GENRE
	Action Adventure
	DEVELOPER
	A2M
	PUBLISHER
	Activision
	LOCAL WIRELESS MULTI-PLAY
	No
	Wi-Fi/GLOBAL ONLINE MULTI-PLAY
	No
	MICROPHONE
	No
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Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors was launched by Dreamworks to coincide with the release of Kung Fu Panda on DVD. Legendary Warriors is exclusive to Nintendo platforms, with Wii receiving a brawler and DS getting a platformer. Although neither game is really great, the DS title is the better of the two and is the preferred acquisition for fans of the series.

visuals

Legendary Warriors does a decent job of working within DS’s limitations. The levels are marginally better than N64 standards, with colorful (if fairly low-res) environments. The main characters, Po and Tigress, move naturally and have some solid combat sets. Enemies are pedestrian, not to mention repetitive, but they are detailed enough to at least decipher what they are. Art design as a whole isn’t as good as Wii’s version -- the cutscenes are pretty minimalist -- but it’s good enough for a handheld.

audio

The Wii and DS versions share similar soundtracks, with DS actually doing a serviceable job of emulating its bigger brother. The music is orchestrated and is of the decent ambient lot, with the usual Japanese strings and percussion. Don’t expect anything from the movie, but what is here is passable, if forgettable. There is no voicework.

gameplay

Kung Fu Panda: Legendary Warriors is available on both DS and Wii. Both games take place following the events of the movie and both of them require players to take heroes from the movie into battle against a great evil that has returned. The similarities, however, end there. Whereas the Wii version is an arena brawler, the DS title is a 3D action-adventure game that has players engaged in platforming, exploration, and combat against the backdrop of dozens of levels. (The Wii and DS versions have broadly similar storylines but the specifics of them are divergent.) The DS version allows players to play as either Po or Tigress, each with his or her own skills sets and branching missions. The object of the game is to accrue enough stars -- won through effective combat -- to unlock boss fights and thus advance to the next crop of levels.

Although there are a lot of levels for Po and Tigress to traverse, they’re all pretty short -- probably 5-10 minutes apiece at most. Add in the fact that players do not need to complete every level to advance, and the total package probably isn’t going to take more than 5-8 hours at most to complete. The levels themselves exhibit some environmental variety, but most of them are essentially about going from point to point, fighting along the way, and collecting the hidden gold coin in each level.

The game’s controls suffer from trying to use everything at the same time. Moving is handled with the d-pad, while the face and shoulder buttons effect different attacks, jumping, blocking, healing, and grabbing. Touch screen implementation is also in play here, with touch required to manipulate certain on-screen objects and to unleash special chi attacks. The problem is that it’s very hard to go back and forth from a standard button / d-pad configuration to a touch screen hold. This is a particular liability given that the game takes point multipliers away if players dawdle too much between fights; trying to manipulate a catapult or other object to move forward requires so much time in terms of reorienting on DS that it often harms the player’s overall score. Likewise, reaching up to tap the screen in the heat of battle is difficult while also trying to move around the screen and continue to fight.

The game also suffers from some other platforming headaches. Depth is a particular concern, as it’s quite easy to jump for a small platform only to find that the character is too far up or down from the target. Another concern is the jumping capabilities of the characters, which are quite meager; a full run and double-jump doesn’t traverse nearly as much airspace as one would expect from the movie’s characters.

With all these weaknesses, one might wonder if this game is terrible. The answer is no. The combat, although cumbersome, is still pretty responsive and gradually unlocks moves throughout the quest to give players a sense of character growth. Moreover, there is a pretty deep combat system; different sequences of weak and strong attacks unleash some unique chain attacks. The boss battles are also quite engaging, with familiar foes requiring a lot of timing and touch to defeat.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

The DS version is a markedly better effort than its Wii counterpart. Rather than being confined to the Wii version’s claustrophobic combat arenas, players can traverse larger environments and thus gather more of a sense of actually being on an adventure. The game also does a pretty good job dealing out progressive unlockable abilities that help make the game feel more like an evolution rather than just repetitive combat.

That doesn’t mean the game gets off the hook for its faults. Overburdened control design, depth problems with platforming, and a lot of repetition in the level and enemy categories spell the doom of any player with a short attention span. Gamers dying for a Kung Fu Panda fix will find this one to be the best of the bunch. More casual fans, meanwhile, should probably take a pass.

6.5/10