Review: Kickbeat Special Edition PS4

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KickBeat, an innovative rhythm game with a Kung Fu theme, featuring fully 3D characters and high-energy music

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Pros:

  • Graphics are good with the animations in particular looking good.
  • Rythmn action game. Think Guitar Hero Jet Li edition. Press the corresponding buttons in time with the music to fight enemies.
  • Full 3D support.
  • Splitscreen for two players.
  • Online leaderboard support with filter by level option.
  • Simple easy controls. you use the face buttons for moves and the bumper buttons are to activate specials. Instead of the face buttons you can use the d pad.
  • Has a lot of features found in Guitar Hero like hold the button then release it, fast tapping the button to earn bonuses.
  • Some enemies will have health/score/chi marks over there head. Kill the guy then quickly double tap that button to obtain those marks.
  • Final blow of the level goes all slow Matrix style.
  • Great soundtrack and this is worth mentioning more as the music is a big part of the game.
  • Levels are timed based. if it says 4 minutes then the level will take 4 minutes.
  • You get a rank at the end showing off your ranks achieved in game
  • Time your moves and get a rank for each press. Raning from late to good to perfect.
  • Trophy list.
  • The gameplay is really fast and frantic.
  • Four difficulty options that you can select each time you loadf the level. Normal,Hard,expert and master.
  • Full three part tutorial that is really in depth and explains all the mechanics.
  • Four game modes to pick from:
    • Tutorial.
    • Story which branches into 2, For each character.
    • Free play.
    • Survival.
  • Hand drawn cut scenes that are very reminiscent of old Kung Fu movies.

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Cons:

  • The screen is really busy and to know exactly who to hit first can be hard. You only get a white outline for guidance but in the crazy pace of the game its hard.
  • When you mess up and get hit it can be really hard to recover.
  • Splitscreen and free play is locked and must be unlocked through story mode.
  • Just being able to play as the female character requires you to unlock her first.

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In Summary, The game is a nice modern remake of the rythmn action genre. Adding martial arts is a really good idea. I personally found it hard to recognise who and when to hit the enemies. Just the timing of the button presses takes a while to get used too. That aside I really enjoy it and it is a good workout for your reflexes. The music is really good and in yo face. Worth a look if you missed out on this on previous consoles.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!