New for the Xbox is Kung-fu Chaos, a brawler/party game from British game developers Just Add Monsters. A semi-retired Hong Kong filmmaker is shooting his big comeback picture, using a variety of innovations to get around his tiny budget. First, he will use real fighters. They do all their own stunts and can be paid a fraction of the cost of getting a real actor. They will be pitted against one another in a series of unscripted battles on sets being used for other movies. No fight choreographer required, just pure improvisational realism! Whoever comes out looking the best will get top billing as the star(easy to do since the director is making up the story as he goes along).

So the player picks a would-be star from a list that includes folks like the Monkey King, a samurai with a baby, a crusty old master, a shotgun packing blaxploitation diva, a Rollergirl, and a Mexican wrestler. It's starting to sound like an octaNe game already.

You then have the option of playing the single-player game(which pits you against an army of poorly-paid stuntmen in ninja costumes in a variety of scenes of cinematic mayhem) or the multi-player game(which pits up to 4 players against each other to compete for fortune, glory, and the most camera time). Completing stages in the single-player game unlocks stuff for the multi-player game(like hidden characters, alternate costumes, and bizarre mini-games).

And what stages they are. Fight on a raft while a giant rubber T-rex takes huge bites out of it! Duel over the last lifeboat as the Titanic sinks! Bust up the tavern from "Legend of the Drunken Bastards"! Infiltrate the ninja fortress and save the Ugly Princess! Please! Somebody has to!

And once you've finished slapping around your friends, you can view the scene again as it appears in the film, complete with wild camera angles, 70s soundtrack, super slo-mo, badly translated dialogue, and the occasional hair on the lens.

I do not own an Xbox. If someone here does, I'd like to see a review of Kung-fu Chaos detailing how psychotronic it really is. The official site is www.kungfuchaos.com and there are some links to reviews and previews at http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/22515.asp

Derek Devlin