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Knight
06-03-2002, 04:52 PM
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Crime against humanity or a simple case of misunderstood genius? PlanetXbox sets the record straight with a retrospective look at one of the platform's first fighters in our Kabuki Warriors Review.

http://www.planetxbox.com/

http://www.planetxbox.com/features/reviews/2002/kabukiwarriors/

Knight
06-03-2002, 04:53 PM
Kabuki Warriors
Crave Entertainment serves up a striking example of how not to build an enjoyable fighter.
By John "Mode7" Murrin | June 03, 2002

40
The Lowdown: Lackluster presentation and simplistic gameplay make for a game that will challenge your patience sooner than it will your gaming skills.
Pros: Nice character models; vibrant soundtrack.
Cons: Very little depth, variety, or challenge; limited gameplay modes and sloppy presentation hinder the game even further.

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Game Type: Fighting
Rating: Mature
Developer: Genki
Publisher: Crave Entertainment

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Kabuki Warriors
Lowest current price: $27.30Kabuki, for those wondering, is a form of traditional Japanese theatre dating back to the early 17th century. Serving up a unique combination of song and dance that has been refined through thousands of years, Kabuki theatre remains popular even today. Kabuki Warriors draws inspiration off this long-standing tradition and adds to the mix a group of "Kabuki Warriors," all firmly bent on pounding each other into the stage floor with as much flair and pageantry as they can muster between exchanging blows.

Unfortunately, the actual game is a lot less interesting than its premise might initially have you thinking. The meat of Kabuki Warriors is the aptly named tour mode, which will have you and your Kabuki troop moving across the Tokaido highway or the "Eastern Sea Road" in search of fame and fortune. Mostly in search of fortune, though, as the main gimmick of the tour mode revolves around impressing crowds and earning the tips necessary to fund the trip from Edo all the way to Kyoto. The road from Edo to Kyoto, you'll be interested to learn, consists of about 50 different way stations spaced evenly and placed in roughly a straight line. Moving your troop from stop to stop is as simple moving a cursor (and just about as interesting, too).

Your journey will begin with a Kabuki troop consisting of three generic characters. Their appearances will vary slightly and their names are occasionally different, but there ends all distinction. But don't despair just yet; victories can be traded in for your pick of the opposing team's Kabuki troop, which may very well contain a unique fighter for the taking. The problem, however, is that the appearance of these unique fighters is completely arbitrary and, as such, there is no guarantee that you will end up with the characters you might have preferred.

Hardly helping matters is the simple fact that all 50-plus stages across your route are almost exactly the same, with only a large backdrop behind the action varying as you make your way from stop to stop. The backgrounds do not figure heavily (or indeed at all) into the gameplay, since Kabuki Warriors plays strictly across the 2D plane, but a little aesthetic variety would have been much appreciated, all the same.

Time attack will pit your Kabuki skills against 12 successive opponents and a ticking clock, and also stands as the only other single-player mode. With the focus now being purely on time-based completion instead of earning money, the game drops whatever trace amounts of strategic and thoughtful play it might previously have retained and becomes a tedious exercise in button mashing. You can expect to have your fill of this remarkably pointless gameplay mode in very short order. advertisement





Hack, Slash, Pose

Combat itself is handled through a fairly simple control scheme with which your Kabuki warrior can attack, jump, block, throw, and switch stances. A smattering of different offensive techniques are available by simple d-pad + A-button combinations and can, in turn, be rallied into basic combos. The overall feel of combat is sluggish and somewhat unresponsive and, despite the small variety of techniques that can be employed given due patience, heedless button mashing remains the most effective way of dispensing with an opponent.

One argument in favor of the relatively basic control scheme is that, with the potential for different characters to be swapped in and out of your Kabuki troop, a standard template of sorts becomes necessary. To a certain extent this is true, but the chance to learn and master the character-specific nuances that any fighter should provide goes sorely missed.

Knight
06-03-2002, 04:54 PM
Kabuki Warriors
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Song and Dance

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Kabuki Warriors attempts to balance out the otherwise mindless combat with the addition of a "popularity meter." Successful attacks and blocks will continually add to your fighter's popularity level and -- once the popular meter begins to flash in your favor -- will allow you to launch a special attack unique to each fighter. These special abilities range anywhere from mildly useful to an actual hindrance, depending on the character, but are all fairly underwhelming.

The most efficient way to charge your popularity meter, however, is to perform Kabuki dances. Tapping the white button will send your fighter into a short dance, while holding it down will prompt a rather lengthy Kabuki exposition. Essentially this is much the same as the "taunts" seen in many other fighters, but it serves the dual purpose of filling your popularity meter and boosting the amount of money received per bout. Working your way through the way stations of Tokaido highway will cost your Kabuki troop an awful lot of spare change, so maintaining a healthy income for your fighters is central to completing the tour mode in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, the techniques behind performing a successful Kabuki dance are even less involving than combat itself, and every bit as prone to abuse.

The Cast


Tenchu-style bloodshed. The often mind-numbing gameplay aside, special mention must go toward the character models. Even the redundant filler characters have a solid look and feel about them and, generally speaking, are nicely animated. The more unique and elaborate models are particularly impressive to behold, with elaborate costumes and headdresses flowing about. However, there is a lot of polygon clipping and recycled animation to be found, and hit detection is often suspect. Certain fighter / move combinations frequently result in weapons and limbs traveling straight through the character models, sometimes without even inflicting any damage. A certain amount of clipping would be acceptable in a fully 3D fighter with a complex move list, but Kabuki Warriors is in no position to lay claim to either.

The in-game camera is also serviceable at best, relegated mostly to panning in and out as fighter placement might happen to dictate. Special attacks, replays and winning pose sequences all present excellent opportunities to put the camera to good use. Unfortunately Kabuki Warriors fails on all counts.

Competitive Kabuki


Attack of the clones The multiplayer aspects of Kabuki Warriors are where things finally manage to get interesting. Tour mode benefits the most from a group of unsuspecting friends as racing your way across Tokaido highway can make for a decent challenge and very nearly provides an actual point in playing. Landing on an occupied town will have you fighting against the friend occupying it, and a successful victory will earn you your pick of the defeated player's Kabuki troop. It's a neat diversion, but one that could have stood to be fleshed out significantly more. A standard versus mode is also included and, much like the time attack mode, is pretty well what one would expect -- with nary a surprise to be found.

While I can appreciate unique premise and certainly lament the potential lost in Kabuki Warriors, the end result is a game that falls well short of the standards set by both the genre and the platform. There's no shortage of better ways to spend your hard-earned gaming money, even when you're rummaging through the bargain bins.

faceoff508
06-03-2002, 05:06 PM
Whats your point? We know that it is bad!