Game Reviews

Way of the Dogg

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Way of the Dogg
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| Way of the Dogg

We're not sure what it is with all these rappers thinking they're kung fu experts. It would be patently ridiculous in any other musical genre.

Imagine Willie Nelson extolling the virtues of capoeira, or Mumford & Sons taking up mixed martial arts.

Actually, the thought of England's bland-rock champions taking an elbow to the windpipe is rather appealing.

Anyway, here we are with Way of the Dogg, which features none other than Snoop Dogg as a kick-ass kung fu guru.

It's a Dogg beat hoodlum world

This isn't a beat-'em-up, though. Rather, it's a rhythm-action game where the actual fighting is simply the backdrop for some phat beats from Mr Dogg and plenty of rhythmic dot-bashing from you, the player.

You know the score. An indicator moves between various configurations of targets, and you must hit, slash, or drag to them in time to the music.

Each 'fight' is split into a number of flurries of attacks between two combatants, and the success of your beat-matching determines whether your health bar drops or your opponent's does.

The beat-matching is reasonably solid, though the sound effects that accompany each beat detract from the music somewhat, and don't always seem to match up to the beat of the fine hip hop tracks in the background.

Dogg eared

The story is nicely delivered through sharp comic book interludes, with "Snoop D-O-Double-Gizzle" lending his voice to his guru character and decent enough efforts from the rest of the cast.

It's hardly the most thrilling story, though. It's a pretty bog-standard tale of revenge, which could have been lifted from any '70s kung fu movie.

The fights themselves are well animated and imaginatively choreographed, but there's no way you can watch them while you're concentrating on beat-matching. It seems a bit of a waste.

Way of the Dogg is a decent enough beat-matching game, but its fighting angle falls slightly flat, and its stages tend to drag on a little too long.

Ultimately, if you want an urban-flavoured beat-matching game, you're probably better off with the 3-year-old B-Boy Beats.

Way of the Dogg

A competent and polished beat-matching game in which the core action isn't quite snappy or compelling enough to make a dope impression
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.