Rise of the Kasai

If you’ve ever watched a Disney movie and thought, “This is beautiful, but there really should be more decapitations,” you’re Rise of the Kasai’s target audience. The follow-up to Mark of Kri features rambunctious Rau, once more needed to stop the spread of Kri’s dark magic, but this time you'll never press the X button more in your life. Sure, some additional innovation would have been nice, but as with any Jerry Bruckheimer film, you seek out Kasai for the spectacle, not the story. Top Hollywood animators have created truly lush Asian-themed backgrounds, and the pan-flute-like accompaniment is weirdly effective. But the game's focus on cooperative gameplay with an AI fighting partner feels more forced than fun. If we wanted to be this bored with another person, we’d have gotten married.