Body Movin' with 7 Kinect Launch Titles

Kinect Adventures

This and Kinectimals were the two best games I tried. Luckily, Kinect Adventures is the pack-in game, so if you buy a Kinect, you're guaranteed to own it. Even more than Kinectimals, it serves as a fantastic demonstration of what the Kinect can do -- and what the Wii and PlayStation Move can't.

The minigames of Kinect Adventures all use your full body, whether you're slapping at virtual rubber balls in Arkanoid-like Rallyball, navigating rapids in River Rush, going weightless in Space Pop, plugging leaks in 20,000 Leaks, or avoiding obstacles in my personal favorite, Reflex Ridge. The response time for any of your movements is superb, and a rudimentary story mode incentivizes you to keep playing.

As a pack-in experience, Kinect Adventures is an absolute success.

Recommended for: Anyone who bought a Kinect.

Kinect Adventures

MotionSports

I saved MotionSports and the other Ubisoft-published title, Fighters Uncaged, for last because there's little to recommend them. MotionSports in particular suffers from poor movement recognition -- only a quarter of my punches registered in boxing, although I had no problems throwing elbows in Fighters Uncaged -- and a hazy progression system that doesn't tell you what you need to do to unlock the next event. I spent 30 minutes retrying the same event because I couldn't attain whatever arbitrary score I needed to progress. Without a quick restart option, I soon bid adieu to MotionSports' menus and loading screens and tossed in Fighters Uncaged.

Recommended for: Fans of loading screens, people with low blood pressure.

Fighters Uncaged

Fighters Uncaged is a slight upgrade from Motion Sports. But fair warning: If you're looking for a boxing game, don't buy this. It more closely resembles a game of Tekken with you stiltedly acting out every movement. And instead of taking a fighter's stance, you must face the TV and pretend you're wearing a corset -- your torso doesn't move.

After high-kicking and shadow-punching my way through the lengthy tutorial and a few standard matches, I called the fight: Fighters Uncaged lost.

Recommended for: Tekken cosplayers, apologists of the Sega Activator.

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Spencer Gregory

November 08, 2010

Everyone who writes about Kinect or Move should expressly state their blood alcohol level at the time of playing.

I think Kinect motion control does "improve" upon controller experience, but not for anyone who would rather use the controller. These games are for people who feel too intimidated by video games. The hands-free control alleviates the intimidation factor of a many-buttoned controller. Simply playing a game without having to "know" the controls greatly reduces the barrier to entry. Kinect motion control is not for gamers already proficient with a dual-analog stick. But a control method that gets people to play games who wouldn't normally play them, I would say that is vastly improved.

Josh Maziarz

November 09, 2010

Brett, great article. I enjoyed your off the cuff reactions to your experiences to the Kinect games and the "recommended for" spot was great fun.

I have been gaming for about 15 years now (I am 26 year old who started on a C64) and love my Kinect. Now will I use it every day or give up the controller? No, but as a tech head I am quite impressed by it and how well it works (mostly). It brings experiences that would not otherwise be possible to my living room, and gets my wife and two kids (2 and 3) involved. On that note watching my kids (particularly my 3yr old son) jump into Kinect adventures is fantastic because the Kinect does not know what to do with somebody so small and makes the avatar get on his knees, but it still works and he loves it.

Sorry I did not mean to go on I just wanted to say "good read".

Brett Bates

@Josh: I'm in the exact same boat as you. The tech has fantastic potential, and the way it gets people to truly interact with games far surpasses the Wii and Move. And it's only going to get better as the tech improves and developers better understand what works well.