Kung-Fu Strike: The Warrior's Rise

[Gamerforlife]

They've got an interesting new beat 'em up available on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade. It has some decent reviews. I'm going to see if there's a demo. This and Mark of the Ninja both just came on my radar today. Some cool stuff on Xbox Live Arcade this year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ykrAwJQZ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QRiFniqftw

[Gamerforlife]

Damn, this game seems pretty badass so far. I feel like Bruce goddamn Lee right now!

[d123456]

Power Stone 3

[Gamerforlife]

Power Stone 3

I haven't played a Power Stone game, but I can see the visual similarity. You run around an arena fighting like you do in those games. Thing is though, this game has you fighting multiple enemies along with a boss. It's like an old school beat 'em up except that you don't really progress through a stage. The game just seems to drop you in an arena and then you have to survive whatever it throws at you and hope for a high score so you get a high rank at the end of the stage.

The problem I'm having with this game though is that is places WAY too much emphasis on blocking and countering. It feels like I have to counter or block an incoming attack every .5 seconds. The game CONSTANTLY has you on the defensive and rarely gives you openings to attack. You can't just hold a button down to block either. It's one tap blocking and the timing is damn near impossible. It's not fun being put in a small room with three our four guys who are constantly attacking you with long staffs forcing you to block constantly and never giving you an open to do more than 1 or 2 attacks at most before you're back to blocking incoming attacks again. The game's difficulty is very unbalanced

Maybe once I upgrade my character more and get in some more practice I'll get better. Anyone who is a very defense minded player might like this game. It seems like a game that will kick your ass if you can't wrap your head around that. I'm finding the game to be very frustrating and yet I still can't stop playing it. The chop socky Hong Kong kung fu movie vibe is very appealing and those few times when you actually can get in some offense feel satisfying. You can combo and juggle the crap out of people and the super moves are pretty badass. Plus, I want to see what other upgrades and equipment I can unlock, and I'm very curious about the "My Army" option that I don't seem to have unlocked yet. I read somewhere that you can summon people to fight alongside you in this game.

[Gamerforlife]

You know what? Screw this game. I played through about ten levels of this game and my frustration just keeps amping up more and more with each level. I'm waiting for the game to throw me a bone, to give me some decent upgrades or equipment and it just isn't happening.

This is the most absurdly cheap beat 'em up game I have ever played, and I have played A LOT of beat 'em ups. It's comparably to the ridiculous cheap AI that a lot of the older Mortal Kombat games were infamous for. You're always outnumbered. AI is cheap and aggressive. The health drops down so fast it's unbelievable and the parry moves that the game is so damn insistent on you using are impossible to pull off successfully. The game is damn near unplayable it's so rigged against you. I wish I spent my money on something better, like maybe Journey. This game's garbage. If you want to play some XBLA beat 'em ups that are hard but actually FAIR, play The Dishwasher Samurai games