Kinect Adventures Review
Is Kinect Adventures the platform-defining title Microsoft undoubtedly wishes it to be?
I’ve made some references to multiple players being able to play any of the games and that is because although it caps at 2 players, there is flawless drop-in and drop-out multiplayer in which anyone wanting to play, even in the middle of a game, can simply walk up next to you and the game will place them in the game. If they’ve set up their profile through Kinect ID, they’ll even be recognized facially and signed into their profile without having to touch any buttons at all allowing them to earn achievements and avatar awards. It is worth noting that you’ll need a bit more than the minimum amount of space required in order to have access to multiplayer with Kinect. I have a fairly small apartment and I have enough space to be pretty comfortable while playing with another person as long as I slide my coffee table out of the way, so I would think that unless you have a very small urban apartment, most people should have enough room or the ability to easily create enough room to properly utilize Kinect.
Like most of the motion control games out there, Kinect Adventures is most fun when played with a friend, but the game does do a good job of granting you sizeable incentives to completing the campaign mode (which can also be done with a friend). Living Statues are the primary unlocks and the ones l had the most fun with. Ranging from a dance floor full of avatars to a giant hamster, the Living Statues are essentially new skins for the player that can be voiced and controlled while recording a video. They are hilarious, and it is very fun to get to control something other than a human avatar since that’s been par for the course so far in most Kinect titles. In addition to the living statues, other notable unlocks tend to be avatar awards and achievements.
At particularly awkward and goofy moments amidst the gameplay, the Kinect takes pictures of the players in front of it, and these, along with the Living Statues videos, can be seamlessly uploaded onto the internet and shared through the KinectShare website which allows you to upload them to Facebook and Twitter on the fly or embed them on any number of websites as well. It’s all privately locked behind your account so other Kinect users won’t be able to browse through your photos and blackmail you later for your goofy appearance. This kind of fun photo and video integration is one of the game’s most unexpected and exciting features which the Kinect takes advantage of flawlessly.
Kinect Adventures is worth the price of admission and then some. It is a unique and exciting motion control title that does more than enough to set itself apart from the constantly growing library of Wii Sports rip-offs. While the inclusion of a mere five different mini-games does leave the overall game feeling a bit shallow on content, the ease of multiplayer, fun unlockables, and integrated photo and video sharing make this game something that you may find yourself coming back to more than you’d think. While it may not be the system seller for Kinect that Wii Sports was for the Wii, it is a solid pack-in title that clearly sets itself apart from the other motion control offerings on competing consoles while remaining familiar enough that anyone can play.
Our ratings for Kinect Adventures on Xbox 360 out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
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