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Addict, beauty, combat, explore, puzzle, facets, story

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 26 / 26
Date: January 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Our heroine and her brother are sucked into an alternate universe world. Our heroine, Kya, regains consciousness just in time to flee for her life with the help of one of the natives--giving a fast-paced school-of-hard-knocks demonstration of how the game's physics and nature works. Then you end up in the middle of the remaining native village, learn about the terrible threat of the Wolfen (and that your brother is probably in their clutches), and that you're the chosen one.

Being the chosen one means two things: You can use the weapons (more on those in a minute), and you can turn the Wolfen back to the Nativs (yeah, that's the name of the natives. Yeah, I agree.) once you finish knocking them out.

There are three things that make this game absolutely wonderful. The first is the combat system. Lesser creatures can be whacked by your boomerang, but with the Wolfen you typically have to personally whack them around until they stop moving. The fighting system in this game, however, is brilliant. Your moves are intuitive and your combos are relatively easy to learn, and you have a training room back in your home base that teaches you your attacks until you have them down. Rather than making you depend on studying a manual or relying on button-mashing, the game will allow you to practice (against a nonmoving straw opponent) every combo and trick you want to. If this doesn't sound brilliant, that's my own failing as a reviewer--it's an incredibly useful feature that should be in every fighting game.

Of course, Wolfen also go unconscious if you cause them to fall from a great height, cause something to fall on them, explode something near them, or cetera. If you can't get near them once they're kaput (or if you don't exorcise them for whatever reason), they'll reappear back where they were when you return to that area of the map. Different parts of the game unlock as you exorcise Wolfen, so I highly recommend aiming at 100%. As I understand it, the best ending doesn't unlock unless you do (I did it.)

The game is open-ended. You're given objectives by the tribal leader, but you're free to ignore them and explore on your own for as long as you like. Some parts of the world, of course, will require you to have certain items to traverse (you can't get up the sheer cliff without the climbing gloves, for instance)

There are many many mini games, many of which are two-player and all of which can be used to win extra money. Happily, however, none of these games are necessary to the overall story, and I played most of 'em only once or twice, being eager to get back to the original story.

The art is fantastic. The only time the illusion is shattered is during an infrequent polygon error--most of the time, the feeling of immersion is on par with the best games available for the PS2 today. That feeling is especially awesome during times when you can pull off something ridiculous (like triggering a chain-reaction explosion involving barrels of gasoline and gunpowder while twenty Wolfen are busy inspecting that area.)

The puzzles could be a little more complex (usually figuring out what to do is easier than actually doing it), but are involved and interesting.

The story was simple enough for a preteen to enjoy, but still interesting and still had a surprise or two for me (though for the most part it was fairly easy to plot in advance)

The music leans toward Techno in flavor.

I have been lending my copy to friends, and the only ones who don't seem to get addicted to the game instantly are those who dislike games with arcade-style aspects (it can be frustrating to, for instance, fire bombs from a turret on a train at the cannons on an airship, then leap from the train to a running horse-thing, then leap from that to the platforms on the airship, hoping to knock out the Wolfen driving it before it goes through the curtain of lava.)

This game is rated [T]een, but I believe it's appropriate for all age groups. The heroine is a strong and positive and nonstereotyped female role model, at no point in the story does the game even seem to notice that fact--it's not an issue.

If you aren't intimidated by action-based games, can solve a moderately complex puzzle, like exploring, and like variety in your games, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this game.

I give the game 5/5 for fun, and 4/5 overall only because I would have liked a little more complexity in the puzzles and storyline.

The game's official website can be found at

(...)

AWESOME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: November 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Don't know how, but rented this at Blockbuster a week earlier than the release date. I don't play much video games since I am not every good ate them. but this game is super fun. The game starts and after a short movie, you jump right in to an action pack game. It has a combination of everything: skateboarding, flying, exploring, save-the-love one, fighting monsters, puzzles, etc. It's taking me some time to play, but, again, I am not a very good gamer. I find it easy enough and challenging enough. Which makes it fun. Happy Gaming!

Non-stop Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I rented this game. I'm a 56 year old woman who loves her Playstation II. Normally, I'm not co-ordinated enough to do flying or racing. But this one is so much easier. It also makes you think. It's really an action advetnure. Very fun and enjoyable. Often I've missed several good television programs because I lost track of time playing this game.

