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Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Kung
Fu Master
1985 Berkeley
Softworks/Data East
Programmed
by ?
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Most
text of the present article comes from the review published
in the eleventh issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: February 9th, 1986). |
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KUNG
FU MASTER
US
Gold/Datasoft, £9.95 cass, £14.95
disk, joystick
with keys
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When Thomas was a little boy he was different from the
rest of his peer group; he didn't want to be an engine
driver when he grew up, Thomas wanted to be a Kung
Fu Master. After years of dedicated practice, Thomas
finally achieved his goal and is a bit of a dab hand
with the ancient martial art. So when the fair Princess
Priscilla is captured by the evil and loathsome Wizard,
it is Thomas who must play the hero. The royal beauty
has been whisked away to the Wizard's secret temple
far away in the wilderness and very well guarded she
is too. The temple is five floors high and her highness
is on the top floor, each previous level being populated
with increasingly nasty do-badders. Not only do the
Wizard's henchmen hinder Thomas, but there are also
normally inanimate objects that have been filled with
badness and behave mischievously when Thomas nears them.
On later levels vases fall from the roof and contain
snakes that give lots of grief and hassle once let loose.
Thomas
has the habit of staying central in the screen while
his world scrolls around him. Using the joystick without
any fingers jammed over the fire-button moves Thomas
around; quite logically left moves him left while right
makes him go right. Up prompts Thomas to athletically
fly into the air and down causes him to duck down. If
a grubby digit is over the fire button then moving the
stick about offers one of two sets of functions. The
first set is a number of different kicks, ranging from
high to low. Press the space and a different set of
fighting moves flick into control. Now when fire is
touched, a set of punches are summoned up. Pressing
space once more brings back the drop kicks.
The
baddies stroll down the corridor towards you and need
a kick or a punch to total them. If left unassaulted
they assault you instead and a quick wiggle on the joystick
is needed to get rid of them. All the while you're being
hassled, energy status ebbs away. If it reaches zero
then one of the three original lives is lost. Once Thomas
gets to the end of the corridor he must do battle with
the weapon-wielding guardian, a nasty sort of chap who
wants to bar the way. Conquer him and the next level
is accessible.
A
whole host of baddies are after your skin. A majority
of the assailants are normal run of the mill joe kung
fu's, but also worth looking out for are midgets, mystic
balls and exploding pots. Men bearing knives also give
Thomas gyp and these take two blows to vanquish.
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On
the few occasions I've played the arcade version of
Kung
Fu Master the
joystick has always been a bit iffy and I haven't enjoyed
the experience that much. Fortunately, this Datasoft
conversion is very close to the original and now I can
play the game within the confines of the office walls
with a working joystick, I find it great fun. Despite
dodgy graphics and sound, Kung
Fu Master
is a great game due to its high playability and is a
martial arts variant that shouldn't be missed by fans
of the genre.
.
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Kung
Fu Master is
a very faithful conversion of its coin-op Daddy
and contains every aspect of the original, even
down to the dum diddly dum diddly backing jingle.
The game itself is great fun and getting past
the evil guardians of the doors to each floor
certainly takes quite some doing. Fortunately
you have the option of being able to tackle any
of the floors, a luxury which would be greeted
with much appreciation in the arcades. The graphics
are just about as accurate as they could be and
the sound is almost identical (apart from the
huuuwack Thomas utters when he hits a horrible
hacking matey on the arcade machine). Martial
arts freaks should be well pleased with this and
shouldn't miss it at any cost.
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Presentation 53%
Extremely awkward menu needs three key presses
just to start a game.
Graphics
71%
Colourful but very chunky with
it, the animation is not exactly astounding either.
Sound
66%
Inept but pleasant tune with some
nice sound FX for a bash in the face.
Hookability
81%
Fun to play and has some instant
'mindless' appeal.
Lastability
82%
The several levels offer more than
fair challenge.
Value
For Money 76%
A bit above the odds for such an
average program but violence fans may feel the
need to shell out.
Overall
79%
Fighting freaks may flip but norms
may not be over enamoured.
.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (23 Nov 2004)
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