New York Comic-Con: Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao

If you're going to release an original Beat-'Em-Up on Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network, your game needs a hook. There are just too many games in that genre available these days that are nothing short of favored classics--think Streets of Rage 2--with gobs of nostalgia working in their favor. In the case of the upcoming Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao , that hook is a tongue-in-cheek adherence to visual style of cheesy 1970s kung fu movies. Overacting, bad camerawork--you know the look.

Earlier today at the New York Comic-Con, we took a few minutes to play some Invincible Tiger at the Namco Bandai booth of the show floor. Like most games in the genre, the controls are fairly simple. You have buttons for kick, punch, jump, and one that lets you climb around on ladders and bust through doors--that sort of thing. You can also pick up objects to smash over enemies' heads such as barrels and priceless dragon statues.

The demo level we played had us fighting in a dojo environment against waves of enemies. Combat is fairly simple, as the main challenge is dealing with the sheer number of bad guys coming your way. In true cheesy kung fu style, your character has plenty of cheesy attack animations to really ham it up, and he'll make some flashy grunting noises too. The types of bad guys you face escalates from normal martial artists, to quick ninjas, to showboating minibosses. An example from the latter category is an obese, tattooed kung fu expert who smashes through the wall to take you on just when you're getting into the groove of combat.

If you want to get really stylish, you can dodge attacks to build up your zen meter, which will increase your speed and power and allow you to fight like you're in a hokey kung fu movie set on fast forward. If you're not doing so hot, there's a medidation button that allows you to restore some health while leaving you much more exposed than normal to enemy attacks. As far as multiplayer goes, you can fight it out with two-player co-op and four-person versus modes.

Invincible Tiger is an interesting little game overall. It's not terribly deep, original, or anything that's likely to set the world on fire when it comes out. But it's got a clever sense of humor and manages to lampoon a campy film genre in a format you don't often see done. It'll be available this summer on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.