Even though mature games like Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Onimusha are its bread and butter, Capcom does have a lighter side away from the good old-fashioned ultra-violence that defines some of its strongest franchises. As an example of that point, Capcom have released a woefully overlooked little PS2 gem by the name of Legend of Kay, a lighthearted action-platformer starring a young feline Kung Fu warrior that does away with blood and guts and provides a richly detailed and fantastically fun gameplay experience fit for gamers of all skill sets and ages.

Crafted at Neon Studios, Legend of Kay tells an animorphic Kung Fu tale about an orphaned cat and martial arts apprentice in training to become a great warrior on the serene island of Yenching, a land where cats and other animals live together in peace and harmony. One day, however, Yenching is thrown into chaos when Shun, the mighty Lord of the Gorillas, teams with Tak, the King of Rats, to unleash their armies together on the island and enslave all of its inhabitants. Not one to back down from a fight, Kay must put his training into practice for the first time and use his combat skills to save the village and all of Yenching from these unbearable dictators, like any videogame hero should. Unfortunately, while the cast is certainly cute and endearing, and the presentation of the storytelling is impressive, the story itself won't do much to incite the emotions of older gamers with its kindergarten-level dialogue and scriptwriting. This is perfectly understandable for a game trying to be accessible to youngsters, but taking the rest of the game into consideration, the story doesn't hold up all that well over the long haul and is clearly the game's weakest link.

However, what Legend of Kay lacks in captivating narrative material it more than makes up for with its combat-heavy gameplay and energetic atmosphere. Like any good lead action-platform star, Kay has all the requisite skills needed to pounce through the game's many beautiful environments, such as double jumping, climbing walls, swinging from poles, sliding down zip lines and even swimming for short durations. As an agile cat, Kay is also capable of greater acrobatics, like somersaulting, wall hopping and traversing balance beams. Amidst the linear yet quite large environments you need to utilize each and every single one of these abilities to avoid the various environmental pitfalls and obstacles that Kay comes across, including whirlpools, spiked floors, swamp mud, crumbling platforms and so on. There's no shortage of reflex-intensive platforming to deal with in Legend of Kay, along with the typical array of block and switch puzzles - and for the most part everything handles responsively. The manual 3D camera does cause occasional frustrations during the more challenging jumping sequences, due to the need to adjust it while judging jumps, but it's nothing serious.

On his village-saving mission, Kay must also complete various quests, usually of the item-fetching variety, for NPC critters indigenous to the current environment in order to advance to the next - expect to meet and aid all sorts of cute talking animals, like adorable bunnies, panda bears, cats and even Rastafarian frogs, all being enslaved by Shun's and Tak's minions. Along the way you'll need to open treasure chests and bust pots and crates to collect coins and buy various items, such as bombs and health potions among others, at the occasional equipment shop that pops up. The game even throws boar, wolf, dragon and boat racing mini-games to further spice up the pot of diversity, and although none of these mini-games is of great quality due to their inherent basis on trial-and-error, in the small moderation they are offered they do keep the pace moving along nicely.

The platforming and questing elements are solid in their own rights, however in Legend of Kay it is the fluid and delightfully challenging combat system that reigns supreme. As you move through each world, all sorts of nasty beasties come out to play, and they sure aren't looking to make friends with you! From armor-equipped bears, crocodiles, gorillas and rats, to spiders, bats, man-eating plants and sai-wielding turtles, you're up against formidable foes every step of the way. Taking these enemies to the cleaners is where Legend of Kay truly shines; you have a basic arsenal of three upgradeable weapons to acquire over the course of the game, including a sword, hammer and pair of claws, and with them you can do all sorts of powerful martial arts attacks - basic combos, rolling thrusts, jumping and somersault attacks, throwing maneuvers, uppercuts, 360-degree sweeping attacks and special magical powers. Each of the three weapons also has its specialty uses for every situation; the sword is the all-around weapon of choice that you'll use more often than not, the claws can be used while swimming and are deadly against unarmored foes (but useless against those that are armored) and the hammer, while slow swinging, can be used to smash cracked flooring to reveal special passages, and is great at breaking enemy armor in a jiffy.

