“Watch your mouth pussy boy.”
The Legend of Kay Anniversary is a game that is at odds with itself. On the one hand you have a game (a remake of an obscure PS2 title) about an anthropomorphic cat that is fighting to restore “The Way” and vanquish the Gorillas and Rats that have taken over the land and are subjugating all the cute and cuddly creatures, and on the other some very adult themes and language wrapped in some fairly complex combat. Legend of Kay Anniversary is the kind of story we got just at the end of the whole “’90s mascot craze” where every company wanted one so they could spin-off into a television series. Heck, it worked for Tak and the power of who-sa-fudge and that game, like this one, came far too late in the craze.
That’s all well and good, but like I said Legend of Kay Anniversary is at times a pretty adult game in many ways. The combat system is pretty complicated and robust for a game of this nature, even going so far as being a little too complicated for someone like me to get into quickly. Even more so is that the game has some very adult writing (see my opening line of this review and other highlights sprinkled about) with the game often getting pretty dark with creatures often calling each other bastards and such. It’s all so weird that it makes the game feel really at odds with itself as if one side of the team wanted a property to sell to a kids channel and the other wanted a series take on a story about religion/oppression.
Gameplay consists of you swinging your sword around and killing a number of animal enemies. It’s pretty basic and works well enough, but you will be able to learn some fairly complex moves that will require some finger dexterity. As you progress, enemies will start showing up wearing armor and new animals will join the fight to make battles into a bit of a mess. You won’t be just stuck to your sword though as you can also use some hammers and claws that serve to mix things up. There really isn’t any targeting with Legend of Kay, but you will quickly learn a shift mechanic that allows you to jump to the nearest enemy. It worked well, especially with jumping and zooming to an enemy, but the camera can make it a nightmare to see all the enemies that will always surround you.
“Get your hands off me you damned dirty apes.”
You can block attacks, but I never really needed to do it much as Kay can jump around like an out of control kitten. Not to mention that with the camera being so tight on the player, often times you’ll end up blocking in a random direction. When you do come across an enemy that blocks, or has some armor, you’ll be able to input the around the back command to quickly roll behind them and nail them in the weak point. Armored enemies are really neat here as you will see their armor start falling apart giving you an idea how damaged they are. You’ll also be able to find some additional swords and weapons that are better than the stock ones that power you up, but they aren’t necessary to finish the game.
The camera so far has been a minor to mild annoyance, but Legend of Kay Anniversary really suffers when the game goes full platformer. You will be tasked with jumping across moving platforms, swing from ropes, and make pinpoint jumps on your adventure. It’s no big deal early on, but when you have to deal with bottomless pits you are going to want to tear your hair out. On top of that, you’ll also be forced into these really terrible races. They are the worst part of the game and see you riding a boar or wolf through level collecting rings, or knocking down wood walls, racing a set course time, or all of them at once. The camera here is even worse and you are now forced into being even closer on the back of the animal going far too fast to have any real sense of control.
Graphically Legend of Kay looks pretty good, even if you didn’t know it was a HD update on the original. Everything is bright and colorful throughout your adventure and the the character animations are quite charming. Lots of little details were taken with Kay shaking off after getting wet and trying to put himself out when on fire, although the fact that every random torch can burn you alive is pretty darn annoying at times. I totally recommended you go with the version on the Wii U (that’s the one I played for this review) as having the ability to play it solely on the Gamepad is awesome and the game looks even better on the smaller screen.
The sound on the other hand is a mixed bag (…of kitty liter!) as I have some serious issues with parts of it. The Asian themed music that plays is really nice and does a lot to create the world you are playing in, but the voice acting can really kill a lot of the game. It’s really weird as some of the characters, especially the secondary ones, can sound terrible with some really forced lines. It almost feels like the production had no voice coach doing any instructing. Strangely enough, the main cast at times shows real signs of magic with conversations being a lot of fun to listen to. The real problem here is with the script and story and it’s all just so utterly bland and amateurish.
Legend of Kay falls flat because it just doesn’t know what kind of game it wants to be. One moment you are frolicking through the woods smacking rats and bugs, then the next a character is cursing you out in a very adult manner. Kids are going to be slightly let down because the game gets pretty hard, and adults are going to be let down because it looks like a kids game and has a terrible story. Still, with all its issues Legend of Kay is still and enjoyable experience for most of the game. It’s not great, but it isn’t so bad that it makes you want to curse the screen.
I have no problem with HD remakes as long as the game is a few generations old (I’m looking at you Gear of War), but if you know something just killed the game originally I expect you to try and fix it. If the team had simply moved the camera a little bit farther away from the player the game would be an infinitely more enjoyable experience. As it stands Legend of Kay offers up some fun and since odds are you never played the first one, this is going to be new to you. Give the game a chance, just don’t expect the world from it.
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