Monkey King: Hero is Back is not the groundbreaking experience it could have been
Sony’s first marquee China-themed game is based on a hit animated film, but the gameplay is uninspired
Relying on beloved characters from a blockbuster animated film isn’t enough to make a great video game when the gameplay feels like an afterthought.
The problems in this game are many: An uninspiring, button-mashing combat system, a repetitive lineup of enemy types, an unjustifiable amount of loading screens, and unchallenging level designs. That’s contrasted with some gorgeous animation, but that’s not enough to save the game.
This is an unfortunate turn for such a beloved character. The Monkey King is the iconic character from the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. It tells the redemption story of the superpowered, god-killing Sun Wukong, as the Monkey King is known in Chinese, after a monk set him free from shackles laid by the Buddha himself.
But in this adaptation, the monk who set the Monkey King free is an adorable fanboy of the legend. Initially irritated by the child monk’s unbridled interest in him and his constant preaching about doing good, the Monkey King undergoes a change of heart when the boy is kidnapped by a demon. As a result, the Monkey King has to regain his forgotten powers to rescue the boy.