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You may know and love Zen Studios for its awesome pinball games, but the enlightened development team straight out of Hungary is no one-trick pony.<\/p>\n

Zen’s next project, KickBeat<\/em><\/a>, is more experimental in nature than the team’s previous works. The PlayStation Vita rhythm game is a mash-up of martial arts combat and music, creating what appears to be a funky form of acrobatic kung fu rock breakdancing. Awesome!<\/p>\n

The KickBeat<\/em> soundtrack rocks plenty of licensed songs from known bands and artists like Marilyn Manson, Papa Roach, Rob Zombie and P.O.D. and even sneaks in some obscure tunes from the likes of Taiwanese rapper Shen Yi and electronic musician Voicians. Better yet, the game will feature a music analyzer that will generate custom tracks from a user’s personal music library.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral years ago, we asked ourselves, ‘What would happen if we took a beat-matching game, replaced the abstract cues like bars, arrows, and button icons with kung fu fight scenes, and set it all to some incredibly intense music?’\u201d said Neil Sorens, Creative Director for Zen Studios. “We spent three years turning that idea into in Kickbeat, and anyone looking for something fresh and exciting and the music genre is in for a treat.”<\/p>\n

\u201cKickbeat is a showcase example of passion, risk and creativity. Traditional publishers might shy away from this type of thinking, but we will embrace it. After all, what’s the point of working in video games if you just keep making the same one?” said Zsolt Kigyossy, Managing Director for Zen Studios. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

KickBeat<\/em> is scheduled to release exclusively on PlayStation Vita this summer. Catch the first trailer and screenshots below.<\/p>\n