PAX 2008: Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic First Hands-On

If you missed Rag Doll Kung Fu on the PC the first time around, now's your chance to check it out on the PlayStation 3. From the creator of LittleBigPlanet, Mark Healey originally developed Rag Doll Kung Fu independently in his spare time while he was an artist at Lionhead Studios. At the Penny Arcade Expo 2008, we got a chance to play with Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic and were surprised and amused at just how wobbly--and deadly--a fighting rag doll can be.

Only two modes were available to play: Capture the Fish and King of the Hill. You begin by selecting your character from the cast of colorful dolls. There's your stereotypical old kung fu master with a wide and toothless grin, or you can choose to fight as the man with the afro and well-manicured mustache. Other characters were available as well, and are so detailed that we could even see if their toenails were painted. Capture the Fish has you grabbing a slippery, floppy fish from a platform and bringing it to the other side of the stage to dump it in a large bowl. Your goal is to bring back the most fish. We only had a chance to play with two players, but up to four people can battle it out to get the prized fish. Weapons will appear, and you can pick them up and slap the other players around to steal their fish--or you can just do it to be annoying.

In King of the Hill mode, you're trying to get to the top-most platform and stay there while your score accumulates. The other players are trying to knock you off by any means possible. Jars are strewn about the level, and you can always chuck one at the head of your opponent. We can picture this mode getting a little hectic when four players are involved.

What stands out about Rag Doll Kung Fu is the physics and how each character moves. The overly exaggerated ragdoll physics makes the movement feel smooth, but when you're watching, you'll see dolls flailing about. Grabbing weapons and using them also makes your character show off his or her cool kung fu moves, and even though the modes that we played in didn't require fancy martial arts, we felt the need to bust out with the nunchaku just because we could.

Other modes that we saw in the main menu but didn't get to play with included Deathmatch, Assassin, and Treasure Hunt; we can only guess what these modes will entail. Check back soon for more kung fu coverage, as Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic will be available on the PlayStation Network this winter.