Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage
7.7
10
11
12
Koei Warriors + God Hand = Ken's Rage
Pros = good adaptation, 2 player co-op, easy trophies, difficult setting
Cons = repetitive, play stages over and over, fellow Ai is stupid
Worth = buy this for fans of the manga and warrior games
Like all koei warrior games, this game suffers from being repetitive, but that doesn't make them terrible games. What gets me the most in this game is that you have to play the same stages over and over just as a different character. Then you look at your friendly Ai and notice they are hardly being active in combat. In Warriors Orochi 3 your friendly AI was consistently participating in battle.
There have been some complaints that the setting is stupid and stays the same. Well... considering this is suppose to be faithful to the manga. All your going to get is a post-apocalypse world. Just as long as they make the stages different (which they do) then there shouldn't be a problem.
It is a little slower paced and has lesser enemies to deal with than a regular koei warrior game, but has more action-adventure elements to it. Like find the 7 keystones, moves boxes to jump onto higher platforms, get to this destination with obstacles in your way, and etc... There is a leveling system of course and a skill chart which surprised me. Controls can get a little clunky depending on what character you have. Kenshiro definitely starts out that way until you level up his movesets. Which brings me to another cool feature. You can equip each character with 4 signature moves. That is on top of your characters 3 pre-installed and permanent hyper signature moves.
A list of characters you can play after you have unlock them through playing or dlc: Raoh, Toki, Jagi, Rei, Shin, Mamiya, Souther, Heart, Outlaw.
If you simply play through the game then you can easily get all of its trophies and a plat. Consider that statement to be your trophy guide and enjoy the game =)
6/19/12
Great Game for any FOTNS Fan.
I am a huge fan of the FOTNS Series and the Dynasty Warriors Series. When I heard Koei was making FOTNS: Ken's Rage I was stoked. After playing the game I was really satisfied with the way they handles the FOTNS Material.
8 - Presentation
The story is well told. If you're not a Fist of the North Star expert it might get a little confusing but overall it was held true to the manga series.
8 - Graphics
The clothing shreds when the characters get beat up and the character models look real good. Animations could use some polish. The barren wasteland is a bit muddy but then again so was the series.
8 - Sound
The voice acting is fine, but the generic guitar riffs that act as the soundtrack are forgettable.
8 - Gameplay
You're punching everything to death and I do mean to death. They don't hold back the blood and gore. Not much else to do.
8 - Lasting Appeal
The real draw is unlocking all of the skills and moves. The stories themselves aren't engaging and the gameplay is pretty straightforward.
7/18/11
Like Dynasty Warriors...but with bloody deaths
Quick sum-up rating: for fans an 8 out of 10...non-fans will probably give it a 5 or 6. Let me start out by saying that yes, I am a fan of the Fist of the North series in all of its incarnations...but I'll try not to be too biased in this review. Ken's Rage plays very similar to the Dynasty Warriors series. The controls are a bit different, but easy enough if you've played the DW games. The level maps are not spread out over a wide battefield as in DW however. Most of the maps are narrow and long but very straightforward, there aren't always multiple ways to get to the end of the maps but with areas looking much the same you can get turned around easily even with the minimap turned on. Also, there are not nearly as many enemies to defeat as in DW...while you can kill waves of enemies in gruesome ways, do not expect to rack up 2,000 plus kills on a map...more like 100 to 500 at most, unless in Dream mode I guess you could sit in one spot in some levels and kill for a long while to get 2,000 plus.. Story-wise, for the fans: The myriad of creative ways Ken killed the "bosses" in the series is not there, but for a much condensed version of the story the game does alright. Most of the main characters are playable with some only putting in appearances (Shew, Ryuga, Fudo, and Juza are not playable) In between levels, the story is told mainly through unvoiced dialogue between characters...the cutscenes are great, but use the in-game graphics (decent but not amazing). If you aren't a fan of the tv series, the story from the game may entertain you only once you get past the text portions...Dream mode throws interesting what-if twists to the original story...like what if Shin or Rei made a different choice and survived..or what if Amiba and Jagi teamed up. End review: a nice bone thrown to the fans but could have been much better...
11/21/10
Played the Japanese Import and it's good
Ive had the Import for this gamesince earlier this year and I must say I enjoyed playing this game (i'm a fan of dynasty warriors hack and slash type of games). Graphics are great (own on PS3), sound, feel, battle style, all feel just like the movie series. Story was all in Japanese so I cant say how that is (not familiar with the asian series) but seemed as though would be entertaining if it were in english. His powers are great and you'll see enemies explode just like in the movie when you perform certain combinations. There are enough unlockables and the power up tree for your character looked pretty well done as well. I am buying the english version when it comes out because I want to be able to actually enjoy the story and have access to the extras that were not available in my import version.
10/29/10
AWESOME!
this game is so awesome i played the demo nd the fighting is amazing graphics are wonderful the stages are great i want this game so badly
10/26/10
Man-ime at its best...
Love the series, great characters, storyline, and deaths. I look forward to this game.
10/22/10
dynasty warriors for adults
koei cant fool me! i know ecactly how this game is gonna play out. but since i love dynasty/samurai warriors, this game better rock too!
9/26/10
This Game
im gonna play as raoh he's a brutal beast. lol... but definitely getting this game. i love the anime series more then any others from then till now.
9/23/10
awsome
i have the cartoon movie of this there is only one problem there is a guy with a hood and white hair and i never see him in the movie who is he
9/14/10
Voice
I heard that the Japanese Dub is still included in the game if it is thank you! I can't stand English Dub
9/11/10