The musically versed KickBeat pommels its way onto PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on September 3rd and will be entitled to the cross-buy feature, Zen Studios has confirmed. The team’s quirky blend of rhythm and martial arts was originally intended as a Vita-only release, however, the studio pushed the combat title in order to produce a PS3 version in response to audience demand. After almost three years in development, KickBeat has mastered its training and finally has a firm release date pegged down.
Here’s a brief snippet from the studio’s statement, which explains the game’s lengthy delay.
“We heard from so many players, asking for the game on PS3 so we put our heads down, guzzled gallons of energy drinks and just made it happen! Best of all, the game will be Cross Buy, so buy it once and enjoy it on both screens at no additional charge.”
Also packaged with this announcement was a brand new teaser for the game, which you can feast your eyes on right here:
As you can see from the above footage, KickBeat is an unabashed throwback to the cliché kung-fu movies from the 80s. Imagine Bruce Lee’s brutal fighting style, only choreographed to chime with a pacy soundtrack which, in essence, is the core mechanic behind KickBeat’s gameplay. Assuming the role of a martial artist, you are tasked with beating up a variety of enemies in harmony with the game’s impressive soundtrack – itself encompassing tracks from Pendulum and Marilyn Manson, among others.
Zen Studio’s martial arts title will also allow an element of user-generated content via KickBeat’s track generator, which taps into the user’s personal music library as its source. Subsequently, this gives players the chance to assume the role of a DJ and mix up their own music to serve as their in-game motivator during the rapid combat.
But what do you make of KickBeat? Do you think the studio’s departure from the Zen Pinball series is an admirable one? As always, drop your thoughts in the comments below.
