Review toddler 1/5 · Dec 14, 2020
Two generations past its sell-by date
Monkey King – Hero is Back is a movie tie-in that released in late 2019 some 4 years after the film of the same name. The movie remains second only to the runaway success NeZha on the list of highest-grossing Chinese animated pictures and the character of the monkey king is easily one of the most recognizable in modern Chinese …
Monkey King – Hero is Back is a movie tie-in that released in late 2019 some 4 years after the film of the same name. The movie remains second only to the runaway success NeZha on the list of highest-grossing Chinese animated pictures and the character of the monkey king is easily one of the most recognizable in modern Chinese pop culture.
The film, and thus the game, are based (very) loosely on the opening of the classic novel Journey to the West. You are Sun WuKong, the monkey king (known also as DaSheng), a martial arts expert with borderline superhero levels of power. 500 years prior, the monkey king placed himself as equal to the Gods, challenged their authority and was imprisoned for being an all-round rather naughty boy. In the novel, a wandering monk releases Sun; while in this kid-friendly that role is taken by a young buy, LiuEr.
DaSheng’s powers are limited, but by seeking redemption in performing acts of good, the seals placed upon him will be diminished (perect for a gradual opening of a skill tree). LiuEr reveals there’s trouble afoot: monsters have spread throughout the area and children are being abducted. Setting off, you’re also joined by the fallen general-turned pig Zhu BaJie. Thus starts a simple, but relatable story of redemption and friendship.
Once the game begins though it all unravels rapidly. While the visuals are appealing and the voice acting well done (I used Chinese audio, English subtitles), the combat is simplistic at best, tedious at worst. You have a 3-punch combo, a heavy attack for guarded enemies and a dodge. Ultimately that’s all you’ll ever need for the rest of the 8ish hour experience. Unlocking more spells as you progress through the story seems great on paper, but why bother when most are less effective than regular combat. You can pick up stones or chairs to use as weapons, but again there is rarely any need. There isn’t even a difficulty option as standard. An easy mode and one-hit death hard mode were locked behind a pre-order only download code.
The story is told mostly through fully rendered cutscenes, which as you would hope with a movie tie-in are mostly of a high quality. I say mostly because a significant proportion have been reduced to glorified slideshows including, hilariously, all the pre-final boss scenes. The audio is still fully voiced so either time or money running out is the only explanation.
Within the first half-hour you’ve essentially experienced everything this game has to offer. Enemies remain the same visually and mechanically throughout just with a different colour-set and combat never really steps things up. Please don’t even get me started on load screens. They never take too long individually, but area transitions are everywhere: doors, ladders. Ugh.
When I saw this for sale at bargain bin prices online (around $8 brand new) only one year after release, I wrongly assumed it was a locally developed game by a Chinese studio cutting its teeth in the industry. What it instead appears to be is a lazy cash grab by Sony trying to release a game specifically tailored to the already massive but ever-growing gaming market in mainland China. You may be surprised but be under no illusions, even prior to the official lifting of game console ban in 2015, systems were ubiquitous (without mentioning the PC market) and despite the PS5 and new Xbox not being officially released yet, imported systems are plentiful and seem actually easier to get hold of than in the US or Europe.
It is perhaps the above misunderstanding of gaming in China that explains the end result. Playing Monkey King is like stepping through a time portal to the PS2-era. Even the visuals, while nice, are nothing better than what we saw during the PS3-era. Gamers’ expectations have grown to the point where a game needs to stand on its own merits if it wants to be taken seriously. This game is quite plainly a relic two console generations out of date.
It seems a wild and incorrect assumption that Chinese gamers don’t know any better. I can only conclude that Sony believed them to be so starved of local IPs that they’d all jump on any recognizable title. Patronizing and making assumptions about customers rarely ends well. With that said, Monkey King – Hero is Back isn’t terrible or broken. It is aggressively okay. There is fun to be had in that mindless, comfortable way licensed games can be.
Expecting Chinese customers to prefer this over God of War or Spider-Man just because it’s a local IP though, assuming they don’t know what to expect from a game marketed as AAA and wouldn’t know any better: well, there are levels of stupid you only find in a committee room.