Kya: Dark Lineage (PlayStation 2)

A large part of what made Rayman 2: The Great Escape such a memorable experience was the idea that a 3D platforming hero could do more than just hop around on platforms and off of enemies, as the game's imaginative use of unique gameplay mechanics followed suit. Eden Games' Kya: Dark Lineage borrows liberally from Ubisoft's outstanding 3D platformer game in terms of both gameplay variety and visual style. But don't mistake "derivative" for "disappointing." Kya is a top-notch production from top to bottom, and the experience of playing it is surely worth the time of any 3D action adventure fan.

Kya: Dark Lineage keeps things interesting by including a wide array of gameplay mechanics.

Kya: Dark Lineage is set in a colorful, cartoonlike fantasy world, but it's not without some dark corners. The story follows our titular female protagonist as she and her half brother get sucked into this alternate dimension through an arcane device her long-absent father had stashed away. Her half brother Frank falls into the clutches of the evil Brazul, a powerful madman who is quickly turning the friendly Nativs, a race of amiable dog-people, into Wolfen, a race of significantly less-amiable wolf-people. Kya befriends the Nativs, is told that Brazul is, in fact, her father, and then goes on a quest to free Frank and square things up with Dad. The writing in Kya is surprisingly well done and gives Kya and the primary supporting characters a little bit of personality and depth of character, which, in turn, gets you that much more invested in the action.

The gameplay in Kya incorporates just about every mechanic that has shown up in a 3D action adventure game in the past few years. A lot of it is pretty standard stuff and consists of hopping on platforms, flipping switches, collecting various objects, solving some basic puzzles, and engaging in some light combat. Kya has a little boomerang that works well for dispatching certain enemies from a distance, but when she goes up against a Wolfen, she has to use her fists. The combat is pretty simple in the beginning, but as you progress and earn cash, you're able to buy special fighting bracelets that grant you additional moves. Still, the combat basically boils down to tapping on the square and triangle buttons repeatedly, which can become pretty repetitious. There are times, though, when going toe-to-toe with a Wolfen isn't an option. In this case, you have to use a little bit of stealth and cunning. Sometimes you just have to sneak past them undetected. In this task, the game is fairly forgiving. It makes the enemies' patrol routes rather simple and obvious, thus allowing for a good amount of slop. Sometimes you can even use your boomerang--while out of sight--on a group of Wolfen, which will rile them up so much that they'll knock each other out. This seems like an especially clever touch.

The game's visuals are always surreal and are sometimes quite impressive.

Once a Wolfen has been laid out, Kya can use a magic spell to turn him or her back into a mild-mannered Nativ. Nativs who have been restored return to the Nativ village, where they'll help build shops. These shops, which slowly pop up as you free more Nativs, will happily sell you special items that will grant you new abilities, which you'll absolutely need to progress. A few of the first items you pick up include climbing gloves, which let Kya climb up special walls that are overgrown with vines; a Jamgut whistle, which allows you to ride a Jamgut--a very tough two-legged lizard-type creature that can jump incredibly high and smash through just about anything; and a magic board, which is essentially a translucent snowboard that you need to make it through the game's sliding sections (where you'll slide down narrow paths--fraught with peril--at very high speeds).

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