The first disconnect is the language barrier. I understand this game was not developed in America, and with that, it can be understandable that the main language is not English, but it’s a thin argument at best when a large amount of games come out of Japan and have English dub. When you have to sit through cut scenes and concentrate on reading the sub titles, it takes away from what is actually a cool cut scene approach which look like they were taken from the manga pages.

When it comes to the main characters there’s some good detailing done although the style is generic, in a sense that the characters could have been plucked from any random game. On top of that, all characters are kind of shiny, which in all honesty is weird.

The background levels aren’t much better. For the most part every level is just a corridor. If you throw a bad guy into a wall there is a small amount of level destruction, but it seems obvious that destroying the worlds were not a main focus. In the game Ken gets imprisoned. When it comes time to break out all he has to do is bend the bars making you wonder how it’s even possible to imprison him, and why he didn’t bother to break out sooner.

For the most part the boss fights are not impressive. As it is, the combat system is pretty simple. I’m not asking for Street Fighter, uber combo moves, but something more than a 4 button move would have made the game a little more interesting. The combo’s are quite easy to master but after the second level it all gets a little too generic.

The only remotely impressive feature of the game is the large amounts of hordes you have to fight. This stays in the tradition of the previous games. Back in the day it was impressive to see large amount of bad guys on the screen, but unfortunately it’s no longer such a new concept, and now it looks a little dated. Every hardware has a limit which makes a large amount of bad guys on the screen at one time hard, but again, since we’re nearing the end of the PlayStation 3 life cycle it should be expected that there would be a work around by now.

As cool as it to fight a horde, their AI is not smart making it rather simple to just blow through them with your limited combo’s. You also don’t really see stronger hordes as the levels progress. You pretty much fight the same AI hordes throughout, and it becomes very repetitive, very fast. Once you break through the horde and scatter them, they work very hard to get close to each other again, making it easier to kill them.

I would assume for the most part the developers were really trying to cater to the die hard fans here, rather than bring new people in. The Legend Mode is centered around the original manga. Dream Mode focuses on new stories based on the manga series. In Legend Mode, you play as Ken. In Dream Mode you start with only an unnamed Outlaw. You can play Wasteland Thugs in the Free Mode with the Outlaw, and you can also play online. The options for online are either co-op through Dream Mode, or as a Team of 4.

It seems like the overall issue to Ken’s Rage is that the game lacks a good quality check. It just falls flat in every area, and interest is lost fast when it becomes repetitive. Although it caters to the die hard manga fans, it still lacks polish and makes the game look like it was rushed to the market. With the lack of major content it’s also odd that this download was over 9 GB. I would have just assumed, with the reuse of such generic characters and models that the game could do a better job at managing assets.

This game just reminds us that fighting horde after horde is no longer an interesting concept. There needs to be more variety in game play. There needs to be better skin textures, unless you want us to think the characters are plastic. But most of all, there needs to be quality control on a game like this that just makes you feel that the developer just weren’t fully invested.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

Game Overview:

‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’ offers players a variety of modes and new features including Legend Mode, a plethora of playable characters, dynamic new moves, original storylines and an online co-op and versus play mode.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions in the comments section below.

Without further delay, lets get started!

Tecmo Koei has released the launch trailer for the upcoming beat em up title, Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2, and… well, it’s a pretty long video for a launch trailer, for one.

The video shows off plenty of gameplay for the fighter, showing off features such as a bigger character roster, more modes, and competitive and co-op modes. The gameplay shown looks impressive and bombastic, with the gory fighting portraying exactly what you’d expect a game of this series to portray. Plenty of story moments are also shown here.

The trailer is given above, have a look if you’re interested in buying the game.

Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 comes out in Europe for the Wii U on February 7 and for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 on February 8. Stay tuned for continued coverage.

The game was already released in Japan in December 2012 and the western release happened on February 8th 2013. [reference]

It will contain a lot of new additions and contains a lot of mystery characters. It will be developed by Koei and is being published by Tecmo Koei.

It features Online Co-Op and Versus play. Four to eight players can use Dream Mode to enjoy online co-op or versus play.

The game was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360, and the Wii U version was released via the Nintendo eShop, while the Japanese version was released as a retail game.

It belongs to the beat-em-up genre, and the combat is reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors.

