Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues | PS4 Review

Brought to fruition by Flux Game Studio, Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues brings in the voices and layout from the popular Netflix series into a classic beat ‘em up style game that takes either the Cobra Kai or Miyagi-Do crew through the streets of the valley culminating in an ultimate showdown at Valley Fest. As the story goes on, several enemies of varying types try to impede that progress but, not to worry, the chosen dojo’s skillset will be more than formidable to go against the angry hordes with the environment giving an assist with the mission. Trouble for the gamer will come in the form of delayed off-screen movement of enemies and way too overpowering gang ups of four or five enemies at once.

The saga starts (excuse me…continues) with Dmitri of the Miyagi-Do studio and Hawk (aka Eli) of the Cobra Kai being sequestered in the principal’s office after, what seems, was a fire blazing, ice chucking battle between the members of both schools. Not long after the intro, the player is given the choice of playing the story of either karate dojo. The choice made will determine the direction of the story and, of course, the perspective of the delinquents in the office. Certain levels will only be accessed by the dojo chosen and the fighting style differs too with fire blazing, high powered movess being donned by Cobra Kai while higher health and chilled demeanors expressed by the ice based attacks accompany that of the Miyagi-Do bunch. The story, either way, plays out much of the same with obvious differences in direction depending on the dojo selected.

Cobra Kai (And Miyagi-Do) Are Back!

The game brings in ALL of the original voices from the Netflix series to give a more approachable feel to those familiar with the series and getting into the game. Those looking for story layout similarities between the series and the game will be disappointed. High points of the Netflix series are strongly expressed, but story carrying from there has its own flavor in the game.

Strike First…Strike Hard!

It doesn’t’ take long to recognize the beat ‘em up style this game adapts. Players fight with a team of their dojo’s best known students (and even Sensei’s) that can be tagged in and out. Combo counters are taken with each section of each level and, if quick enough, can be carried over between segments. This is important because the higher the combo level, the higher rewards including regeneration of a fallen comrade. These combos are better rewarded if carried out with variety of moves from the player discouraging a traditional button mashing approach for advancement.

Enemies dealing with those combos vary in attack style, weaknesses, and how they deal with attacks from the players. Between levels, players retired to their respective dojos for challenge checks and to upgrade individual fighters or even the school as a whole to allow for higher level attacks, special moves specific to each character, and higher health bars.

No Mercy…None Given Whatsoever!

Gameplay has its highs and lows. The graphic novel style is crisp and not terribly clunky in movement. Battles, though, don’t hold a great deal of balance or continuity. At times, fights that take enemies off screen will, at times, have noticeable delays in enemy return hence delaying the fight. As Mr. Miyagi once said in dealing with problems, “One to one problem yes…five to one problem too much ask anyone”. This could not be true when dealing with enemies in this game.

If faced with several enemies at once, the attacks of said enemies are sometimes chained together not allowing the player to breathe. This makes some battles very unbalanced as when the attacks finally cease, often half or more of your health bar has been obliterated. Levels are ranked by the style of the fighting, health used, health picked up, and collectibles found. Achieving higher grades in any level requires extremely high gameplay dexterity.

Your Training Ends Here…Or Does It?

When the journey ends, Dmitry or Hawk, depending on the path chosen, will accentuate their perspective on how things turned out in the end. The other will immediately refute the result encouraging the player to, essentially, beat the game again using the opposite dojo to get the true ending of the game. Given the high level of slogging it seems to take to get to main levels and fights in the game, that prospect hardly seems worth the trial. The true ending does have a slightly satisfying, but predictable payoff.

Much Patience, Player-San

Between difficulty in unique combo progression tracking and enemy inconsistency that occurs different fights, game progression and completion will be a bit of a chore. The game, visually, looks good and the voice overs by the original cast are well placed and not overbearing for the player, but to get to the end…twice…will be a hard thought decision given what the player will go through to get there the first time. If you dare to study the ways of the Cobra Kai or Miyagi-Do, do so with a journey equivalent to many cracks and dips in the road that will trip you up.

To hear me talk more about Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues, be sure to listen to Episode 319 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:00:03 time stamp.

This review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy of Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.