Kick-Ass

Game Info

Publisher: WHA Entertainment

Developer: Frozen Codebase

Platform:  PS3 (Download)

Genre(s): Fighting, Action

Players: 2

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: April 29, 2010

Intro:

Kick-Ass is a game based on the movie of the same title.  The game begins in the same way the movie does, using a clip straight from the movie.   Once the player chooses a player character,  a flyover shows the first scene of the game and Kick-Ass gets his ass kicked.

Getting Going:

Once you take control of your Player Character (PC), you enter almost immediately into a fight.  A pop-up tells you that you can use either a light attack or heavy attack by pressing square or triangle respectively.  There really isn't a combo here, although light or heavy attacks can be combined to make use of environmental hazards.  A little further into play and a pop-up will instruct in the use of crates to get health.

Fun:

Kick-Ass is a good 'ol beat 'em up reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors in it's core play mechanic.  Waves of enemies come at you and, depending on your choice of PC, you fight, shoot or combo your way through them.  As I was aware of this going into the game and it is easily compared to the core action of the movie, I found it very fun.  Occasionally, the waves become overwhelming and the HP is too sparse so the game gets frustrating, but, overall, the challenge level is perfectly balanced.

Visuals:

Most of Kick-Ass is well-themed with appropriately-placed obstacles.  Some of the obstacles and environmental hazards are very innovative.  Cars and trucks move in the way blocking passage and then move out of the way after battle, showing the way forward.  Wood explodes in flame, burns and eventually goes out, creating both environmental hazards which can be utilized in battle and a way to remove obstacles. Cars are dropped from above, leaving you to step out of the way or be crushed. An overhead, cutaway view gives a decent visual of some of the enemies to come and provides "weenies" of treasures to obtain.  The blood spills after a kill seemed a bit gratuitous at first, but spurting blood on impaling is extremely satisfying.  Some of the environmental items do seem out of place, however.  There are exploding barrels and electrical carts of some sort placed throughout the city.  This will set up a nice addition to core gameplay, but requires some suspension of disbelief during play.  There are several pictures and pieces of artwork that appear frequently enough during the game so that they appear to be some sort of easter egg or inside "joke".  Video clips from the movie along with scenes from the comic effectively move the story forward, maintaining the flow of play.

Sound:

I was extremely impressed with the level of sound design in Kick-Ass.  The PC will inevitably run into obstacles during the game and everything has been themed.  Plastic buckets, metal garbage cans, wood crates, empty plastic drums, auto glass, explosions, and electrical charges have all been themed to sound realistic.  The characters are voice-acted; in some cases, the actors from the movie have been used for the voice acting.  Barks are appropriately used and not too repetitive, although, at one point, Kick-Ass used a response that didn't match the enemy's phrase.  There are also instances in which the enemy speaks in plural about your single PC.  An upbeat music soundtrack keeps the pace up during battles and gameplay and, while not overly repetitive, I did find myself unable to get one of the songs out of my head. 

Intelligence:

If you are careful, you can control how many of the enemy notice you at once.  This is not always possible, however.  Environmental hazards offer a more well-rounded player experience, giving the player the opportunity to combine attacks to make use of the hazards.  Hazards are just as damaging to the PC, however, and must be avoided.  Enemies react to being hit with an environmental hazard with screams and motion. On some occasions, the environmental hazard seems almost a given.  The enemy stands in front of a forklift, for example, and one well-placed hit instantly impales him.  Sometimes, however, the hazards seemed difficult to use purposefully.   All-in-all, the game does a great job of playing against the player and the player clearly retains a degree of control over the environment.

Immersion:

There are not a lot of immersive properties to the Kick-Ass game.  It doesn't put you in the "zone".  The sound doesn't create and immersive feel, nor is there full use of the surround sound.  Play doesn't keep you engrossed in such a way that play can't stop at any time.  Kick-Ass, while fun, is simply not immersive.

