I cannot believe that it has already been three years ago since the first time that I saw Crouching, Tiger Hidden Dragon in theaters. I remember hearing about this “awesome movie with tons of martial arts fantasy action,” so my friends and I decided to go check it out. When we came out of the theater we were blown away by all of the things that just transpired. We thought that it would be a great concept for a game. Now this has come true, but is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon any good? Read on to find out!

This game follows the movies storyline perfectly. Once players boot up Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, they see that the fierce warrior Mu Bai, giving his legendary sword, the Green Destiny, to his lover and fellow warrior Shu Lien. With this act, he hopes that he can at last retire to a peaceful life. Shortly afterwards Jen, a student of the Jade Fox (arch nemesis of Mu Bai), steals the sword and runs away. It is up to players in the role of Jen, to find out if they have what it takes to wield this sword.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a side scrolling action game. Players must fight hordes of incoming enemies before going on to the next part of the level. The only bad thing about the action in this game is that the combat system is really simple; meaning that there are only so many combos that you can perform. This really takes away a lot of depth that the game could have used. After each level you will be given a password so you can return to where you left off if you need to quit the game.

When players collect enough Chi they can perform special attacks by pressing the R button. They are Chi Rolling, Chi Spin, and Chi Kick. Then players are poisoned or dazed, players can press the L button, initiating Chi Recovery, which takes the Chi and helps recover from these dangers.

There are two super combos, by combing two combos in a row, helps players take out the enemies quicker. The first is the Rising Slash + Air Slash, which knocks enemies in the air then smashes them in the ground. The other is the Rising Slash + Air Spin, which hits enemies in the air and then you do a spin attack on them.

What is interesting is that the game story is fold-using cut screens that use the actor’s faces. Unless players know who is who in the movie they will have a hard time comprehending what is going on.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is rated T for Teen, for mild violence.

Gameplay: 7.0
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is a straight action game. This is not a bad thing by any means, but there is a serious lack of depth here. There aren’t many combos that the players can perform which makes the combat get repetitive rather quickly.

Graphics: 7.3
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon looks pretty decent for the GBA hardware. The sprites look nice and clean, and the animation is fluid. The backgrounds that the players will transverse look nice.

Overall: 6.5
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a decent game but it is extremely short! Only get it if you must have every single thing related to this movie.