During CES 2009, I had the opportunity to check out several of Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Network titles, including Flower, Fat Princess, and the especially creepy — yet entertaining — Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic. It’s tough to imagine playing a title where you control marionettes in a Kung-Fu-style fighting game. Despite the odd premise, Rag Doll Kung Fu could be the best multiplayer title to release on the PlayStation Store in 2009.
The concept is simple. You and up to three other individuals or AI take up shop in a multi-tiered battlefield. Within it, you jump, kick, punch, grab and throw items at your opponents until the time expires and a winner is announced. In standard play, winners are chosen by whoever causes the most knockouts, but there are other game modes such as Dodgeball, King of the Hill and Catch the Fish.
The animation of the fighting maneuvers is quite vast for lifeless marionettes. While watching my Bruce Lee-inspired character battle it out, I couldn’t help but remember the hilarious fight scenarios from Team America: World Police. Being able to see your characters flail around while throwing ninja stars or being hit with ceramic jars in order to be crowned champion is definitely worth fighting for.
Something that Fat Princess and Rag Doll have in common is their easy to use control schemes. Rag Doll, like Fat Princess, will be easily accessible to both casual and hardcore gamers, or even entire families. As previously mentioned, kicking, punching, grabbing, and powering up are the lone control options, with one exception. Titan Studios has done a fantastic job adding in SIXAXIS support. Holding on L1 and moving your controller straight down will create an earthquake-like maneuver, while kicking and sliding your controller towards your opponent will allow you to utilize a more powerful kick. It’s simple things like this that help open the game to players of all ages and skills.
My personal favorite feature found within Fists of Plastic is the customization ability. While the rep didn’t want to confirm downloadable content as of yet, Rag Doll Kung-Fu is a prime candidate for tons of DLC. Considering you can build your own characters with a plethora of items, it only makes sense to continually make more items available as time goes on.
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic is yet another strong title being published on the PlayStation Network that helps solidify its 2009 lineup. It’s safe to say that Fists of Plastic delivers some quality Kung-Fu goodness.