PS3 Informer

Preview: The Invincible Tiger

If you were a kung fu master in ancient china, it would be hard to come up with a name as intimidating as the "Invincible Tiger". Dude shows up with a name like that, and you just know that someone's going to get thrown through a window. The UK based developer Blitz Games has announced a new collaboration with Namco Bandai called Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao is an arcade brawler, which follows Han Tao as he fights to reclaim the Star of Destiny from the Evil Overlord. Our money is on the Invincible Tiger in this fight -- how much more generic could an evil overlord's name possibly be? Along the way he battles the Overlord’s evil throngs, which include standard grunts and the added dimension of the undead. Kung Fu master, check. Evil overlord, check. Undead kung fu zombies, check. We are ready to buy this game already, without even seeing a trailer.

Being a brawler, The Invincible Tiger places a lot of emphasis on combos and counter attacks. Han Tao definitely has the moves to combat his enemies: Using intense combos, well-timed blocks and a lot of skill, players can unlock the potential of his power and decimate the evil ones.

Lead project manager Ollie Clarke said about the title: “I wanted to make a game that played like the martial arts movies I loved when I was growing up, and that's something we stuck to from creation through to development. It’s a fluid fighting game, easy to play but difficult to master! Games should be fun, so we've thrown in loads of tongue-in-cheek humour for fans of the genre. Hopefully gamers will have as much fun playing Invincible Tiger as we had making it!”

The cinematic influences on the game are completely apparent as soon as you boot it up -- even the title menu looks like something taken from a 1970s movie poster. During play, there is also a grainy film-like filter applied to the action to make it look like you are playing in a schlocky b-movie.

Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao will also include a number of single-player challenge modes and multiplayer action, although the details are scarce for the moment. At the very least, we already know there will be local 2-player co-op.

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