Wukong, also known as the Monkey God, used stuff, not polearm because he is supposed to be a monk. He was from a classic novel call Journey to the West where he was a task to assist his master Monk to the founding place of Buddhism in India to get sacred Buddhist scriptures. In his journey, they met many demons that wanted to kill & eat the master Monk as his fresh grant immortality, which is probably what inspired the game.
There is a historical reason Shaolin Monk used stuff.
When they were traveling, the staff acted as a walking stick. hence it makes sense to train them to use it as a weapon in self-defense when needed.
Anyway for those who like Martial art, this is one of the best staff fighting scenes in the cinema when Jet Li & Donnie Yen (IP Man) were at their peak. Anyway, Jet Li was a Chinese martial art champion which path the way to his action star career.
