Finnish Him!

Yesterday, President Jacques Chirac of France was reported as saying that the British were not to be trusted, citing our ‘bad cuisine’ as evidence. As a nation of gentlemen, we naturally refrained from retorting that you might well make the same observation about a country with no understanding of cricket. Even more shocking though, was the corrupt womaniser’s sideswipe at Finland: the only country, he avows, where the food is worse than ours.

But, despite their picking the wrong side in the war, there’s a lot to be said for Finland. And one of the things to be said is "Finnish company Animaatiokone Industries’ Kick Ass Kung Fu looks ace!".

The game projects the player onto a screen, where they combat computer generated opponents. You may be thinking "Oh, so a bit like the fighting mini-games in EyeToy Play and SEGA Superstars then?" Not exactly. More of an installation than a game, you play Kick Ass Kung Fu on a padded area five metres square. You are tracked by cameras, and your image is projected onto two screens, in front and behind you, in real time. Altered physics within the gameworld allow your likeness to make huge leaps where you make small jumps, so you can dodge bullets and leap over the heads of opponents. Not only this, you can do battle using weapons, such as nunchaku and swords.

The game can be played with two players, and has appeared in Finnish art galleries, on a TV show, at various corporate events and a clutch of award ceremonies. There are some digital experiences you can’t enjoy at home. Any entrepreneurs reading this, please open a new generation of arcades packed with games like this.