Life's too short for games like this

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: January 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

With blue dreads and a bladed bone hairpin, Kya makes her PS2 debut in somewhat less than spectacular fashion. Atari's newest heroine is very cute, but she doesn't have what it takes to beat down her real enemy-a market supersaturated with other platformers. The first indication of Kya's mediocrity is the slapped-together plot. The story revolves around Kya, who is sucked into a "mysterious world" along with her half-brother, Frank. When Frank is captured by Brazul (the evil ruler of the land), Kya suddenly becomes a master of weaponry, including her fists and her boomerang hairpin. Surprisingly, the depth of the combat in this game is one of its best assets, whether you delight in mashing the buttons indiscriminately or patiently practicing long strings of complicated combos. Kya's combat system offers a large library of fighting moves and adds new ones as Kya progresses through the game. Unfortunately, Kya is a very difficult game to play as the controls are not particularly intuitive and the camera seems to delight in going haywire during delicate jumping situations. In addition, there are several frustrating points in the game where Kya must flawlessly complete large sections or else face having to do them all over again. This is great for fans of tedium and frustration, but with so many other contenders to the throne, Kya's attractive graphics and plucky heroine are not really enough to place it on top of the platform pile.

FUNNNN and not only for girls but boys too

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

i love to play but i dont like very tough games i loved kingdom heart ,jak and daxter when i bought kya it was based on a review when i got it i was not very interested to play it for weeks i thought its very tough and boring....but i was surprised.......really i am enjoying it and i cant stop playing it its for those who like to play easy but fun games with fun story...there are many things to do in this game it keeps you busy and not bored...its not easy easssssy...but not very tough
its a must not only for girls but boys as well....totaly LOVE IT

Excellent! Would be 5 out of 5, but...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Excellent game! Would have given it 5 out of 5, but there are a few minor annoyances that kept me from doing so. However, these minor flaws did not keep me from having a lot of fun with this game. If you liked games such as Rayman 2 and Jak & Daxter (first one), you'll almost certainly like Kya. Ok, so here are the annoyances: (1) enemies often fall over edges or through walls and disappear -- need to come back later and fight again, (2) occasional frame shudder, (3) get stuck in some sub-levels with no way to back out to main game hub (mostly not a big deal, but sometimes a pain when stuck up against a tough adversary or tough level). Anyway, again, this game was great, all and all. Hope there is a sequel!

Sometimes ridiculously complicated

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This was a great game... in spite of being really frustrated at times with the situation and my own inept game-play skills. It was an amazing game and a whole lot of fun to play. The first part of the game though is a real intense start, no calm. Hi how ya doin set- up thing you have to do stuff right away. It was insane. It was beautiful and a lot of fun. As for the whole thrown together bit. Not true, it's thought out. THough sometimes quite annoyingly thought out. It's a very worthwhile game adn when you look at the price the number of hours you get to play are well worth the price. This game is fun and I like blue hair. :p
BTW Kya didn't just mystically become athletic in the beginning scene it's apparent that she IS athletic so I don't find it that great of a leap.

great family friendly game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

We play our games with our 5 year old son watching and so screen carefully for what he is seeing. This game has all the best graphics, varied worlds, challenging play AND is fine for our kiddo to enjoy as well. Did you like Jak and Daxter (the first one)? Then you should like this game too.

One of the best games i have played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game out of impulse and didn't play it for a while, but when i did finally decide to pick it up and play I could not put it down, that very rarely happens to me. The story is fun and exciting , it kept me moving along and wanting to help. The controls are easy, despite the large amount of different moves available. The gameplay is excellent, every detail is beautiful. It was like playing many games all in one. I am hoping there will be a sequel!!!

OK

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is ok. Its kind of fun to play but at the most crucial times the camera angles are awful. The controls could have been a bit tighter too. Kya's combat moves would be great if she actually did what the controls were telling her to do. The music is below average, the voice acting is pretty bad and the story line is nothing new.. The weapons aren't that good either. Considering the enemies that you come up against they could have given you a better choice of weapons but you can accomplish what you need to by using the given weapons but it takes too long and it gets tedious. Most of the time it is hard to tell where you are in the game. The map that they provide is confusing. At times the game play can be more annoying then challenging. My biggest problem with this game is the BAD camera angles. On the plus side the graphics are prety good and it's always nice to see a female as the lead character.The game is priced right at less then 20 bucks but I'd recommend renting it first.

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