With blue dreads and a bladed bone hairpin, Kya makes her PS2 debut in somewhat less than spectacular fashion. Atari’s newest heroine is very cute, but she doesn’t have what it takes to beat down her real enemy—a market supersaturated with other platformers. The first indication of Kya’s mediocrity is the slapped-together plot. The story revolves around Kya, who is sucked into a “mysterious world” along with her half-brother, Frank. When Frank is captured by Brazul (the evil ruler of the land), Kya suddenly becomes a master of weaponry, including her fists and her boomerang hairpin. Surprisingly, the depth of the combat in this game is one of its best assets, whether you delight in mashing the buttons indiscriminately or patiently practicing long strings of complicated combos. Kya’s combat system offers a large library of fighting moves and adds new ones as Kya progresses through the game. Unfortunately, Kya is a very difficult game to play as the controls are not particularly intuitive and the camera seems to delight in going haywire during delicate jumping situations. In addition, there are several frustrating points in the game where Kya must flawlessly complete large sections or else face having to do them all over again. This is great for fans of tedium and frustration, but with so many other contenders to the throne, Kya’s attractive graphics and plucky heroine are not really enough to place it on top of the platform pile