Rewards/Punishments and Win/Lose States:

Each level offers a collectible comic book page.  Collecting all 8 unlocks the entire first comic.  In addition, as players progress through the game, video clips from the movie unlock for the player to watch both when it unlocks and at any time they wish after.  The video clips, however, seem to be rewards simply for passing certain levels and don't play as anything that is otherwise special.  Some mini-bosses in the game allow players the option of using a finishing move, which is usually both amusing and satisfying.  Frozen Codebase also has a tendency to add bits of humor and personality to their games.  I don't know if all of these tidbits would qualify as rewards, but these small surprises add an unexpected pleasure during otherwise repetitive play.  When the PC is overwhelmed by the enemy hordes, they die.  There was a time or two when I actually killed myself, accidentally, by getting too close to an environmental hazard when low on health.  Either way, death results in a repeat of the level, at least from the last checkpoint.  Quitting a game prior to completing the boss battle in the level will leave the player having to repeat the entire level.  Fortunately, the levels are relatively brief.  Experience points allow players to upgrade their skills, usually 2 points at a time, in three categories. There are trophies available in the game, although I didn't find a list of them, in-game.  In addition, there are two hidden trophies.  

Cameras: 

The camera spins smoothly in a 360 degree circle, but does not move up or down.  There were many occasions in which I wished I could control that.  There is no map, which actually seems to be a part of the puzzles in the game.  In other words, there will be times when it is necessary to find the exit.  A map would, of course, make that too easy.  Still, the cutaway view gives some sense of direction and, in most cases, obstacles make the way through the game rather linear.  In some areas, I found I needed to jump to get past a seemingly invisible obstacle, but these all turned out to be the graduation of the ground beneath me.  One glitch in the cameras, however, seemed to allow guns to shoot me through walls or allow me to hit a guy while standing on the other side of the wall from him. 

Controls: 

I thought that I'd be able to level up or power up my character in some way, but this was not really the case.  XP can be used to upgrade skills and attack is noticeably improved by doing so.  The physics in the game seem to be finely tuned overall.  My PC always went where I wanted him to and jumped easily onto objects without over-shooting them or jumping at and off of them.  Guns demonstrate a definitive firing line so that, if I missed, it was usually my lack of aim.  My biggest complaint is that, while there is a control map in the main menu, I couldn't seem to access it during play.  The controls are relatively straight-forward, leaving this access fairly unnecessary, but I thought there were some fine controls, such as an objective view, that I'd missed.  There is a move that is not listed which, when used with proper timing, is very effective.  It's kind of an overhead jump attack which crushes the ground beneath you, sending enemies flying.  There is, however one very noticeable glitch in the menu screen during play.  Opening the menu reveals a rapid, uncontrollable shuffle between items in the menu.  At one point, I accidentally exited the game because of this, causing me to repeat the entire level.  Closing the menu and re-opening it usually fixes the glitch, although, at times, I had to close and re-open it more than once before it fixed itself.

Ideas:

I wanted to dissect Kick-Ass precisely because it wasn't on my Top 100 list and didn't stand a chance of being so.  Movie-based games are traditionally panned and this game has gotten ill remarks long before it's release.  It seems the fanboys are beyond pleasing.  As a designer, I wanted to see what I could learn from Kick-Ass and I was unexpectedly pleased.  Frozen Codebase isn't a company that is known for great games.  They have amazing talent on the team, but are troubled with short production schedules and publishing setbacks.  I wondered how Kick-Ass would fare.  For me, I would have preferred a better use of rewards and punishments.  The ability to level, or perhaps to pick up dropped weapons would also have been an appropriate addition to play.  Overall, however, I found  the game to be polished and sound.  

Memory:  

I will continue to play Kick-Ass throughout all of the levels with all of the player characters simply because I love the various play styles offered in this game.  If I were to describe it briefly, I'd simply say "It's a good ol' beat 'em up; great for a few afternoons of casual fun."