Kung Fu Panda [X360]

One of the big flicks of the summer is the upcoming CG-animated feature from Dreamworks, Kung Fu Panda. The film, starring the voices of Jack Black and Jackie Chan, focuses on a fat, lazy, but kung fu maniac panda named Po who, according to legend, is The Chosen One to become the Dragon Warrior. Activision continues its agreement with Dreamworks to produce videogame versions of the movie, and the company has offered up the first details of what we'll be playing this May.

Kung Fu Panda for the consoles and the Nintendo DS follow the events of the film, chronicling Po's rise out of his laziness and into his fate as a Kung Fu master. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are in development at Luxoflux, with Xpec handling the Wii and PlayStation 2 editions. Vicarious Visions once again is put to the task of bringing the movie to life on the Nintendo DS. The PC version's on the way from Beenox.

At least in the console versions of the game, players not only play as Po, but also as the other fighting characters patterned after the Chinese Zodiac: Tigress features the speed and strength of a tiger; Monkey's simian abilities enables him to flip around the environments and use his long tail as a weapon; Viper's got the bite of a snake because she is a snake – her stealth abilities are her strongpoints as are her special moves such as the Umbrella and Choking Coil attacks. Crane bird capabilities give him flight attacks, and the tiny Mantis is deceptively strong with his powerful and paralyzing strikes.

The console editions will feature 13 levels of action taken from the movie, and some situations will be specific to the game. Beyond this, there will also be a head-to-head mode as well as co-op challenges for those looking to get a friend into the action.

The film comes out in June, but Activision will have Kung Fu Panda ready for action in May 2008.

©2008-03-11, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved