Brutal Fantasy


Rau and Tati are set to bloody your PS2 this April.

I've so far been very happy with my recent gaming acquisitions. Yeah, Champions: Return to Arms was really just more of the same, but Tekken 5 is simply awesome and Street Fighter Anniversary gives me my favorite Streetfighter III: Third Strike on the PS2. The next game I'm looking to own and enjoy is the sharp-looking Rise of the Kasai.
A sequel to The Mark of Kri, ROTK continues the story of Rau, the great Raku warrior-hero who bashed in skulls and impaled enemies with brutal efficiency. Well, he's back... sort of. ROTK is both prequel and sequel to MOK, taking place both ten years before and after the events in the first game. Apparenlty, in the present time, Rau has been mysteriously slain, so now his younger sister Tati, one of several new playable characters, takes up the quest to find out the circumstances around his death- and get some bloody payback while she's at it. Tati was a ten-year old in the first game, but in ROTK she's a hot 20-year old thong-wearing assassin chick who could give my own Agent K a lesson or two in looking mean. Anyway, the story revolves around Tati and the fact that she has been tattooed with a Mark of Kri- an evil spell that gives her great power at the cost of her soul.
Aside from the intriguing story of a whodunit-howdidit murder mystery and the internal/external struggles of the heroes, Rise of the Kasai will impress with it's odd combination of Disney-esque character designs and Conan the Barbarian-class death-dealing. Add to that stealth mechanics and a buddy-system (your character teams up with a CPU-AI controlled ally) and you get a game that mixes action and strategy in one sexy mix.

Rise of the Kasai is set for an early April release on the PS2. I can't wait to cut me some throats. Ooh, crispy!