We at JOE were lucky to get our hands on Kinect launch titles Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures, so after much gesticulation and social embarrassment, here’s our verdicts.
As Microsoft unveiled the glimpses of their Kinect launch lineup this summer at gamer expo E3, many event goers were puzzled – why the Wii-alike mini-game/sport titles, and whatever happened to that lovable scamp Milo? After waving wildly, attempting a few ‘dance moves’ and embarrassing ourselves when we realised that the Kinect wished to replay our ‘highlights’ (not our avatars, our actual recorded performances), it was time to give the verdict on the top titles from the Xbox 360 Kinect launch day, Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures.
Kinect Sports
For many Kinect owners, Kinect Sports should be their first port of call once they’ve successfully shoved their couch back about six feet and cleared enough space to begin their first gaming session. Designed by British gaming legends Rareware (complete with their awful new logo), Kinect Sports offers Soccer, Bowling, Beach Volleyball, Boxing and Track & Field, with mini-games included for each sport and ‘Party Play’ for competitive team games across all sports.
One of the most surprising aspects for Kinect Sports is that despite a number of cynical previews that felt the game was an unimaginative version of Wii Sports, the title has polished presentation and a playful sense of humour that ensure it manages to carve its own unique atmosphere. That being said, the Kinect implementation and enjoyment gained from each sport is something of a mixed bag.
They’re having fun – will you?
Soccer for example, is an initially bewildering exercise as dribbling is handled by the CPU and players need to either pass, header, shoot and cross before being tackled, while tackling requires little more than blocking the ball before it’s passed. Suffice to say, FIFA 11 fans won’t be falling over themselves to have a go, yet we found Kinect Sport’s implementation a limited but fun approach to the beautiful game as it certainly can’t be replicated on any other system and is certainly ripe for improvement.
Bowling is a grandparent’s favourite on the Wii and once again the lack of complexity and accessibility of the sport help it become an early favourite. Unlike the Wii, however, the motion of bowling initially feels disconnected to the player, perhaps that’s down to adjusting to no long holding a tangible object when adjusting your spin. Having said that, Bowling works as well as you’d expect and certainly a lot better than the inaccurate sweatfest that Kinect Sport’s Boxing turned out to be.
Beach Volleyball and Table Tennis are two interesting games too, the latter an effective yet slow version of what has become a motion control requisite. Beach Volleytball is a lot of fun, as it requires hard serves, well-timed jumps and last-minute blocking – in all, it’s probably the most skilful sport on offer.
Which takes us to Track & Field, a sport which here comprises of the Sprint, Javelin, Long Jump, Discus and Hurdles events. If you haven’t yet realised the potential for new gameplay experiences wth Kinect, you’ll change your tune after the full body requirements and sweat-inducing antics of the Hurdles. Combined with well-timed audio cues for your replays (the Chariots of Fire theme is a particularly nice touch) and the embarrassingly hopeless ‘highlights’ of your performance after, it’s a great way to encourage sceptical friends and family towards the sensor.
It’s odd that Kinect Sports isn’t the pack-in title for the Kinect peripheral (that honours falls to Kinect Adventures, reviewed below) as above any other launch title, it has unrivalled depth and demonstrates the unique experiences the sensor has to offer. Having said that, the sports included are largely hit and miss and largely serve to demonstrate the future potential of Kinect, rather than being fully-realised stand-alone succeses. For that reason alone, it’s tough to consider Kinect Sports as much more than a series of innovative diversions for now.
Format: Xbox 360; Developer: Rareware
Kinect Adventures
If you boot up a copy of Kinect Adventures and begin the rafting activity ‘River Rush’, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Adventures is the greatest thing ever invented. Leaping for items, leaning forward to increase speed, pausing to create ludicrous rollercoaster-style snapshots when the camera icon appears – it’s all tremendous fun and taken alone, is easily the most fun you can have with the Kinect thus far. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the remaining four mini-games for Kinect’s pack-in title and ambitious showcase.
After taking the ‘Adventurer’s Oath’ (yes, we’re serious), player can join the Kinect Adventure Team or choose ‘Free Play’ for Rallyball, the aforementioned River Rush, Reflex Ridge, Space Pop and 20,000 Leak activities.
God, we loved this
Rallyball has been seen in many incarnations during the Kinect’s development and involves using your arms and feet as a flurry of balls attack your avatar. Your mission is to destroy the blocks in front of you by deflecting and whacking the balls as accurately as possible against a timer. In short, it’s human Breakout with manic flailing and is a satisfying, if slight activity.
Reflex Ridge continues Adventure’s fascination with alliteration based around the letter ‘R’ and challenges players to run a high-agility gauntlet, grabbing pins as you dodge, duck and jump through a rigorous obstacle course. Each course always manages to find an interesting way to challenge your expectations of what’s to come and in all; it’s the toughest workout you’ll experience from both titles – just make sure to pull the blinds before the flailing begins.
What really lets the Kinect Adventure’s side down; however, are the glorified tech demos that are Space Pop and 20,000 Leaks. Space Pop has you floating in zero gravity by flapping your arms to pop bubbles in a square room – it’s as boring as it sounds. 20,000 Leaks has players plugging holes that appear in an underwater observatory with your arms and hands yet despite initially seeming a neat idea, the gameplay never accelerates to make players sweat or even get their pulse going.
There’s literally no reason to even try the game after a couple of playthroughts and it’s a wonder that developers Good Science didn’t feel they need add more ‘game’ to both activities. It’s hard to see exactly where Adventure’s developers dropped the ball – perhaps they were as distracted by River Rush as we were – but in any case, the startling disparity in quality between Adventure’s activities is a real shame. Create an entire game based around River Rush and three stars below can easily become five – mark our words.
Format: Xbox 360; Developer: Good Science
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