Kya: Dark Lineage

by Eden Studios

Product Features

• Help Kya find her brother by exploring nine massive & spectacularly detailed environments
• Use the intricate and extensive monetary system to purchase equipment & magical abilities, for better attacks and defense
• Steal and tame wild animals to use for attacking or escaping your opponents
• Free the Nativ people to earn upgrades and power-ups
• Unique plot twists as you face the multiple quests and subquests that will reveal Kya's destiny!

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00009IFE6
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 25, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,264 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Kya and her brother Frank are unexpectedly transported to a mysterious world and immediately separated from each other. As Kya begins the search for her brother, she meets the gentle Nativs, who befriend and help her in her quest. Kya soon discovers that the peaceful Nativs are brutally oppressed by wicked Wolfen creatures. Worse yet, the Wolfen are former Nativs, mutated into a dark army by the evil ruler Brazul. Kya realizes that the only way to find Frank and return home is to lead a rebellion to defeat Brazul and liberate the Nativs. To do this, she must free the Wolfens from their magical imprisonment and restore their Native identity. Game Features:

• Explore nine massive and highly-detailed worlds
• Play through a deep, intense storyline with 50 main and side quests
• Fly and freefall from towering heights using powerful air currents
• Perform thrilling, freestyle slide maneuvers and 360? spins with magical boards
• Fight using more than 30 melee attacks, combat moves and magical strikes
• Steal, tame and ride wild animals to flee or attack enemies
• Free the Nativs so they can open shops--buy power-ups and magical abilities
• Take on more than 20 challenges with single and multiplayer mini games

Product Description

Kya: Dark Lineage takes a girl named Kya into a strange new world, where she'll find her destiny -- if she survives the dangers she'll face!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Addict, beauty, combat, explore, puzzle, facets, story, January 9, 2005

By 

Gen Falel "Gen" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Kya: Dark Lineage (Video Game)

Our heroine and her brother are sucked into an alternate universe world. Our heroine, Kya, regains consciousness just in time to flee for her life with the help of one of the natives--giving a fast-paced school-of-hard-knocks demonstration of how the game's physics and nature works. Then you end up in the middle of the remaining native village, learn about the terrible threat of the Wolfen (and that your brother is probably in their clutches), and that you're the chosen one.

Being the chosen one means two things: You can use the weapons (more on those in a minute), and you can turn the Wolfen back to the Nativs (yeah, that's the name of the natives. Yeah, I agree.) once you finish knocking them out.

There are three things that make this game absolutely wonderful. The first is the combat system. Lesser creatures can be whacked by your boomerang, but with the Wolfen you typically have to personally whack them around until they stop moving. The fighting system in this game, however, is brilliant. Your moves are intuitive and your combos are relatively easy to learn, and you have a training room back in your home base that teaches you your attacks until you have them down. Rather than making you depend on studying a manual or relying on button-mashing, the game will allow you to practice (against a nonmoving straw opponent) every combo and trick you want to. If this doesn't sound brilliant, that's my own failing as a reviewer--it's an incredibly useful feature that should be in every fighting game.

Of course, Wolfen also go unconscious if you cause them to fall from a great height, cause something to fall on them, explode something near them, or cetera. If you can't get near them once they're kaput (or if you don't exorcise them for whatever reason), they'll reappear back where they were when you return to that area of the map. Different parts of the game unlock as you exorcise Wolfen, so I highly recommend aiming at 100%. As I understand it, the best ending doesn't unlock unless you do (I did it.)

The game is open-ended. You're given objectives by the tribal leader, but you're free to ignore them and explore on your own for as long as you like. Some parts of the world, of course, will require you to have certain items to traverse (you can't get up the sheer cliff without the climbing gloves, for instance)

There are many many mini games, many of which are two-player and all of which can be used to win extra money. Happily, however, none of these games are necessary to the overall story, and I played most of 'em only once or twice, being eager to get back to the original story.

The art is fantastic. The only time the illusion is shattered is during an infrequent polygon error--most of the time, the feeling of immersion is on par with the best games available for the PS2 today. That feeling is especially awesome during times when you can pull off something ridiculous (like triggering a chain-reaction explosion involving barrels of gasoline and gunpowder while twenty Wolfen are busy inspecting that area.)

The puzzles could be a little more complex (usually figuring out what to do is easier than actually doing it), but are involved and interesting.

The story was simple enough for a preteen to enjoy, but still interesting and still had a surprise or two for me (though for the most part it was fairly easy to plot in advance)

The music leans toward Techno in flavor.

I have been lending my copy to friends, and the only ones who don't seem to get addicted to the game instantly are those who dislike games with arcade-style aspects (it can be frustrating to, for instance, fire bombs from a turret on a train at the cannons on an airship, then leap from the train to a running horse-thing, then leap from that to the platforms on the airship, hoping to knock out the Wolfen driving it before it goes through the curtain of lava.)

This game is rated [T]een, but I believe it's appropriate for all age groups. The heroine is a strong and positive and nonstereotyped female role model, at no point in the story does the game even seem to notice that fact--it's not an issue.

If you aren't intimidated by action-based games, can solve a moderately complex puzzle, like exploring, and like variety in your games, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this game.

I give the game 5/5 for fun, and 4/5 overall only because I would have liked a little more complexity in the puzzles and storyline.

The game's official website can be found at

(...)

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME, November 22, 2003

By 

tot's mom (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kya: Dark Lineage (Video Game)

Don't know how, but rented this at Blockbuster a week earlier than the release date. I don't play much video games since I am not every good ate them. but this game is super fun. The game starts and after a short movie, you jump right in to an action pack game. It has a combination of everything: skateboarding, flying, exploring, save-the-love one, fighting monsters, puzzles, etc. It's taking me some time to play, but, again, I am not a very good gamer. I find it easy enough and challenging enough. Which makes it fun. Happy Gaming!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Non-stop Fun, December 15, 2003

By 

Teri LeCheminant (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kya: Dark Lineage (Video Game)

I rented this game. I'm a 56 year old woman who loves her Playstation II. Normally, I'm not co-ordinated enough to do flying or racing. But this one is so much easier. It also makes you think. It's really an action advetnure. Very fun and enjoyable. Often I've missed several good television programs because I lost track of time playing this game.