To be honest, I don’t have much to say regarding Fist of the North Star. I have never seen the anime, and only heard about the manga in passing, so my only exposure to the world is through the video games. The infamously horrendous Last Battle was based upon it back in the day, and no one remembers that classically bad Sega game. But I do remember Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage.

Ahh, Ken’s Rage. It was essentially a re-skinned version of Dynasty Warriors by Tecmo Koei, but it played really well. Off-the-wall characters and simple but elaborate move-sets lent themselves to the atmosphere of the manga valiantly. Ken’s Rage is not the best game on the market, but it is a fun diversion that would keep pugilists busy as they mowed down hundreds of enemies in an hour or so. Well, fast forward to 2013 and we have the sequel, Ken’s Rage 2, on our hands. Now we get to see the continuation of the story of Kenshiro as he beats the ever loving crap out of a ton of bad guys, and makes them explode with a touch of his finger! Koei did a great job making the game feel… wait a minute. I’ve played this before.

That’s right. Ken’s Rage 2 is basically the same exact game, with only minor tweaks to it. Most of said tweaks don’t even work in its favor. For one, there is no point in even doing the Legend mode again, since it’s the same story lifted from its predecessor. The only difference is that it feels cheaper and smaller because of the non-moving, manga-esque cutscenes and smaller brawling arenas. Everything else is almost a copy/paste job from Ken’s Rage. Enemy designs, arena aesthetics, and even the fighting moves all come from Ken’s Rage.

Basically, Koei ripped itself off in making Ken’s Rage 2.

Well, that may be a bit harsh, because there are a few changes in the mix. For one, combat is a bit faster in Ken’s Rage 2, which is good because they doubled the amount of enemies you have to slaughter. They also removed the jump button, save for a few occasions where they break up the action for random stealth and rescue missions. They also added a tiny level-up system to give the illusion of depth. Scrolls are used to augment five basic abilities, giving you more attack power, speed, health and so forth.

yawn.

Ken’s Rage 2 also suffers a problem of being very light on features. You have only two modes of play: Legend, which is the same storyline from Ken’s Rage and basically not worth the trouble. Dream Mode is back and completely revamped to resemble Dynasty Warriors, and to flesh out the villainous or supporting characters in the Fist of the North Star universe. Koei added more playable characters to Dream Mode as well, at least providing options for players in the extra mode of the game. Sadly, the mode wears thin after a while on your own. Luckily, Koei has added online co-op… which no one seems to use, as I was unable to find a living soul online playing this.

Everything else is frankly too bland to really mention. The environments are mostly devoid of detail, which makes sense since this is a post-apocalyptic setting, but they have no character to them. Instead, it is just a string of mini-arenas and corridors where you beat the crap out of baddies. The sound consists of Japanese voice-overs, repetitive guitar licks, and cheesy special effects. The enemies are basically all the same blue-mohawk sporting punks with knives, clubs, crossbows and claws pouncing on you. Sometimes they have black uniforms and skullcaps, sometimes they have spiky armor too, but in the end its all the same. Boss battles have been made easier and there is no real challenge to them, just rote-pattern recognition at best, and relentless button mashing at worst. Everything feels like a cheap cash-in that was forced through a sausage grinder.

Truth be told, Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 is a mess. There is nothing here that’s really new, and what they did add is buried under the testosterone-fueled, muscle-bound exterior of a re-skinned Dynasty Warriors game. The worst thing about it? It’s a downloadable title at a full retail price. Do yourself a favor and read the manga or watch the anime instead–Kenshiro’s story is much more fun than this uninspired brawler.

A download code for the PlayStation Network was provided by the publishers for this review. The game was played for 5 hours. The title is also available on Xbox 360 and Wii U.

Fists of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 Review

By Robert G.

There is nothing here that’s really new, and what they did add is buried under the testosterone-fueled, muscle-bound exterior of a re-skinned Dynasty Warriors game.