Review: Kickbeat Special Edition PS4

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

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.

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.

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.