Overall: A nice fighting-slash-adventure game, if a bit shakey...The graphics are very pointy and somewhat jerky (more on that below), and the overall impression is somewhat fuzzy...I've said it before and I'll say it again: Playstation has an incredible selection, and they may have the best sound system of all the consoles available, but when it comes to graphics quality, they fall flat on their asses. Very playable but...sigh. Oh well.
Graphics: shaking my headOooh man...Just sad. You gotta give em credit, they try their damndest, but this cuts the cheese. The graphics are very jerky, and for some reason you can't see what the hell's going on half the time. Half of the screen is covered in shadow, which I suppose the creators thought added suspense or something, but it just made it difficult to see. You can't zoom in to get a gander at your surroundings (which really ticked me off), and when you're fighting you often get your player confused with the baddies; the graphics are so poor you can't tell which is which! I would have enjoyed the background (which was Asian-themed) if I could have seen it! Also everything was rather one-dimensional; that is it would be if your players and the baddies didn't move around; even the fire didn't move. You could very clearly see the outlines of the pixels, and sometimes your player walked into half of a wall. Bad, bad, bad.
Sound System: On the bright side, the sound system rocked! It almost made up for the distractingly poor quality of the graphics. They had excellent background music, and terrific reality in the bad guy's various shrieks, growls and generic utterances. They must have recorded live panthers, monkeys, crickets ect, to get this kinda quality.
Plot: You're the last of the Tiger Clan, a teenage cat named Tai Fu, and you're seeking to learn the ancient ways of your long-lost ancestors with the help of the wizened old Mantis sage. Along the way you pick up the various secrets of other clans: Snake, Leopard, Mantis, Monkey, Panda, Crane, Boar, and Rat, and must defeat the Dragon King who has conquered and enslaved the other clans. More than a little Karate-Kid, but I liked it.
Abilities: Oy! Lots of em...I'm reading from the manual here: Jumping Spin Kick, Jumping Side Kick, Handspring, Turnaround Kick, Jump Throw, Taunt Strike, Taunt Healthup, Grab and Throw, and Block. The Taunt is especially fun; when you press the R2 button, he sort of cracks his knuckles (if a tiger can do that) and says "Take it!". There are also lots of different Combos you pick up along the way, from each of the different clans. You can also use Chi Power, which depending on which scroll you pick up, manifests itself as Earth, Lightning, Wind, Fire, or Water. Your Health meter, as per most games, is listed at the top, in addition to the amount of Chi you have left.
Difficulty: I'm still trying to figure out how hard this game is; Sally seemed to get a hang of it easily, but Sally's pretty good at games. I'd say it has a medium-to-hard difficulty; it's taking her a bit of time to get through it. In addition, the controls are heavy, yet fluid. It's fairly easy to knock yourself right off a cliff while fighting the spear-wielding snakes in the Leopard Valley (or whatever) area.
Final Review: It's an interesting game...just don't expect much from the graphics. Hell, don't expect anything from the graphics. Rent it for its playability, buy it if you like. It's not a bad little game, all in all. Stab/Tear...can't decide.