• 1. Gameplay
• 2. Network
• 3. Modes
• 4. Plot
• 5. Characters

Gameplay

The game is mostly Japanese and that’s the reason for its limited exposure in the west. The game plays exactly like a Dynasty Warriors beat-em-up, and if you have watched any gameplay video of that, you will know how this works.

Here’s a video that shows off Falco Gameplay:

Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 features improved features over its predecessors. It features over 20 playable characters, including Juda, Rei, Shew, Shin, Thouzer, Jagi, Raoh, Toki, Fudo, Juza, Mamiya, Ryuga, Ein, Falco, Hyou, Kaioh, Shachi, and more.

It also features dynamic new moves. The destructive power of the techniques of Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken meet the intense action of the Warriors series to produce a thrilling experience. In addition to the signature moves of the first title, new actions such as ‘sprint’ and ‘dodge’ have been added to the move sets.

Network

The game features Online Co-Op and Versus play. Four to eight players can use Dream Mode to enjoy online co-op or versus play. These features are only available within the Dream Mode.

In versus play, players form teams and compete against the other in a variety of missions, with the winners obtaining unique bonuses. The character costume DLC that was so popular in the first game also returns, and there are plans to make new stages available for download in Dream Mode as well.

Modes

Legend mode: Legend mode starts with a re-imagined version of ‘Raoh’ and covers ‘Celestial Emperor’ and ‘Land of Shura’.This way the game can be enjoyed by both existing fans of the manga and newcomers to Kenshiro’s post-apocalyptic world. Different characters will be controlled for each episode while ‘boss’ encounters will feature entire famous scenes from the manga.

Dream mode: Dream Mode introduces new, original storylines to the Fist of the North Star Universe while bridging the gaps between parts of the main story, often focusing on some of the series’ minor characters. [reference]

Plot

There’s no plot here, this is an action game. But there’s something written on the official site that is intriguing. “Shoulders heavy with burden, Kenshiro left Rin’s village behind. Together with his newfound ally Bat, he wandered through the endless wasteland. Who was Kenshiro? What was he fighting for? All that was known was the fearsome power of his fists, his ability to devastate the human body with precision strikes…”

Characters

In addition to a more faithful recreation of the story, a large number of characters are added to the game series as well. In addition to the playable characters from the previous game, those that appeared only as NPCs such as Juza and Shew are now playable. In total, there will be more than twice as many playable characters as the previous title.

Popular characters from the new storylines such as Falco and Kaioh will also appear, making for an even greater variety of characters to control.

Playable Characters [reference]

• Kenshiro (Katsuyuki Konishi)
• Raoh (Fumihiko Tachiki)
• Toki (Tomokazu Seki)
• Jagi (Wataru Takagi)
• Rei (Takehito Koyasu)
• Shin (Tomokazu Sugita)
• Souther (Nobutoshi Canna)
• Mamiya (Naomi Shindō)
• Yuda (Keisuke Baba)
• Shū (Takahiro Yoshimizu)
• Jūza (Masaya Takatsuka)
• Fudō (Hiromu Miyazaki)
• Ryūga (Takeshi Mori)
• Bat (Daisuke Kishio)
• Lin (Kanae Itō)
• Ein (Kazuya Nakai)
• Falco (Hisao Egawa)
• Shachi (Hiroshi Kamiya)
• Hyo (Ryotaro Okiayu)
• Kaioh (Unshō Ishizuka)

Downloadable Playable Characters

• Heart (Takahiro Fujimoto)
• Outlaw (Kenji Akabane)
• Amiba (Tomokazu Seki)
• Nameless Asura (Takashi Sadahiro)
• Han (Takuya Kirimoto)

Tecmo Koei has announced the release date for Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 and it will be released across Europe on February 8th, 2013. The platforms confirmed are PS3 and Xbox 360, along with a Wii U version that will be released on 7th February as well.

Here are the list of features you can get in the game.

-Legend mode starts with a re-imagined version of ‘Raoh’ and covers ‘Celestial Emperor’ and ‘Land of Shura’. This way the game can be enjoyed by both existing fans of the manga and newcomers to Kenshiro’s post-apocalyptic world. Different characters will be controlled for each episode while ‘boss’ encounters will feature entire famous scenes from the manga.

