Graphics: I knew this wasn’t going to be the standard summer movie shovelware when I loaded up the game and got an eyeful of Panda’s lush visuals. Drawing on the artistic assets of the film, developer Luxoflux has filled the screen with pleasing imagery. During cut scenes, Po and the Furious Five bare a strong resemblance to their big screen counterparts, with impressive fur shading applied to the various characters. The environments are steeped in carefully crafted, traditional Asian architecture. Everything feels solidly constructed, with Po sporting an impressive amount of polygons. I’ve played too many movie-based games where the environments felt flat and removed from the lustrous landscapes of their film forefathers, but Kung Fu Panda is as close as you can come to the eye candy on display on the big screen. The water effects alone are some of the best I’ve ever seen.

Interface: Po (and the other playable characters) control like a dream. Despite the large number of combat moves in Po’s arsenal, at no point did I struggle with the controls, and I was pulling off the more complex combos with ease. The platforming segments also control very well with the player able to maneuver Po through environments without problem. As the game progresses, Po will be forced to move vertically as he clamors over mountainous terrain and later will be charged with swinging from tree to tree. None of these actions pose an issue. When gameplay transfers to another character, I found the controls were mapped appropriately so that the player doesn’t skip a beat. The major issue I have is with the ‘vehicle’ segments. I use the term loosely as you are basically riding an animal (turtle, crane, etc) but the controls here felt more slippery than when on foot or in combat. One segment, in particular, has the player surfing a turtle to get from one point to the next. I found it difficult to maintain Po’s bulk on the turtle’s back, which led to several restarts when my poor panda found himself face down in a pond. Fortunately, these segments are few.

Gameplay: Kung Fu Panda is essentially an action platformer that tasks the player with navigating the expansive levels and brawling all the way through. The currency for customization adds some welcome depth to what would normally be a simple button-masher and there are some impressive combo attacks to unlock. Many movie-based games have seen fit to stick their cartoon character in an approximation of the movie’s environments and simply call it a day, but with Kung Fu Panda, the developers at Luxoflux have really taken the time to craft a pretty solid adventure. While the basics of the game involve the similar mix of platforming and combat seen in titles like the Ratchet & Clank series, the game is always throwing a new twist at players. Granted, much of this is aimed at younger players, so the difficulty is not too high, but the level of variety is impressive. I will, however, knock it for longevity. With 13 levels that can be completed in about 20 minutes each, most seasoned players will blow through this title fairly quickly. That said the bulk of the Achievements are tied to the different difficulty levels so there is incentive to play through it again. It may be a quick title but it’s a fun game that doesn’t wear out its welcome. The sheer variety of multiplayer games provides some replay value.

Multiplayer: A robust series of minigames designed for multiplayer adds increased value to the package. Roughly half of these are some variation of the battle royals, a la Super Smash Brothers, with players choosing their favorite karate-chopping critter and bashing away at each other in a series of venues ripped from the film. Surprisingly, the developers have also included a number of minigame variants that include Kung Fu Panda-themed installments of popular game archetypes like Bejeweled and Ma Jong. There’s a surprising amount of variety included in the multiplayer mode that makes the title a decent game to boot up during parties. All games are designed for 1 – 4 players with bots filling in for non-players. It’s a shame there’s no online support as some of these minigames are best played against live competition.

Sound FX: I was about halfway through the game before I realized that Po wasn’t voiced by Jack Black but rather a very close imitator. In fact, had I not been tipped to it by an article, I may never have known. That’s how good this guy is. The same goes for the rest of the cast. Where the movie features the vocal stylings of Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu and Dustin Hoffman, the game employs sound-alikes who are fairly spot on. There’s a lot of dialogue in the game and all of it is acted well. While Po’s speech echoes Ninja Turtle lingo, a little too much for my tastes, it’s in the same vein as the flick and kids are likely to imitate it all summer long. The other sound effects are what one would expect from a chop-socky brawler, with satisfying crunches and thuds heard when Po’s fists start flying.

Music: None of the orchestration is ripped from the film (which features an excellent Harry Gregson-Williams score), but the original music designed for the game is more than adequate. While Po is adventuring, his actions are underscored with a pleasing soundtrack that features traditional woodwinds. When the action intensifies, the drums kick in and lend the game a throbbing beat. It would have been nice to license the film’s soundtrack, but the score here does get the job done.

Intelligence: Kung Fu Panda is an action platformer loaded with combat situations. As such, players will encounter the usual mobs of enemies that charge them and attack. The enemy routines grow in complexity through the game with some of the tougher villains countering your standard attacks, and forcing the player to utilize combos and mix up their tactics. That said, the enemies will charge right at you and keep attacking until a particular ‘wave’ is done, so the artificial intelligence can prove predictable. In true platforming tradition, many of the boss battles involve studying your foe’s routines and finding the right time to strike.

Difficulty: This game is based on a children’s movie and the difficulty is targeted appropriately. While some segments may require multiple playthroughs, the generous checkpoints and lowered enemy difficulty make it easy to run through. A few of the boss sequences proved to be a challenge to this seasoned veteran, but that can be attributed to missing a button press in the interactive cut scene. For younger players, this game should pose a decent but not insurmountable challenge. Older gamers are encouraged to start on the higher difficulty settings (which is where most of the Achievement Points are stored, anyway).

Overall: I was really quite surprised by the quality of this title. Normally, a licensed game makes the jaded reviewer in me groan, but Luxoflux continuously impressed me with the care they took in crafting this entertainment. This is far from a cheap knock-off aimed at milking a few extra bucks from the Panda maniacs out there. That said this game is aimed at younger gamers meaning the hardcore crowd can beat this in less than an afternoon. The extensive multiplayer suite is impressive and neatly underscores the added effort that Luxoflux put forth in crafting the game. This was a real surprise and actually succeeded in making me seek out the film, a task that I had no desire to do prior to playing the game. Let that serve as high praise. This Panda kicks butt.