Friday 11 May 2007
A PC game based on the ace martial arts movie Kung Fu Hustle is being developed by Sony Online Entertainment and Shanghai Northstar, specifically for the Chinese market. The game will be a free-to-play online brawler, with optional fees for extra lives, weapons and so-on.
The development team is working closely with the movie's director, Stephen Chow, who is reportedly an avid gamer. His sense of humour will be present in the game, as will familiar characters such as Sin, the Sidekick, the Landlady and Beast. There will be a branching story mode, where players will hone their Kung Fu skills as they battle their way across China and, by cooperating with friends, new sets of moves will become available.
The game will also offer 8-player online fighting in multiplayer, which is obviously the biggest draw, and even offers players the chance to scout for opponents before challenging them. It all sounds very promising to us, although with the game targeted at such a specific market, it remains unclear whether western gamers will see the game at all. We'll be buying curtain rings and putting them on our forearms just in case it helps. Unlikely, yes, but fun all the same.
