know what this is, I don't really watch anime. From what I can tell, dude knows karate and

has spiky hair. What a shocker! But I'll tell you this. If you like Fist of the North Star,

you were in luck in 2010. Because Ken's Rage was a decent game.

Your luck ran out by 2013, though.

As did Ken's hair gel.

That's because this sequel, Ken's Rage 2, is really just a shell of what its predecessor

was. I don't know what happened, but...things really fell off for this one. The budget,

first and foremost. Cutscenes are just...still images, which is both a nod to the manga and

a clever way to cut costs. Funny how that works out. The graphics are bland and blurry,

that beautiful brace of B-words, and the English voiceovers are gone.

A penny saved is a crappy sequel earned.

So how's it play, though? Well, did you play the first one? Because this one's just like

that one. You walk around, you got mobbed by bad guys, you throw those one million fists

of yours to bash their f*cking heads in. You can build up to do signature moves, but...for

the most part, this is Button Mash City.

Population, freaking, A button.

There's nothing wrong with a good button masher, but...this is not a good button masher. I

mean, there's really no gameplay hook whatsoever. The entire game is predicated on, "Wow, look

at all those enemies. There's blood everywhere." The moment those things wear off, so does

Ken's Rage 2.

There's just nothing beyond that here.

And again, what's weird is that...it's noticeably less good than the original. In this one,

the levels are all just...so cookie cutter. It's a pathway, open arena, pathway, boss.

The level design's as boring as the gameplay. Which is actually a pretty impressive feat.

So what does the game get right? Well, obviously, if you're into First of the North Star, there's

that basic appeal. Again, I don't even know these characters, but if you do, you obviously

are gonna be more interested. And there's a pretty neat supplemental mode that lets

you play as different characters, which is a really cool twist. It's kind of like Wicked.

You get to see things from the eyes of the witch. Or this guy.

I don't know. I like musicals. That's what I want. Oz! The...action-RPG.

Still, the problem with this game is that...it's a less-good version of the original, with

less-good everything. It doesn't look as good, its production values aren't as good...I mean,

the main mode is just a retelling of the same story from the first game. How is that even

a sequel? I mean, it's not a prequel, either. But...I guess it's an equal.

Only there's nothing equal about Ken's Rage 2.