14th, June

SG E3 2011: Kinect Previews

It seems like the word “Kinect,” or in general “motion control,” has become a dirty word amongst the “hardcore” gaming community. I personally do not want motion control shoehorned into every game in the future, although that’s something Microsoft has stated may happen with all its first-party titles.

However, I also won’t deny that there were some games at E3 that used the Kinect device effectively and that I enjoyed thoroughly. Just the same, there were also some games that dropped the virtual ball.

Star Wars Kinect

Let’s start with the Kinect title that had a horrible presentation at the Microsoft press conference. To begin, I’d like to point out  that you do not have to say “lightsaber, ON!” for your lightsaber to appear. The guy demoing the game at the MS conference was just toying with the audience to be more annoying.

I can say with certainty that this game does have some lag issues. While I was playing the demo, for a while I felt like I was struggling with the character to swing where I wanted it to swing. After a few more minutes I realized I was moving too much, but even after composing myself there were times it gave me a few problems.

When I lunged forward to reach enemies ahead, my character went where he wanted to go without my “lunge angle” influencing him much. Most of the progression was predetermined (on-rails anyone?). The enemies seem to just stand in place until you head towards them, unless they have lasers they can shoot you with from afar. That was a bit disappointing; it makes the combat a little stale.

You use your right hand to swing your lightsaber and your left hand to use the Force. Swinging your right arm feels underwhelming and more like you’re clubbing someone with a bat. You can use the Force to toss certain enemies around, and if you use both hands, you can move heavy objects that are blocking your path. The game still needs some polish because I was not able to use the Force correctly to throw my enemies aside… but that may just be me not listening to my inner Obi Wan.

There are some enemies you will not be able to strike directly, so you will need to jump to have your character flip over the enemy and slice them from behind. All these animations look good on the screen, but what you’re actually doing in person isn’t as impressive. Also, I dislike the graphics the game uses now compared to the first demo we saw last year.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ8mnJX3OU4&w=425&h=350]

Despite all that, the game was actually fun. It still needs some touchups, but for the few minutes that I played it, I didn’t hate it like I thought I was going to. Do I see myself playing this for longer than 20 minutes? No, but maybe they can still surprise us once the final product comes out?

Child of Eden (with Kinect)

 

In Child of Eden, you learn of the existence of “Project Lumi,” a computer program that is on the verge of completion. Project Lumi will birth a human personality within Eden, and your goal in the (1-2 hour) game is to save Project Lumi from virus attacks. There are 5 levels that take about 10-15 minutes to complete.

The game has a beautiful soundtrack which you contribute to by shooting objects on the screen. Certain purple orbs can hurt you so you must dispose of those every time they appear. The game was a mixture of lights, flower petals, gems and colors. You used your left hand for the tracer lasers and you used your right hand to lock on to multiple targets (up to 8).

With Child of Eden, you do get lost in the experience, as it is very mesmerizing. However, my immersion into the Eden universe came to a halt when my arm started to hurt a bit from holding it up for so long.

A boss made of crystals (and LSD) eventually appears, and the goal is to shoot the center orb to destroy it. After defeating that creature, I then had to shoot the inside of a crystal flower. The boss soon reappears and I’m instructed to lift both my hands into the air and quickly bring them down. This created a wave of energy that officially got rid of the enemy. The flower blossoms and a raven-haired girl in a white dress escapes from within the flower.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9i16bZnt70&w=425&h=350]

While the game was very fascinating, I can’t see myself playing it with Kinect again. This is a game that is fun and beautiful to play, but it’s also one that reminds me of how much I love my controllers.

Fruit Ninja Kinect

 

Fruit Ninja is a game originally released for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It has made its way onto the iPad as well as Android and Windows Phone 7. Now in the summer of 2011, Fruit Ninja Kinect will be available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. The premise is simple: You’re a ninja with mad slicing skills, trying to cut in half as many fruits as possible for a high score.

Fruit Ninja Kinect has classic mode (you keep playing until you miss 3 fruits or accidentally cut a bomb), zen mode (no bombs), arcade mode (60 seconds to earn a high score), co-op mode, and competitive mode. By having my shadow on the screen, I was able to see just how the Kinect caught my movements. Fruit Ninja Kinect is the most accurate Kinect game I’ve played so far. There was no lag as I sliced and diced.

In co-op mode, you work together to get a high score. In competitive mode, you only slice your designated colored fruits (blue or red). White bonus fruits will appear every now and then, and these are up for grabs for anyone who can slice it first. It gives you bonuses such as double points or slow-moving fruits to help you get a large combo.

While we are on the subject of Fruit Ninja and the casual market, Halfbrick is also working with Facebook to bring you Fruit Ninja Frenzy. Their goal with this game is to stop all productivity at work!

Fruit Ninja Frenzy will be free-to-play, but like most Facebook games, will also have premium content to buy. Frenzy will incorporate a new system called smoothies, which work like equipped bonuses (you can equip up to 3). One smoothie disables bombs so they are no longer sliceable while another smoothie called frenzy gives you a few extra seconds to slice a large assortment of fruits that come out all at once. Fruit Ninja Frenzy will have seasonal content (Jackal lanterns ya’ll!), star fruits, new backgrounds, and new blades available for purchasing or unlocking.

In order to cater to your competitive side, both Fruit Ninja Kinect and Fruit Ninja Frenzy will have leaderboards. This game was great fun, even though I looked silly flailing around cutting virtual fruit. But given the nature of the device, that seems to be Microsoft’s goal anyway: how often can we make you look silly in front of your TV.

Dance Central 2

 

Have you played the original Dance Central? Of course you have! Just because you don’t want to admit it doesn’t mean there aren’t videos of you on YouTube. Dance Central 2 brings you the same experience from the first Dance Central, except this time you can actually dance side by side with your friends. No longer will dancers need to wait until their opponents finish the first half of the song to then repeat that same section themselves.

The neat thing about this new feature is that people can drop in and out whenever they want in the middle of a song, so if you get too tired because you just ate 3 bags of Doritos, you can take a breather. Just like in the first title, you can individually choose your level of difficulty for dance battles.

There are a few new characters like an Asian child prodigy named Glitch and a blonde dude named Bodie, as well as the originals like that Lady Gaga impersonator. The traditional cards that show up on the side of the screen showing you what moves are coming up are still there. Now there are also “golden cards” which give you bonuses if you do the moves right.

Since this is a Harmonix game, all the songs and DLC from the first game are transferable into the second game. Dance Central 2 will launch with 40 songs later this year! I can’t wait to play it for 2 weeks and then let my Kinect gather dust again.

—-

Overall, Kinect works for certain games and if the developers use it correctly, it can be entertaining. Even so, Microsoft needs to stop trying to mass produce as many Kinect games as possible and make sure all of the ones they’re currently working on actually look good and play well.