Legend of Kay Hands-On

Everyone knows that it only takes some radioactive ooze, a rodent martial arts master, and several boxes of pizza to turn turtles into a ninja fighting force--but what of the kung-fu kitty? What is the tattered scratching post of fate that leads furry felines to sharpen their claws on Far Eastern combat techniques and battle the evil of their world? Is catnip even involved? Legend of Kay may not answer all the questions that burn within our hearts, but we were able to explore a few of the game's levels to see just what this action adventure offers.

Our hero Kay is an orange tabby with a bit of a predilection for trash-talking and kicking tail. The balance of his world has been disrupted by the joined forces of rat and gorilla clans that seek dominion over his Island of Yenching (our suspicions about rat-gorilla collusion have finally proven to be correct). Kay's not the sort of kitty to take this sitting down, and so he journeys around the realm, armed with his substantial fighting prowess, to aid inhabitants in their fight against the wicked invaders. He, of course, has an old martial arts master that provides him guidance, as well as creatures like rabbits, panda bears, and dragons to aid in his fight against the forces of evil. But due to Kay's prowess in battle, he's a formidable force all on his own.

The cat has three types of weapons he can wield: a swift and powerful sword, a heavy hammer, and a pair of quick-slashing claws. The up-close and personal combat in Legend of Kay follows a familiar formula. You can use the attack button for a single swipe at your foes, or you can press it several times to chain a series of hits. You can jump and double-jump to cross obstacles, and you can block attacks and roll Kay along the ground to avoid blows or to maneuver behind your enemies. The game's combo attack system is powerful. When you defeat an enemy (or destroy special items known as zhongs), you'll start a combo meter. Once the combo has started, all you have to do is press the analog stick in the direction of your next foe, press the triangle button, and Kay will leap swiftly to his next opponent and quickly attack. If there are several enemies in the area, you can repeatedly dart between them, and each hit will increase your combo meter and make your next rapid attack a little more powerful. You can use this technique to dart between airborne enemies without ever touching the ground. You can also dart between the wooden zhongs this way, which allows you to cross areas you might not otherwise be able to leap over.

Kay also has magical powers at his disposal, which he can unleash if you press and hold the attack button down a few seconds and then release it. Magical attacks can reach a number of foes in a wide area. You'll need to stock up on magic points to use this power, but it can come in handy, particularly if you're caught in a thick swarm of gorillas. The combat controls seemed brisk and relatively easy to master, as did movement in general, though the camera was at times a bit intractable. There were also a couple of sequences where Kay was riding a creature to travel through a particular area, and the control for these sections was a bit stiffer and less responsive.

Three realms were open for us to explore in the version we played--a brightly green forest, an ancient palace with large stone courtyards and crumbling sections, and a dark, rocky zone that we flew over on the back of a Chinese dragon. The characters and places we visited were dominated by a cartoonish style, with the emphasis on the details of the characters rather than on the environments. The enemies we encountered ran the gamut from insects, plant life, diminutive rats, hulking gorillas, and swift lizardmen. The game's not much in the way of outlandish special effects, but the wide range of lightning magic that Kay wields is nice, as are the light blurs that accompany the enemies' dangerous weapon swings. All the story sequences we saw were fully voiced, and the music featured a flavor of Asian wind and string instruments, as well as some more conventional battle tunes. Overall, the sound and graphics seemed pretty easy on the eyes and ears.

Legend of Kay seems to be aimed at younger players, with all the cute cartoony critters and the simple style. We'll have more information on the game when it's released for the PlayStation 2 next week, so be sure to keep watching this gamespace for our official review.