Everyone deserves a shot at fame, to feel the glory of admiration, and in Kings of Kung Fu: Masters of the Art, the #skilled stuntmen to cinema’s top billed #martialartists get their chance for stardom. This one VS. one fighter is the definition of a passion and game #developer Jae Lee Productions certainly is. Kings of Kung Fu launches yesterday on Steam Early Access for Windows PC at a suggested retail price of $7.99 with a special 33% launch discount. Which Linux Game News found to be a bit under-priced, so gamers get a great deal here, and the release does work on Linux.
See the early access launch trailer for Kings of Kung Fu here:
“Developing Kings of Kung Fu has been interesting to say the least. Long hours. Blood, sweat and tears along with 3 hard drive failures, but it has all been worth it.
I set out to create the fighting game I’ve always wanted; a kung fu film fans dream game, a game anyone can pick up and feel like a badass martial artist in and just have fun with it. I grew up on fighting games and kung fu movies. My Father was a teenager during the golden era of martial arts films in the 70’s, so as far back as I can remember there had been martial arts in our household. Everything from the characters’ styles and stages to the sound effects has been crafted with care from someone who is a kung fu film and fighting game junkie.”
– Jay Bowman, Founder Jae Lee Productions
Leslie House, Production Manager at Digital Tribe Games says “We wanted to get into Steam’s Early Access to talk to a broad spectrum of fans and get them involved before release and reward their creativity and input with special pricing. To aid in helping Jae Lee Productions fine tune and balance gameplay, get their wishlists and build a community around the game for launch. We will be embracing the community’s interactions and weighing heavily their feedback, suggestions and feature requests with the realistic ability to fulfill them.
Jay concludes “This won’t be one of those stuck in Early Access abandoned titles. I’ve come too far and sacrificed too much to get here. With the help of the fans and my partners at Digital Tribe this game will see an official release.”
In Kings of Kung Fu: Masters of the Art, a mysterious fighter, Red Ronin, has challenged his fellow cinema stuntmen to prove their worth in a series of one on one fights across various sets on the studio lot for a starring role in a feature film. While they have never been the stars of their films, they can now prove that they are as skilled and tough as the famous stars they have spent their lives filling in for. This tournament will prove just how good they are and who among them is the best.
FEATURES INCLUDE
- Refined block/evade animations imbues a sense of fluidity and realism
- 9 character roster at launch- 8 base fighters plus 1 boss character
- 12 unique and dynamic background stages inspired by classic films
- 100+ unique moves per fighter (including advanced moves and throws)
- Soundtrack contains over 20 songs influenced by classic Kung Fu films and old-school style hip hop
- Fight against the computer in Arcade Mode or match skills against a friend in Local Multiplayer Matches
Choose to take on the role of one of 8 martial arts masters as you fight to show your style cannot be beat. Each fighter’s style is based on actual moves inspired by martial arts cinema where their bodies are their weapons. Fine-tuned in diverse and unique methods of physical destruction, each style brings with it 100’s of attacks, counter attacks, blocks and grapples ranging from your basic kicks and punches to advanced attacks and combo chains that can devastate any opponent.
Selectable fighters include Tao Lung the Chinese Boxing Master, Chen Fu the master of Drunken Style, Ron Jones and his fierce Shorun-ryu Karate, Hou Feng with his spastic yet deadly Monkey Style, Lo Wei the Shaolin Master, John Deux is top of his game in Kickboxing, Ju Mao the Hapkido Master and the Muay Thai Master Chang Tai.
How does Kings of Kung Fu play on Linux?
Well the game downloaded as a beta, so you can expect some longer loading times and maybe slightly less response in initial controller support. But Kings of Kung Fu does work well, integrating nicely with the xbox 360 controller, it just took a couple of seconds before the responsiveness kicked in (no pun). So everyone should be able to throw spin-kick’s or jump attack’s fairly quickly in a stable build, as the learning curve is not too severe.
We have to admit, it’s great to see such a one vs. one martial arts game on Linux. With better native graphics quality of course, moreso than on Windows, but that’s the new standard in gaming. Which you all know by now, right?
Also, if you have not picked up on it yet, there is a very close reference to the classic Bruce Lee movies here, in particular “Enter the Dragon”. Yes it had us laughing too, but there are other characters you will relate to as well. No spoilers. All in all, great gameplay and more fun than you would expect.
Kings of Kung Fu: Masters of Kung Fu is now available on Steam’s Early Access program for Linux and Windows PC with the suggested retail price of $7.99 and a 33% release discount. The Mac version is planned for a later date, but we really only had the chance to test out the Linux and Windows versions.