-Additionally, ‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’ also features an episode dedicated to Ken’s faithful companions, Bat and Rin. This chapter, although part of the original manga, has never before been visualised and provides a brand new, original experience for players.

-Over 20 playable characters will be available, including Juda, Rei, Shew, Shin, Thouzer, Jagi, Raoh, Toki, Fudo, Juza, Mamiya, Ryuga, Ein, Falco, Hyou, Kaioh, Shachi, and more.

-Dynamic new moves.  The destructive power of the techniques of Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken meet the intense action of the Warriors series to produce a thrilling experience. In addition to the signature moves of the first title, new actions such as ‘sprint’ and ‘dodge’ have been added to the move sets.

-Dream Mode introduces new, original storylines to the Fist of the North Star Universe while bridging the gaps between parts of the main story, often focusing on some of the series’ minor characters.

-Online Co-Op and Versus play. Four to eight players can use Dream Mode to enjoy online co-op or versus play.

About Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2.

Game Overview:

‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’ follows the storyline of the entire manga and offers players a variety of modes and new features:

Legend mode starts with a re-imagined version of ‘Raoh’ and covers ‘Celestial Emperor’ and ‘Land of Shura’. This way the game can be enjoyed by both existing fans of the manga and newcomers to Kenshiro’s post-apocalyptic world. Different characters will be controlled for each episode while ‘boss’ encounters will feature entire famous scenes from the manga.Additionally, ‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’ also features an episode dedicated to Ken’s faithful companions, Bat and Rin. This chapter, although part of the original manga, has never before been visualised and provides a brand new, original experience for players.

Over 20 playable characters will be available, including Juda, Rei, Shew, Shin, Thouzer, Jagi, Raoh, Toki, Fudo, Juza, Mamiya, Ryuga, Ein, Falco, Hyou, Kaioh, Shachi, and more.

Dynamic new moves. The destructive power of the techniques of Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken meet the intense action of the Warriors series to produce a thrilling experience. In addition to the signature moves of the first title, new actions such as ‘sprint’ and ‘dodge’ have been added to the move sets.

Dream Mode introduces new, original storylines to the Fist of the North Star Universe while bridging the gaps between parts of the main story, often focusing on some of the series’ minor characters.

Online Co-Op and Versus play. Four to eight players can use Dream Mode to enjoy online co-op or versus play.

Publisher: TECMO KOEI

Developer: KOEI

Platforms: PS3, XBOX360 and Wii u

Release Date: 8/2/2013 (PS3 and X360)
7/2/2013 (online) (WiiU)

of course, while the video games don’t enjoy as much as success or fame, Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 aims to change that. Coming on February 8th for PS3 and Xbox 360 in Europe (with a Wii U release date planned for later), the game will focus more on a Dynasty Warriors style beat-em-up experience with multiple playable characters. Like Falco! Check him beating some poor sods into blood and dust.

If nothing else, at least Tecmo Koei is replicating its famous Dynasty Warriors formula into other franchises to make them compelling (or it could be a cheap cash-in, but hey, staying positive, right?).

About Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2:

Game Overview:
‘Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2’ will offer players a variety of modes and new features:

Legend mode, follows the storyline of the entire manga, starting with a re-imagined version of ‘Raoh’ and covering ‘Celestial Emperor’ and ‘Land of Shura’. This faithful adaptation ensures that this mode can be enjoyed by both fans of the manga and new comers to Kenshiro’s post-apocalyptic world. Different characters will be controlled for each episode while ‘boss’ encounters will feature entire famous scenes from the manga, recreated in intricate detail.
Over 20 playable characters will be available, including Falco, Shachi, Shew and Juza.
Dynamic new moves. The destructive power of the techniques of Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken meet the intense action of the Warriors series to produce a thrilling experience. In addition to the signature moves of the first title, new actions such as ‘sprint’ and ‘dodge’ have been added to the move sets.
Dream Mode introduces new, original storylines to the Fist of the North Star Universe while bridging the gaps between parts of the main story, often focusing on some of the series’ minor characters.
Online Co-Op and Versus play. For the first time, Dream Mode will be playable in co-op or versus play via the internet.

Publisher:TECMO KOEI

Platforms: PS3 and XBOX360

Release Date: 1/2/2013

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.