There a lot of games over the years that try and capture the magic of the popular cartoons they are based off . Sadly a good majority, if not all of them, are doomed to failure, mainly because of the cartoon translating badly into a game. Konami's latest game, Xiaolin Showdown, is a game that is based on a cartoon. It is pretty much another version of the Sega classic series Power Stone. And while all the cast is there from the cartoon to support it, it just doesn’t capture what the show delivers. I'm a fan of the show and have been for a while. They have a large library of special items to use, colorful characters to use as playable people or to use to make great boss battles. Let's see if this turns out to live up to the cartoon show's promise or fail to do so.
Story 5/10
The story is taken right off the CW’s show, which shares the games title. Thankfully I have nothing bad to say about the story. I had to do some research and caught it while I was testing the game and it stayed very true to the show. That’s a very good thing because the show is actually quite enjoyable.
Fifteen hundred years in the past, evil almost overtook the world. The master Xiaolin Monk Grand Master Dashi was able to suppress each these threats with the use of his magical tools, the Shen Gong Wu. Ultimately he was able to trap the evil Heylin witch Wuya in a small wooden puzzle box which lead to 1500 years of peace.
In the present day, four young people from across the globe are brought together at the modern Xiaolin temple to prepare for their destined lives as the legendary Xiaolin Dragons. The would be world-conqueror and self proclaimed boy genius Jack Spicer releases Wuya from her prison, and the Shen Gong Wu begin to reveal themselves to both parties.
The story follows the monks as they train and hone their skills, while countering ever greater evil threats. Eventually a new enemy surfaces in the form of Chase Young. who at one point was great Xiaolin Dragon that turned to the dark side to increase his power. Chase now seeks to turn Omi to the side of evil as well.
Unfortunately the in-game story is only loosely based on this fantastic tale of cartoon mythology .The game being styled the way it is only hints and tosses you random story bits to hold together the level transitions and stage changes. The game developers pray it makes a solid story but aside from the intro, there really is no true subsistence.
