Kinect Adventures Review
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On November 4th, Microsoft launched their new Kinect hardware (at least in the United States) along with a sizeable library of launch titles. Like the Wii and Wii Sports before it, every Kinect unit whether bundled with a new Xbox 360 or on its lonesome comes packed with a copy of Kinect Adventures. Is Kinect Adventures the platform-defining title Microsoft undoubtedly wishes it to be, a piece of pack-in shovelware, or something in between?
Like all of the game’s currently utilizing the Kinect hardware, Kinect Adventures is played entirely without a controller. Although Kinect can be used in a more hyrid environment involving both the sensor and a traditional controller including the player being seated, it is clear that Microsoft is looking to clearly define the Kinect as a controller-free experience, and in that vein, Kinect Adventures works great.
The game only contains five different game types which is a bit shallow for something that is essentially just a mini-game collection. In River Rush, the player or players are standing in a raft and guiding it down a rushing, rapid-filled river while attempting to collect coins, beat a time limit, etc. Rally Ball is essentially a Breakout clone that uses your entire body as the paddle. A time limit is the main goal to beat here with the primary objective being to break all of the tiles. 20,000 Leaks has the player in a glass box under the ocean that is being shattered by a slew of overly-aggressive fish, requiring the person to use their hands, feet, knees, elbows, and occasionally even his or her head to plug all of the leaks as quickly as they can. Reflex ridge is one-part obstacle course and one-part old school track and field game in which the player is required to dodge from side to side, crouch under oncoming obstacles, jump over hurdles and collect coins by positioning themselves in different poses. Lastly and least impressively is Space Pop, a game that has the player popping groups of bubbles aboard a space station through waggling their arms in order to float up or down.
The mini-games are fairly varied and for the most part do an excellent job of showing off what the Kinect software is capable off from a motion control standpoint. 20,000 Leaks was my favorite of the bunch because it requires you to reach out towards imaginary walls on either side of you and even move your feet in order to plug holes in the floor which became a very immersive experience for me and something that I’d never experienced before in motion control gaming. Least exciting by a wide margin was Space Pop which feels more like filler than any other game on the disc, something to simply get the game count up to five. The motions are gimmicky, awkward, and confusing. After playing some of the more fast-paced and responsive games like Reflex Ridge or River Rush, Space Pop seems like an old Kinect tech demo rather than something that ever should have seen commercial release.
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.