Every weapon and tactic in your arsenal is completely necessary too, due to the surprising level of difficulty, should you play on the Normal, Hard or Nightmare settings (the provided Easy setting isn't so tough, catering to the casual gamer that this game is mostly targeting). Blocking and evading both become mandatory actions as the game continues, as does the nifty Combo Mode. As enemies are defeated, a combo counter begins to increase, and as it grows by killing other enemies in quick succession, Kay's attacks become increasingly more and more damaging. When Combo Mode is activated, you can also whip Kay back and forth between surrounding enemies, simply by pressing Triangle while pointing the left analog stick in the targeted direction. Aerial enemies can be taken out, without Kay having to touch the ground a single time, and airborne chains of special flying Zhongs let Kay zip through the air to reach high ledges or floating items. This combo mechanic lends the combat a very acrobatic style that functions remarkably well and fits right at home with the Kung Fu/martial arts theme.

Also tying into the Combo Mode is the scoring system, through which points are earned as you collect items and defeat enemies. By gathering the colored crystals strewn throughout each game environment, a score multiplier begins to build for every five crystals of one color that you collect. By collecting a stockpile of like-colored crystals immediately before engaging the enemy, the increased multiplier results in a higher achievement in score once the opposition has been slain. You are probably now wondering to yourself what exactly is the point in earning a high score. Well folks, Legend of Kay comes loaded with all sorts of cool bonuses in its Extras Menu, and earning certain score totals is the only way to unlock most of it. Extras include the usual bonus materials like concept art, movie viewer, music player, 3D character renders to tinker with, hidden weapons and the various racing mini-games. Not everyone will be compelled to go back and hunt all of this stuff down, however combined with the game's already lengthy ten to fifteen hours of play, there's a hefty chunk of content to sift through, making a purchase even more worthwhile.

Rounding out what is an outstanding gameplay experience, Legend of Kay is presented with beautiful visuals that can rival almost any action-platform game on the market. Although the story is passé, the way in which it is presented via slick animated comic book-type panels makes the game come to life as if it were an actual cartoon adventure. In-game, the lushly vegetated forests, murky swamps, foggy caves, rocky canyons and ancient tombs you traipse through are all gorgeously brought to life with detailed set pieces and subtle details, such as spectacular flame and torchlight special effects, shiny reflective surfaces and ambient touches, like bees swarming over flower patches and cattails swaying to and fro in the breeze. Character models are also richly detailed and animated with a loveable and unique art style, bringing each and every one of them to life. The only problem here is that Neon Studios couldn't quite get this gorgeous graphical package running on all cylinders, as can be seen by occasional frame rate dips that, while no hindrance to the gameplay, deplete the visual impact the game has when actually running smoothly.

Another standout production element that Legend of Kay snags itself on is utterly horrid voice acting, which is a key factor in why the storyline never takes off. Some of the acting is decent enough, for characters like Su Ling (Kay's best friend) and Kay's Master, however overall the voiced dialogue is the pits. Sadly enough, the acting behind Kay is probably the worst of the bunch, which shouldn't happen for the star character. Other than the voiceover snafu, the rest of Legend of Kay's audio is fantastic, featuring an oriental/marital arts flavored soundtrack that sets the mood perfectly, and great ambient and combat sound effects that immerse you into the action.

I always love a good sleeper hit, and in the case of Legend of Kay I have found one of the top ones in recent memory. This game is so finely constructed, minus the lackluster story, voice acting and frame rate dips, that it really shouldn't even be a sleeper. However, in today's mainstream demand for games bursting with blood and guts, I'm only disappointed, not shocked, to see this game, and Neon Studios, not getting the recognition they deserve. I've honestly had just as much fun with Legend of Kay as I have had with any of the action-platform genre's top contenders, and I highly recommend opening your mind, looking past the cutesy exterior and giving this shiny little gem a chance.

Reviewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).