Monkey King: Hero is Back

Combat flowed smoothly, and the combat system was simple enough for even a young kid to learn.

Monkey King: Hero is Back is a good action adventure based on the successful CG movie made in conjunction with the movie's producers. High production values are tempered slightly by sloppy execution.

A very charming adventure reminiscent of the first PlayStation platformers... In both the good and the bad things. Monkey King: Hero Is Back captures the essence of the film it is based on, and although it is not revolutionary, it manages to be fun until the very end.

Monkey King is one of those games that feels straight out from the 128-bit era, which, in a way, is a good thing. However, there are some shortcomings on gameplay level that make it harder to recommend to more experienced players.

Monkey King: Hero Is Back is a fan-based action game that brings back a lot of classic plot of the remarkable original CG movie. However, the gameplay is far from decent, and it looks out of date.

It’s a bit simple, so it’s never going to excite in the same way that God of War or Devil May Cry V does, but that doesn’t mean some won’t get a decent amount of enjoyment out of it.

A decent, rather unremarkable game, turned mediocre among other things by long loading times and repetitive gameplay.

Is it a great game? No, not really. I’d struggle to even call it good at times. However, it’s a bizarre and sort of charming throwback title that seems to have been made in a completely different era.

Monkey King: Hero is Back doesn't present a challenge nor an interesting story, it's a game for younger players who want to punch monsters in the face, although the high price point compared to its content doesn’t help as well.

By keeping simplicity at its core, Monkey King: Hero Is Back offers an entertaining if somewhat mindless distraction to the blockbuster titles releasing around it. Sure, it’s a little bit too short, the narrative isn’t particularly gripping, and it looks like an early PS3 game, but that all falls by the wayside in the heat of battle. Thanks to fun brawling mechanics, Monkey King: Hero Is Back does just enough to deserve your attention.

Monkey King Hero is back is an unfortunate throwback to a bygone era where tie-ins where made to capitalize on the appeal of their licenses, without any effort to make them enjoyable games.

These are one of those times when games are simply made to capitalize on the license of an intellectual property. Though there is a lot of potential in the story for the gameplay and mechanics to flesh out, it never does. There are moments when you believe there’s something special to experience, but then you’re constantly loading into areas, slowed to a snail’s pace, and burdened with unnecessary banter.

This title is a PS4 exclusive and meant to be a big deal, aka a AAA title for the team who made it. It is certainly not unfortunately and in my opinion cannot possibly command a full price point. Fans of the movie should be happy with some of the content but for the rest of us it is very much hit and miss. I do hope this does at least well enough that they can produce another, more well produced game as it did show promise but simply didn’t deliver.

Monkey King: Hero is Back is a game that you should consider only if you are an avid fan of the Chinese movie of the same name, eventually relying on a strong post launch discount.

Video games have come a long way in the past decade, but Monkey King: Hero Is Back didn’t get the memo.

Hero Is Back is held back by too much repetition over its short run-time to make it worth recommending.