PlayStation 2

Kya: Dark Lineage

Anyway, I hope this letter expresses how I really feel about you and your Dark Lineage, KyaYou're one of the most satisfying, worthwhile, and excellent platformers I've ever met. Time spent with you was challenging but never frustrating, beautiful but never, ever shallow, and utterly captivating for every moment we were together. Still, all good things must come to an end hopefully we'll meet again, but even if we don't, let me say that love at first sight (okay, more like second or third) really does exist after all.

Kya and her half-brother Frank stumble upon a secret room that their father had sealed off. Inside of the room is a strange device that has sucked Kya and her brother in, and transported them to a strange, new world. The Nativs, friendly dog-like creatures, and Wolfens, former Nativs that have been transformed by the evil Brazul, inhabit the new world in which Kya and Frank find themselves. After they arrive, Kya has been separated from Frank because he has been kidnapped by Brazul to be used as a guinea pig in his evil experiments. With the help of the Nativs, Kya sets out to rescue Frank and put a stop to Brazul before he wipes out the Nativs.

Kya: Dark Lineage is one big homage to Rayman 2: The Great Escape, and, as such, players who enjoyed that game will easily find a lot to like about this one. Given that Dark Lineage comes from a development team that had previously only worked on real-world driving games, Kya is a surprisingly accomplished, well-crafted fantasy action adventure game. It's also a game that will likely slip under most peoples' radars because it simply looks pretty unassuming at first glance. This is really too bad, as Kya offers an entertaining and easily recommendable 3D action adventure experience.

One of Kya's powers that she earns right off the bat is the ability to exorcise unconscious Wolfens. You see, Wolfens are actually Nativs who have been corrupted by Kya's corrupted father, the nefarious Brazul. I love the word nefarious. It's a nice little touch for the younger gamers who are squeamish about blood and guts, but more importantly it might set a mom's mind at ease if she knew little Timmy wasn't ripping mutant wolves apart, but rather converting them back into tweaked out beanie babies with leather loin clothes. An interesting game so far, huh? Well, just wait, there's more.

A car moves down a darkened street, outside a house in which a blue-haired girl follows a bouncing basketball down the stairs. Her half-brother, Frank, has found a secret room – one that her father had sealed. Frank inadvertently sets in motion some strange device that opens a portal to another world. Both Frank and the girl are swept into the vortex.

Known for its respectable work on the V-Rally series, Eden Studios' first action-adventure title, Kya: Dark Lineage, is no doubt a major break from powerslides, finely tuned engines and rugged Grecian terrain. Modeled on Nintendo's long-lasting action-adventure series, The Legend of Zelda, Kya brings PS2 gamers a hybrid experience featuring equal amounts of platforming, combat, exploration and story-telling to the fold.

Kya is stuffed with action, comedy and plenty of intense action and is generally pretty enjoyable. If you’re tired of playing platformers starring talking animals, Kya is the title you’ve been waiting for. It’s just too bad that Atari and Eden Games never really made up their minds whether they wanted to game to be a truly adult titles and therefore up the ante of double-entendres and dirty jokes, or clean up the game’s act and open it up to the five-and-up audience. For young teens, KDL might be sophisticated enough to be enjoyable but for older gamers, the appeal may be somewhat limited unless they get hooked by Kya and her story – which is entirely possible.

Kya: Dark Lineage is a solid effort, but not without flaws. If you are able to look past frustrating controls and a poor camera, the game is quite enjoyable. It's also not one of those games that added a bunch of annoying sidequests to extend its length, and as a result, it can be beaten with a healthy weekend of gaming. If you're looking for a good game that's not getting a lot of press, Kya: Dark Lineage is definitely worth a look.

It's depressingly difficult for a decent, under-hyped product to stand out amid the glut of today's video-game market, particularly during the insane holiday rush. I can think of no better game to symbolize this than Atari's Kya: Dark Lineage. Developed by Eden Studios in France, Kya is an unusual hybrid of adventure and platforming with some fun, unique ideas. Its execution is far from perfect, but I was entertained enough that I would have played it right through to the end even if I weren't reviewing it.

Ur ett tekniskt perspektiv är Kya: Dark Lineage i stort sett oklanderligt, vilket bara stärker min uppfattning. Att göra engagerande plattformsspel kräver mer än ett kompetent företag.

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.