Digital Entertainment NewsNews and reviews from the perspective of the average gamer.

Subscribe to DigNews

Kya Dark Lineage

It’s a bit odd that Atari chose to let Eden Games push the envelope of this appealing platform title far enough to earn the “T for Teen” ESRB rating, because the entire design of the game seems aimed right at the Disney/Pixar audience.

Utilizing a broad animation style that would be right at home alongside your LION KING DVD, only some indulgence in crude humor and “suggestive themes” push this game out of the age range it seems most desirably aimed at, the pre-teen market. The story opens with Kya and her brother bemoaning the disappearance of their father as they sift through his belongings. In THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE-style, little brother inadvertently uncovers a portal to another dimension and a whirlwind/black hole type vortex sucks them through into another world, a world of talking animals and other fairy-tale-come-true creatures.

Yet following more in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm than Walt Disney, there’s a dark edge to the world Kya enters, and real threats to the well being of both Kya and her brother. Still, there is a possibility that the world may hold the secret to their father’s mysterious disappearance. In the transition to the world, Kya is separated from her brother and much of the impetus of the action becomes a quest to find her brother and, ultimately, the truth behind their father’s disappearance.

It’s a bit more, story-wise, than the average platform game usually offers and so is a welcome entry to the genre. Beyond the story, the “animated” world of Kya is bright, colorful and fun, further underlining how ideally the game could have been marketed to pre-teen gamers had the developers exercised a bit more self-control and policed the sophomoric jokes and suggestive content that will cause at least some parents to hold the game back from the under-10 set.

Yet Kya Dark Lineage is not a subversive enough title to really appeal to a truly adult audience. Although some titles have had success looking like a platform games for kids but ending up packed to the brim with naughty “Robin Williams in a nightclub” adult humor, KDL never really breaks out into being a full-fledged adult title, either. That indecision makes it perhaps a bit harder to market because it’s too adult for the very young yet perhaps not adult enough for the adult gamer.

Still, the gameplay balance salvages the apparent lack of audience-focus. From the opening cinema to the first interactive sequences, the game prepares you for gameplay and, through a series of misadventures, introduces you to the basic gameplay elements without overwhelming you with the level of challenge right out of the gate. Ramping up nicely as the game progresses, by the time you’re into the heart of the game, you know what you need to know about the controls without ever having to crack the game manual. That’s smart game-design and pulled off slickly enough to not actually “feel” like a tutorial mode, but just the earliest parts of the game.

Abilities get added as the game goes on and are all introduced through storytelling segments. There are no weapons in the early-going, which makes sense considering Kya the teenager would have no use for weapons until she arrives in the game world. Then, in action-RPG style, shops are introduced that allow you to add weapons and upgrade your arsenal, allowing you a purpose for all that platform-style coin collecting. Yet KDL is no action-RPG; it’s platform-action through and through.

Yet as pleasant as Kya is, the game pales in comparison to the best of recent releases in the genre. From Rachet and Clank II to Jax II, Kya is treading in the shadow of games that offer, in the case of Rachet and Clank II, more weapons and larger worlds, to, in the case of Jax II, an equally-impressive storyline to make the game all make sense.

Had Kya been released a year or two earlier, it would have been considered a bold innovator in the platform genre; as it stands, it simply lives up to the standard set by games that have come before it without really breaking any substantial new ground. While KDL won’t disappoint most gamers, it won’t take them anywhere they haven’t been before, either.

Kya is stuffed with action, comedy and plenty of intense action and is generally pretty enjoyable. If you’re tired of playing platformers starring talking animals, Kya is the title you’ve been waiting for. It’s just too bad that Atari and Eden Games never really made up their minds whether they wanted to game to be a truly adult titles and therefore up the ante of double-entendres and dirty jokes, or clean up the game’s act and open it up to the five-and-up audience. For young teens, KDL might be sophisticated enough to be enjoyable but for older gamers, the appeal may be somewhat limited unless they get hooked by Kya and her story – which is entirely possible.

[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]

Tags: Kya

Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Jan 6th, 2004 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Enter your email address:

Related Posts

• Kya Dark Lineage
• Kya
• Kya Ships
• Atari's New Gold

Post a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.