Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2 |
Copyright/Publisher: Imagine/Konami, Programmed By: Allan Shortt, With Help From:
Dave Collier, Graphics By: Andrew Sleigh, Music By: Martin Galway, Produced By:
D. C. Ward, Release Year: 1986, Genre: Fighting Sports, Number Of Players: 1 or 2
Many years ago, young Oolong salvaged the honour of his family by single-handedly taking on
and beating the ten members of the evil Chop Suey gang. But one managed to escape, crawling
away from the spilled blood and guts, and hiding out until Oolong had returned home. Yen Pei
was the survivor's name and while he was counting how many teeth he had left in his pulped gums
he woved revenge.
Now, twenty years later, Yen Pei has assembled another motley crew of nasty oriental persons all
specialists in the art of maiming and killing, and they're after Oolong's blood. Imagine their
disappointment when they find out that Oolong is dead. Even this news doesn't quell Yen Pei's
desire for revenge however, and he decides to take out his revenge on the next best thing -
Oolong's son, Young Lee.
This is where you come into the story. Taking the role of Young Lee, you must do battle with
all eight members of the new gang one by one. Lee's not quite as adept at martial arts as his
father was, but he's young, strong and has three basic offensive moves to use on his adversaries, a
low kick, a mid punch and a high kick. He can also jump about the place, useful for vacating
dangerous positions quickly.
Young Lee begins the game on a screen seemingly devoid of any enemy. He can walk left onto another
screen if he wants, and a display area at the bottom shows how many screens he has to walk
through before he reaches the gang member he has to do battle with. After Lee has been on a
screen leading to the adversary for a few seconds, midget attackers float in from either side
of the screen. They come alone or in groups of three, and at three different heights. If one
hits Lee it knocks a chunk off his energy bar, shown at the top of the screen, and if this bar
reaches zero he loses one of his three lives.
The midgets aren't so bad though, if Lee destroys a full group he is awarded a tea leaf. If five
tea leaves are gained a teacup appears and an Oolong Tea Power bonus is given - pressing the
Commodore key at any time replenishes Young Lees energy bar. Up to three tea cups can be carried
at once, so if you can dispose of the midget attackers without too much hassle it's worth hanging
about to get the extra tea power.
If Lee manages to get through the required amount of screens he meets one of the deadly gang
members, the first of which is Yen Pei himself. To beat one of the gang members, Lee has to
reduce his opponents energy bar by repeatedly hitting or kicking him (or her), before his
opponent does the same to him. As well as having the same fighting abilities as Lee, every
member of the gang has a special weapon which he or she uses in their attempt to win. Yen Pei
has iron pigtails which he swings around to try and hit Lee, Lang Fang throws deadly fans,
Po Chin breathes fire and so on. On later levels, Lee has also to contend with lightning bolts and
bombs.
The only way Lee can defend himself against these offensive weapons is if he manages to pick
up a bowl of Chow Mein noodles, which appear occasionally for a few seconds. If Lee grabs one
of these he gains Chow Mein Noodle Power which gives him temporary invulnerability from the
enemy aggression. After a few seconds he reverts back to his normal vulnerable self and has to
do battle in the usual fashion.
The game also supports simultaneous two player action. One player taking the role of Lee
while the other steps into the shoes of one of the baddies, the two then do battle over the
best of three bouts.
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Julian Rignall |
This is a pretty enjoyable beat em up game, mainly because it's so stupid. The floating
midgets on the screens leading up to the adversaries are really silly, but quite tricky to
dispose of if you want to try and gain some tea bonus. The baddies themselvesare funny too,
the matey swinging his hair is a real laugh, and later on there's a woman in a mini skirt
with high heels! Overall it's an enjoyable game, more difficult and challenging than the
first, and well worth looking at if you liked its predecessor.
|
R.E. |
Ho hum, another beat 'em up for the 64. This is no different from the rest and I soon became
bored with it. The eight opponents are the toughest I've met in a computer game, and if it
wasn't for Gary Sumpter finding a sort of 'cheat mode' by banging his head on the Commodore,
then I doubt I would have got past the first opponent. Ho hum. If you lijed Yie Ar Kung-Fu,
you're going to love this - it's a lot better, but nothing special.
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P.S. |
There is one positive thing that can be said about Yie Ar Kung-Fu II: it's better than its
predecessor. That said, the gameplay is still fairly run-of-the-mill with very few moves available.
Bash 'em ups are getting a little trite nowadays, with playability separating the good from
the bad. Yie Ar Kung-Fu II has pretty graphics and some nice tunes, but it lacks anything else
that would make it a real winner.
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