Rag Doll Kung Fu

The Good
Ragdoll Kung Fu's concept is easy, innovative and fun: what if multi-limbed characters with no pre-rendered animation at all could be flung and jerked by their heads, feet and arms all across large screens? Mark Healey converted the concept stunningly and added truckloads of absolutely outrageous silliness.

The amazing trick Healey pulled off is that in spite of the absence of all seriousness the game works. The only rules that apply are the in-game laws of gravity which affect the characters' limbs, and given the right tools even those laws of gravity can be stretched to breaking point.

Although fights quickly become a hilarious, flailing chaos of characters flying across the screen, some clever game mechanics prevent it all from becoming a mess. Characters' feet are sticky and their bodies arrange themselves into upright positions automatically after attacking or jumping, meaning the game doesn't play like a bunch of body parts that get randomly thrown everywhere. Also, after each attack characters freeze in their extreme positions for the fraction of a second, making the action a little more perceivable and also enhancing that kung fu choreography feeling. Even though characters can be twisted into impossible stances, strangely a lot of the fighting looks ever so slightly reminiscent of the comedic action acrobatics from classic 70s martial arts comedies.

The game offers several minigames making decent use of the ragdoll physics. Training/Story mode features twenty minutes of real-life footage, a parody kung fu epic in appallingly and intentionally cheap pictures shot by and starring the game creators.

The Bad
Training/Story mode is hard compared to custom deathmatches. With a bit of training it's quickly possible in deathmatch to kick up to seven opponents' butts on the highest difficulty level whereas single player levels are somewhat hard to overlook and so hectic that just getting to grips with their layout or unlocking additional achievements requires several attempts.

It's regrettable that the game's online community is dead because Ragdoll Kung Fu is meant to be played with a bunch of silly-minded pals looking for a quick action fix. It's possible to play on the same machine using multiple USB mice but that's not an ideal solution. Your best bet to play against human opponents is over LAN (during a beer break between Unreal Tournament matches on a private LAN party with some good chums).

Overall, the game's trademark chaotic fun is really just for kung fu comedy lovers willing to give the concept a chance (and leaving their brains at the entrance). There's not a shred of realism and not too much depth, just tons of (seemingly) drug-addled eye candy and the kind of aimless action that doesn't appeal to everyone.

The Bottom Line
Ragdoll Kung Fu is fast-paced, trippy chaos which doesn't aspire to be anything more an extremely entertaining diversion. It's not for everyone. In fact, those who can switch their brains to "kung-fu-movie-hyped-six-year-old-sugar-rush"-mode will probably get the most out of it. Still, isn't there a kung fu movie-hyped six year old in all of us sometimes?