The new 'Shaq Fu' game is aggressively bad and pretty offensive
Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn, the sequel to the legendarily bad and weird game Shaq Fu, is not good.
After a couple of hours of playing the Shaq Fu: The Legend Reborn, it's abundantly clear that almost no thought went into this game in terms of gameplay. Not only that, the Shaq Fu sequel is a bit racist, sexist, and homophobic.
The game starts off in China, where little baby orphan Shaquille is discovered in a bag floating down a river. It's a bit of a jab at the classic "chosen one" origin story, but it's quickly revealed the this game doesn't know how to do anything but make fun of tropes, which itself is an awfully tiring trope.
While punching wave after wave of generic enemies to death, Shaq moves through the world and we get to glimpse at some of the background imagery, which is not a problem considering the combat requires almost zero focus 90% of the time.
In the first level, which is in China, the majority of stores are Chinese knock-offs of other popular brands from around the world. There's HMW (a reference to BMW), F.P. Chang's (P.F. Chang's), and a place called Hunglow Fried Chicken.
It's about as original and sensitive as the character Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles, in that it's not at all original or sensitive and leans pretty heavy on stereotypes.
The lack of originality in this game even extends to the soundtrack, which consists of poorly parodied popular songs – kind of like Weird Al's style of music but less enjoyable.
Moving onto the second level, which starts you off on a pier dotted with yachts on your way to beat up Baby Face (a lazy reference to a Justin Bieber-type character), fatigue already begins to set in. The first enemy you meet is an effeminate, muscular guy wearing a tight pink floral shirt and cutoff jean shorts.
It's a clear stereotype of gay men, and you beat up dozens of them on your way to fight Baby Face.
During level three, which is in Los Angeles, it's clear that you'll never actually fight any women in this game. In place of women are very feminine demons with nasty teeth and horribly shrill voices.
At first it seemed like this was just a character type in the first level, but no, these demons were holding Baby Face signs in level two and would get distracted from fighting and randomly cheer Baby Face for no reason. In level three, the demons seem to replace what would normally be women on the streets of LA – which makes it seem like they represent all women.
Level three is where I stopped. The game controls poorly, the combat is one of the most repetitive and boring things I've ever experienced, and the lame, uninspired jokes never stop.
You grab IcyHot to gain full health. One of the characters repeatedly says Gold Bond, acknowledging that he's getting paid every time he does so. There are achievements with names like "Choked the Chicken." The enemies are all basically the same.
It pretty much lives up to the expectations set upon it by the original 1994 game and once again raises the question: Why did this get made?
Topics Gaming
