Kinect (Xbox 360)

The Kinect Sensor is easily going to be one of the most sought after items this holiday season.  Touted as the future of gaming controls the device implements a three camera system which helps detect not only motion, but also distance.  Is it worth the $150 price tag or just going to be another fad (*Virtual Boy)?

I've been eagerly awaiting the Kinect since it was announced awhile back as Project Natal.  This wasn't the first time that I was excited for motion gaming and I was hoping that Microsoft would introduce something innovative and exciting and the concepts they were pitching definitely fit the bill.  My main concern was that for all the hype they were giving, would it live up?  I've invested in motion gaming before (besides the wii) and due to lack of interest and support, my money wasn't well spent.

Anyone remember the EyeToy for PS2?


Early previews of Kinect were pretty harsh showing buggy tech demos and laggy responsiveness.  Many gamers were completely trashing the Kinect before they even had the opportunity to try it out for themselves and stated that it would fail (idiots).  Thankfully, the Kinect is quickly selling out and early indications show a very happy fanbase is growing.  I had the great fortune of being blessed with one (thanks to my girlfriend and her friend Jessica) and quickly ordered 2 games (amazon had a buy 1 get 1 half off sale) so I was excited to test it out.  For those that don't know, the Kinect easily connects (no pun intended) to the older 360s.  A lot of people had concerns because the new slim 360s were saying that they were "Kinect Ready" giving lots of gamers ideas that they would have to invest in an additional piece of equipment to play their Kinects.

I'm going to be dividing this review into 3 smaller reviews so as to be fair to the system as a whole so be prepared for some reading.

Kinect Sports

Kinect Sports is the Kinect's equivalent to Wii Sports when that first debuted.  Soccer, Volleyball, Ping-Pong, Bowling, Boxing, and Olympic style sports are available as well as many minigames.  Like Wii Sports, some of the games control excellently and are very fun (I liked volleyball and Ping Pong) while others are kind of meh at best (Soccer).  This is one of those types of games that you'd pull out to show off the Kinect and everyone can try it without the need to feel embarassed since the motions shouldn't be too awkward.  I didn't really have too many problems with the controls and most of the games felt very responsive.  Boxing and Bowling were slightly awkward and I felt some lack of control but overall the experience is what you'd expect from an early title with newer technology. 

Final Grade: C+

Sports is a great way to show off what the Kinect can do, but at $50 dollars it's kind of pricey.  A lot of the games are fun and very responsive with two gamers playing at once.  Fun title to bring out during family parties but for most, the experience may be short lived.

Dance Central

From the creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band comes the newest music based title.  Dance Central has over 30 tracks that players dance to and mimic the onscreen movements.  Where Kinect Sports isn't embarassing, Dance Central more then makes up for it.  The track list is surprisingly varied with artists like Soulja Boy, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and Salt 'N Pepa and with the promise of future DLC, Dance Central could have songs for everyone to dance to.  This game isn't for the shy types out there or for those who easily get embarassed because to be perfectly honest, 90% of the people who play this game will look foolish.  The thing is, you can't be shy and you just have to let yourself go. 

The fun comes out as you attempt these moves foreign to your body and you see your score go up (pretty easily on the easy difficulty).  The game tracks your movements and rates you accordingly to how well you mimic the onscreen prompt.  A spotlight on your character will go from red, green and white depending on how well you do and a little boombox reflects your star rating from 1-5. 

I only have a couple complaints with this game and one of which is that the game only supports 1 player at a time.  Hopefully (most likely not) they may implement something to allow 2 players at once.  Then again, it seems unlikely considering some of the moves asked of the player require flailing of the arms and the results can be pretty painful when two people play at once.  My second complaint is that there isn't enough modes in the game.  With only freeplay and dance battle it seems like there could have been a story mode easily implemented.  Throw in the fact that there are only around 35 songs and you have a game that may seem too short for some.  However, dance moves change depending on difficulty so things don't seem too stale and trust me when I say that a lot of these moves are challenging. 

Final Grade: A-

Dance Central is tons of fun.  Anyone in the family can play it and as long as you don't mind looking foolish, you'll enjoy it too. 

The Kinect as a whole is a very fun piece of equipment.  Currently they have a library of about 15 games (around 3 of which are truly worth it) and the Kinect comes packaged with the game Kinect Adventures which is a series of minigames showing off the potential of the unit.  As a standalone title, Kinect Adventures would have been graded a D+ but because it was free and included with my Kinect, it is worth a C-.  Space is probably the biggest issue people may have with Kinect but if you have a decent sized living room then it shouldn't be that big of a problem.  Lighting also never seemed to be an issue as me and my brother played at night and it was able to pick up our movements pretty easily (my brother even played in all black clothing).  The Kinect also picks up sound pretty clearly but I have yet to truly test out all it can do with voice controls. 

Pathetic

Small library of games and very few warrant a $50 purchase
Some titles appear slightly unresponsive
$150 seems a little overpriced ($99 would have been more reasonable I feel)
Sonic Free Riders.  STAY AWAY.

Very Nice!

Tons of fun
Anyone and everyone can enjoy
Support seems strong meaning higher quality titles in the future
You can work up a sweat as you're enjoying playing
Dance Central is a blast

Final Grade: B

I am honestly enjoying the Kinect.  The controls are pretty good depending on the games and everyone who has tried it seems to enjoy themselves.  Not too many A grade titles yet but 2011 looks really good for support.  Microsoft was looking for a way to market towards family-oriented gaming and not only did they achieve that goal, they also made a very fun piece of equipment.  While it may not be for everyone, no one can deny how much fun it is.