08th, August

SG Review: Fruit Ninja Kinect

Despite several people disliking motion control (ahem, Yoshifett), there are a few games out there that work with the implementation. I don’t want Kinect imbedded into every game out there (really Ghost Recon?), but when the right game gets motion control, it’s a blast. The right game this time around is Fruit Ninja Kinect, and yes I’m reviewing it because it is fun and I want to give Yoshifett reasons to hate me.

If you own an iPhone, an Android device or an iPad (I hate you), certain apps are necessary. One of the most essential apps, besides the Sarcastic Gamer app that Lono forgot to mention in his article, is Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja. It may not be an in-depth story of fruits fighting for survival as a ninja slaughters their family members, but it is a good time kill and an enjoyable experience. Fruit Ninja Kinect works just like the mobile and tablet versions, but instead of using your fingers to slice and dice, you’re using your hands. Unless, you’re extremely flexible and find some other means to accomplish the task. In that case, record yourself and upload it to YouTube!

Your silhouette appears on screen to make it easier for you to determine where your slices are going to land. Unlike several Wii games, you can’t flail around and expect things to automatically happen for you. You have to be pretty accurate where you slice in order to avoid the bombs and cut the fruits before they fall off-screen.

There are a few bonuses in the game to give you an edge score-wise. For instance, when a colorful glowing banana is sliced, it prompts a “frenzy” that spits out many fruits at once for more points. There are also bananas that “freeze” or slow down the fruits to let you cut some combos. The evil pomegranate is even included; it appears at the end to let you slice like crazy for an epic finish… fruits can be epic.

There are several modes to the game: arcade, classic, zen, challenge. In arcade mode you have 60 seconds to rack up a high score, in classic mode you can’t miss 3 fruits or hit a bomb, zen has no bombs, and challenge mode is where you go head-to-head with your friends on the leaderboards. You can also unlock backgrounds and blade colors, if that sort of thing matters to you.

You can also slice with your buddies locally, and have an excuse for “accidentally” hitting them across the face because you were trying to cut fruits on the other side of the screen. Although, for co-op the fruits are color-coded so each player knows which fruits are theirs to slice. Hopefully you hit your friend enough that they won’t catch on.

One negative this game does bring is something all other Kinect games bring.  Just like the other titles I’ve tried, I’m at a slight disadvantage for not having ample space in my living room. If you’re not far enough, either you won’t slice anything or it’ll go where you don’t want it to go. So be aware of that while you’re flailing your arms around.

If you’ve played any Fruit Ninja before, you know the addictive nature of the game so I recommend picking up this XBLA title (800 points = $10). It will finally give some use to your Kinect so you can feel better about your purchase, since we all know barely anyone plays Dance Central now.

I hope this review was enlightening, as enlightening as slicing fruit like a ninja can be. I also hope I pissed off the right parties: Yoshifett for liking a motion control game, DogsDie for using the word “epic,” and Pillowfort for speaking about that evil Pomegrante. Catch you online!

Esmeralda received a review code from Halfbrick, but she was going to buy the game anyway. She also likes talking about herself in third-person.