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Legend of Kay Review for Nintendo DS

Legend of Kay Review for Nintendo DS

Spitting Up a Hairball

So, here’s a game you probably never heard of and didn’t care about, yet JoWood Entertainment decided to port it from the PS2 to Nintendo DS anyway. It’s flown successfully under the radar for at least a year and releases in the midst of the E3 madness. Call it kismet or call it bad luck, but this one’s got all the right stuff for the bargain bin.

Legend of Kay screenshot

In Legend of Kay, you take control of the titular cat hero as he attempts to ward off an invasion of the gorilla tribe. The game seems to be set in mystical China, with a distinct Kung Fu Panda vibe that permeates the adventure. Unfortunately, there’s no actual kung fu – or any other form of fighting for that matter – as JoWood is promoting the game as a “violence free jump and run for kids of all ages.” That would fine if the jumping and running were fun, but the long and short of the matter is, the game is a mess.

The adventure is set in a 3D world, and the camera sits slightly above Kay. You can re-center the camera behind Kay’s back by pressing either of the shoulder buttons, but that’s about the extent of control in terms of manipulating the view. Movement is handled with the D-pad, and you can run and jump with the Y and B buttons, respectively.

The controls aren’t bad, and exploring environments offers some mild enjoyment. Kay’s run and walk speeds feel good, and though the camera can be troublesome in tight spaces, it generally behaves when simply running along paths and such. This particular “jump & run,” however, is rife with problems related to collision detection. Knowing how and where Kay’s going to land during a given platforming segment is usually guesswork.

You’ll be doing plenty of jumping around in Legend of Kay – everything from hopping across cliffs and outcroppings, to navigating Frogger-like gauntlets in order to make your way across a raging river. Unfortunately, even the most simple of platforming romps are challenging for all the wrong reasons. You either can’t see where Kay’s going to land, or he ends up slipping off to his death. An area that should take mere seconds to clear may require upward of 20 or more attempts (complete with dying and starting back from the last checkpoint) before achieving success. It’s a frustrating design paradigm that pollutes the entire game.

Legend of Kay screenshot

Again, there’s no real combat in Legend of Kay for DS, and the only other adventure you’ll experience is hopping on critters (Mario-style), as well as some really poorly conceived stealth action. Often Kay will pass right through enemies when jumping on them, and the stealth action amounts to little more than walking to the side of patrolling enemies – no clinging to walls or hiding atop buildings and the like.

Rounding out this uneventful package is a healthy serving of tedious fetch quests. Find an item, return it the NPC, rinse and repeat. You’ll also be activating many ‘a statue in Legend of Kay, running from one end of a locale to the other in order to open gates and other passageways.

Legend of Kay screenshot

Legend of Kay shows you a very small handful of tricks at the start and forces you to run them into the ground. It’s a monotonous process fortified by frustrating platforming sequences and mind-numbingly-boring enemy interactions. An onscreen arrow will always point you in the general direction of your next objective, but the compass is often at odds with where you actually need to be going. A static map on the top screen does nothing to help the situation.

Not to beat a horse into dust, but there are other problems as well. When you die, you lose all of the coins you’ve collected, and with save points spread far apart, the game often throws you back quite a ways from where you last left off. Though all of the action is mapped to the DS’ buttons, talking to other characters in the game requires use of the touch screen. There’s simply no rhyme or reason to most of the game’s component parts, and Legend of Kay’s promising premise ultimately gets buried beneath a heaving mass of design flaws.

Legend of Kay screenshot

The world is big enough to house a grand adventure, but it’s left in a state of emptiness and disrepair. In spite of an attractive comic-book-style story presentation, it’s impossible to care about any of the game’s characters. The story is steeped in mysticism, but the gameplay is simply stuck in the mud.

The visuals are decent – the character model for Kay looks good and he animates nicely – but environments are barren and bland.Without much going on in the game, it’s no great distinction to say the framerate is steady. There’s an underlying look and feel to Legend of Kay that’s inviting, even if the game’s color palette is dull and washed out.

The sounds and music that accompany the gameplay do precious little to enhance the experience, as themes are sedate and the sound effects uninspired. Like almost every other element of this misfire of a game, the aural presentation is barely functional.

Legend of Kay started out on PS2 as an overlooked, albeit mildly fun, adventure, but it comes to DS as tattered code that left me utterly disappointed. Aside from decent controls and a fairly impressive world to run around in, there’s scarcely anything here that can be labeled as fun gameplay. It’s a shame to see Kay’s second chance at stardom squandered so recklessly. There are glimpses of a decent game that could have been, but it’s clear from the very beginning the adventure is far from legendary. Folks in search of something more substantial may want to consider The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks or Dragon Ball Origins instead. This feline, however, has used up all of its nine lives.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.1 Graphics
The size of the world is pretty impressive on DS, but it’s barren, with blah colors and a lack of detail. 3.3 Control
Running around with Kay works well and feels kind of good. The collision detection is a constant source of frustration, and the camera can be a handful at times. 3.1 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music and sound effects on the title screen sound good; in-game, not so much. 1.5

Play Value
Legend of Kay could have offered some value as an early tech demo before the system launched. We’re now moving into the era of the Nintendo 3DS, however, and this “game” simply has nothing redeeming to offer.

1.9 Overall Rating – Avoid
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Platformer featuring an absolutely non-violent setting
  • Guide Kay the cat through 15 different missions
  • Typical “Legend of Kay” graphic setting – colorful, perfect for the younger audience

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