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Developer: Eden Studios
Publisher: Atari
Genre: Platform
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 04 Nov 03
User Rating
9.6 (8 votes) -
- Don't mistake this for yet another platformer. Kya's tight combat system and innovative gameplay makes this worthy of your playtime.
More Screens (30 total)
Overview
Over the years, PS2 gamers have been blessed with some of the most spectacular platformers on any consoles. Titles like Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank and Jak II have risen the bar on platformers, with their innovative gameplay mechanics, and engaging storytelling. You’ll be forgiven to give Kya a shrug, but play this and you’ll discover that this is not just another platformer.
The game opens with Kya and Frank discovering a hidden room inside their house. While investigating all the weird devices and artefacts, Frank inadvertently opened a portal to another world. They were both sucked into the portal. Kya awoke in this weird world, surrounded by weird cat-like creatures called Nativs, who proceeded to wish her away to escape the pursuit of evil Wolfens. Kya then learns that his half-brother Frank has been captured by the Wolfens, and their leader Barzul. She must then embark on a quest to save him, and free the peaceful Nativs from the evil Wolfens.
Gameplay
Right from the start, the game gives you a taste of the controls in your efforts to escape from the pursuing Wolfens and head over to the safety of the Nativ City. Like all platform characters, you can jump, roll, engage in armed or unarmed combat and use various gadgets and items.
Very early in the game you learn that the Wolfens are in fact Nativs who have been captured and transformed by Barzul. So, in your efforts to liberate them, you must incapacitate the Wolfens, and ‘exorcise’ them to return them to their original self. This is where excellent and versatile battle engine comes in play. You equip bracelets, which bestow certain powers, and skills on you. At first you can also do simple combos by moving the left analogue stick and the square and triangle buttons, but more damaging and spectacular moves will open up as you equip better and more powerful bracelets. After the Wolfens have been subdued, the option is open for you to exorcise them, for which you must spend the specified amount of mana to accomplish. These mana comes from mana orbs, abundantly littered throughout the environment.
But it doesn’t end here, and these freed Nativs return to Nativ City and build shops that in turn sell you items and weapons. This is quite novel, and you’ll have added incentive to free as much as the Nativs as possible, in order to open up more shops and expand your inventory. As you play and liberate more Nativs, more items will be made available, ranging from the various bracelets, boomies (boomerang), climbing gloves, boards, bombs and more. These items require nooties, the currency in the game, which you can get from smashing boxes, and playing various minigames in Nativ City.
The game is not all action, as you’ll need to exercise that grey matter too in some puzzle-solving segments. It mostly involves level pulling and switch throwing, with some climbing thrown in for good measure. You can also use the critters as a trampuline, due to Kya inability to perform a double jump. Nothing would be too hard on you, but there are mostly quite challenging all the same.
Another interesting feature in Kya is the use of winds as means of transportations. We’ve seen it in Namco’s Klonoa: Lunatea’s Veil, but here its given more prominence. The locations are connected via a series of air currents and slides, giving it a somewhat theme park feel. The result is a quite exhilarating experience. You can get into the air cannon, which shoots you off to a distant island, and land you on a slide where you use your board to evade the obstacles and reach your intended destination. Absolutely brilliant.
Graphics
Make no mistake. This game would not rival the graphical brilliance of Sly Coopers or Ratchet & Clank 2, but it does what it sets out to do. With most of the attention going towards the solid gameplay, the graphics did not suffer much. Aside from the occasional popups and collision detection problems, Kya moves with a fairly solid framerate, even in those super-fast air-sliding scenarios.
The characters in Kya are nicely detailed, with attention mostly given to Kya, for obvious reasons. The environments are not left behind, as the game features a lush and colourful look, not unlike the famed Rayman series.
Fun Factor
Kya is certainly a fun game to play. While you’re off freeing the natives, you can also engage in the variety of minigames in Nativ City, for example Klautrophobia (navigate a narrow wind track while avoiding obstacles), Dinner’s Ready! (keep the micken critters from eating the dinner) and Speed Racing (power down the slides at unsafe velocity). You can earn Nooties by betting on these games, and it’s a nice way to boost up your coffers to buy those lovely accessories and weapons.
One minor gripe that I have is the map, is quite confusing. Perhaps an option to display the map on field screen, ala Final Fantasy X, would have been a better idea. Having said that, the camera could be more refined, as the game has a tendency to get stuck in a particular angle, and won’t centre the view until you move from that spot. But apart from that, everything stays tight and solid.
Overall
All in all, Kya turns out to be quite an enjoyable platformer. While technically less refined than the big boys, Kya manages to hold its own with its unique blend of action and puzzle-solving. The somewhat short gameplay (less than 20 hours) and lack of promotion by Atari could be a turnoff for some, but give this one a try and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this little gem. Recommended.
- Gameplay
9.0 - Graphics
8.0 - Fun Factor
9.0 - Overall
9.0
