These are some dolls you definitely shouldn't play with.
Rag Doll Kung Fu is a fighting game, like Smash Bros. or Mortal Kombat, except it's a physics-focused game. You can toss objects around the room, throw opponents, and jump and grab onto things. It all looks smooth and the movement looks authentically puppet-like, but it's not nearly as much fun to perform these moves as it is to watch them, thanks to the unresponsive controls. I found myself pushing against the control stick and not going anywhere on multiple occasions, and sometimes I stood above an item, pressed the grab button, and grabbed the item next to me instead. These kinds of stupid inconsistencies aren't rare, either. They happen all the time, and they make the game's brain-dead combat even worse.
The main focus here is on multiplayer, but as mentioned earlier, it's strictly offline. Yes, that's right, it's a PlayStation 3 game in 2009 that's completely focused on multiplayer and only has offline play. I'm usually fine with local play – in fact, I like it a lot – but if it's a strictly multiplayer game with nothing else to do but play some shallow, repetitive challenges, then I'd like to take the fight online. Sadly, someone decided this game is just so good that it doesn't need online, and there still hasn't been a patch to fix it. Perhaps if there were a campaign or tournament mode of some kind, this flaw would be easier to overlook, but as it is, it just digs the game into a deeper hole.
Other than the multiplayer, all there is to do is compete in some challenges, seeing as you can't fight the computer in a simple one-on-one match. These challenges aren't bad, but they're so average that they might as well be. There's the basic survival mode, which pits you in an arena with a bunch of really dumb AI opponents, then there are some other equally pointless modes, such as one in which you throw shurikens at targets. The only reason to play these challenges is to unlock new parts for your doll, and since character customization isn't all that fun, that's a bit of a stretch.
The character customization lets you save several different characters at once, but there's no option to delete them, and you can't select your character for challenges, meaning that the first character you create will be used for those. You can't change it; all you can do is edit the character if you want a different one. This is just one of the many things that make the game feel half-done. The character editor lets you change all the basics, like the hands, feet, head, body, legs, hat, and all that stuff, but because the only items that look good together are the ones that are meant to be, there's not much incentive to be creative.
The graphics are the game's best feature. For a downloadable game, Rag Doll Kung Fu looks excellent. The lighting is impressive, the art is unique, and the physics are great. The maps aren't especially original, and they're extremely small, but they still look nice. The menus, however, are a different story. They're all an ugly yellow with a cheap rising sun effect added somewhere for good measure. It doesn't match the game's style at all, and it looks bad to boot.
There's really no reason to buy Rag Doll Kung Fu. It's boring, it's repetitive, and it's shallow. The challenges aren't bad, but they're also not incredibly fun, and generally unoriginal. The multiplayer itself is strictly offline, and there's not much incentive to play it, especially since the combat is pretty much brain dead and the maps all play exactly the same. Character customization is a disappointment, as well, due to the lame items and inability to select new challenge characters. Rag Doll Kung Fu had a lot of potential, but it fails in almost every aspect of its design, and the only good thing that can be said about it is that it looks pretty. At least Noby Noby Boy can be recommended to Trophy Whores, but even the game's Trophies are rather frustrating ones. For ten dollars, you can do much better.
