Way back in 1994, the Shaq attack pulled its punches a little. Shaq Fu, a 2D fighting game for the SNES, hit shelves and then swiftly migrated to the bargain bins. The power of this basketball star and US icon was nowhere near enough to bolster a truly mediocre experience. Thankfully Shaquille O’Neal’s return to video gaming meets its potential promise and is definitely better than his first.
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn, is not only Shaq O’Neal’s second starring appearance in a video game, but a real re-invigoration of the franchise. Unlike the first, developer Saber Interactive and the game’s cover star worked extremely closely on this follow-up and it showed when I tested my mettle at EGX Rezzed 2018. Due out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on June 5 ,2018, Shaq Fu is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up that simply sets out to have a really good time. The opening splash screen makes this statement all too well. When I pulled up a chair to take Shaq through his latest adventure I was met with a brilliantly outlandish comic book cell of the titular hero, accompanied by the sultry vocals of his Shaqness, who recorded a new song just for this. It is an irreverent approach that attracts crowds to play, almost by the sheer force of its own personality.
That same persona is threaded throughout Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn and Shaq’s involvement is quite clear in this interpretation. The fully voiced dialogue features prominently and a huge amount of it is from Shaq himself. It takes more than a few shots at the man himself and quickly sets the tone for the rest of the game. A whole host of in-jokes follow, many of which will make substantially more sense to a US audience than myself. Still, it is great to see such wry humor crammed throughout the game, from the spiky back and forth between characters, to the Icy Hot health boosts littered around the opening town.
The wider narrative follows Shaq, an orphan adopted and trained in the mystical martial arts. When his village is attacked by a series of unannounced assailants, it is up to him to travel from one end of the screen to the other, battling a range of enemies. Mindless thugs, daemons, weapon-wielding assailants, and ninjas bombs are just some of the inventive obstacles that wait for Shaq while he unleashes the Fu on invaders. Boss encounters break up these levels and while they are far from taxing, encounters feel well paced and full of variety. The bright aesthetic, in-jokes and punchy back and forth dialogue I experienced was accompanied by at least six different types of opponent, in the opening level. Waves of these adversaries pour onto the screen, providing a good mix of combat encounters. While some are simply punching bags, others wield shields and even allow Shaq to repurpose their own weapons for his own ends.
The same basic principles that originally made Streets of Rage so exhilarating still apply in this modern game. The basic Shaq attack is deliberately simple and intuitive, destroying opponents as they block Shaq’s path. Saber Interactive, however, has a few more tricks up their sleeve. Attacking advisories builds up a power meter and can unleash several special moves. A series of similarly simple controls allow Shaq to stomp enemies with his size 22 sneakers, unleash a massive AOE attack, and stun opponents with a dash attack. These extra options give Shaq Fu just enough additional layers to keep the whole experience barreling forward without getting tedious. |In the end, the narrative aspect might seem fairly thin, but it really only needs to act as a reason to get this rollercoaster going.
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is definitely a worthy successor to Shaq Fu. It is a mechanically straightforward experience and definitely does not reinvent any genre, but it constantly drags users through that barrier with a sheer force of will. Everything from the slick graphics, self-deprecating humor, in-jokes, and great pacing made my time with Shaq Fu fly by. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn looks like it will easily surpass its predecessor, and thank goodness for that.
