree of dexterity and skill is required to play the game itself and traverse the many obstacles and landscapes. This is not altogether a bad thing as, like Spyro and many other similar games, The Legend of Kay is clearly more action orientated than RPG. This gives it a stark distinction from the RPG genre and making for an ideal and refreshing change for any RPG In recent months platformers like Ratchet and Clank 3 and Sly 2 have utterly wowed us with engaging plots and, in the case of Ratchet and Clank 3, epic world traversing game environments. The Legend of Kay is no exception.
The mechanics of The Legend of Kay are quite similar to those of Wind Waker, if you have not played Wind Waker then let me elaborate – weapons and items are obtained on your journey and items can also be bought in shops. The fighting system is also quite similar and at the beginning of the game you are trained by the master in a way eerily close to the training you receive at the beginning of Wind Waker. Of course this may just be a co-incidence, or it may be that Kay is heavily inspired by Wind Waker – either way this does not change the fact that it is, in itself, an original and excellent game.
Visually Kay is excellent, whilst the graphics are not groundbreaking (that is never going to happen on the PlayStation 2 anyway) they are charming and represent the characters in a beautiful ancient Chinese themed world. The characters themselves are all anthropomorphic animals as is almost the de-facto standard in platform games. For those of you who, like me, slept through English classes this means they get up, walk around on two legs, talk and have other distinctive human qualities- no surprise there? The game is full of nice touches, for example Kay realistically shakes off water after climbing out of a river or pool and circles his bed prior to sleeping just like a cat.
As far as voice acting goes Kay is somewhat confusing, it is hard to tell if the voice acting is extremely good, or extremely bad. Nevertheless it is amusing, with Frogs given a Jamaican accent, the villainous gorillas a gruff deep voice, and the equally (if not more) villainous rats the typical squeaky voice that everyone should be familiar with. So, what is bad about it? Well, the voice acting seems uncertain, disjointed... it is hard to explain but it is either intentional or simply a lack of skill- judging by the high polish put on the rest of the game I would accept the former. For a game that appears at first glanced to be aimed at the younger generation the odd slip of mild swear words is surprising, but given the reasonable difficulty of Kay I would expect the game on the whole is aimed at mid to late teens, the people who buy games consoles in other words.
The difficulty of Kay sometimes extends to pointlessness and irritating, leading you through difficult tasks for very small and often insignificant rewards. The standard Zelda-like puzzles give you something to think about during gameplay, many of them incorporate a greater amount of action and challenge your timing, jumping, dodging and general dexterity skills. There are still plenty of opportunities to engage your brain, though.
To compliment the dialogue and typical set of sound effects, including atmospheric ones, Kay includes enthralling Chinese style background music. It has a tendency to get somewhat repetitive but it fits the theme of the game like a glove and, for some reason, reminds me of Dynasty Warriors. The music shifts according to location but keeps with the Chinese feel, in the swamps for example it takes on an eerie air and during battles it speeds up and intensifies the moment.
Battles in Kay are one of the biggest focuses of the game; no self-respecting Chinese cat would be without a great big sword and an attitude to match. Kay has a variety of other weapons also, including a nifty set of steel claws and, naturally, plenty of magical abilities. Fighting is fast paced, fun, diverse and requires a fair amount of skill. Expect to find yourself against anything from lowly rats, to gorillas, what appear to be ninja turtles (forks et al) and a whole plethora of other enemies.
Over fifty different button combinations give you plenty of fighting moves to juggle, remembering which are most effective against each enemy.
The storyline is presented in a similar style to that of Sly 2, using a comic strip with a voice over to tell the tale. It is an interesting and refreshing way of telling the story and would certainly have stood out more if we had not seen the same thing in Sly 2 a few months prior to getting our paws on Kay.
The developers have added more depth to the game in the form of a variety of hidden portals which afford you access to a whole new world decked out in a stylish blood red. You can then hunt down items, some important to side quests, and grab extra lives and other gear.
Overall Kay is a fine example of the action RPG genre leaning more toward the action facet of gaming, which will go down well with anyone who is even half the action junkie I am. The brain teasers, side-quests and extensive areas to explore will keep all but the most critical of gamers engaged for a good few hours at a time and for anyone with the slightest interest in Chinese culture and themes it is a must have.
Philip Howard
