As time has passed, additional demos have arrived at the Kinect display at the Mall of America; as such, the clouds of mystery around the device have rolled back to reveal a more complete picture. Therefore, it is my honor to share with you my expanded impression.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
If you’ve read the initial impression of Kinect, you’ll recall my looking forward to fitness-based gameplay. This is the vanguard of, what will likely be, a torrent of just such titles. The demo of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved contained yoga, tai chi, virtual fitness trainers, and aerobic exercises. The title “scans” the players body, measuring height, shoulder broadness, arm length, etc, and creates a sort of mold of the player. It is not really an avatar, per se, in that it is an orange fluid object shaped generally like you. Over all, the demo registered movements very well, down to finger position. What I believe will make these titles succeed over similar fitness titles for Nintendo’s Wii Fit or Sony’s PlayStation Move is that you know when you are doing the movement properly due to the body mapping.
Kinectimals
This is a title that will undeniably put a Kinect on the top of most Christmas lists and beneath most Yuletide trees. It is a cute, kid friendly title that brings ridiculous quantities of glee to any child that played it. At the start, you choose your pet (the demo allowed for you to choose between a lion and a cheetah though there will likely be more) and give him a name. From then on, you train your pet in particular movements: jumping, rolling, and chasing his tail. At the end of the demo, you take your pet on the obstacle course that includes hurdles, a tunnel, and a balance beam. The game incorporates both voice and motion controls. You verbally name your pet and are able to pair the tricks to a voice command. The demo, over all, reminded me of a stationary Nintendogs, which is in no way a criticism. This game will likely be very popular among young audiences; after all, it’s an exotic pet without the mess.
Joy Ride
This title isn’t for the realistic racer fans out there, but it will give a wholly enjoyable comical karting experience. The demo had a trick mode, consisting of a half-pipe where one performs tricks and collects tokens for points, and a classic racing mode, where players face off against AI in a head to head dash to the finish line. This is a very basic racer as far as these eyes can discern; however, the controls are very unique and refreshing. The vehicle handles surprisingly well with the motion controls; I was able to make very fine course corrections without sliding out of control. Beyond just turning, the player is able to boost by pulling their arms into their body then rapidly pushing out, drift by leaning into turn, and perform spins or spins with arm movements or leaning backwards or forwards respectively. The finished title also promises online play so you can battle with family and friends from the comfort of your own home.
Dance Central
I have to admit, since E3 we at Media Cows have been greatly anticipating getting our hands on this title. We have always been fans of rhythm titles like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, and even Donkey Kong Jungle Beat but have just recently become a tad jaded by the many spin-offs and knockoffs. It was our hope that a game that would, to some extent, teach you actual dance steps will reinvigorate our passion. The demo allows a player (with up to two back up dancers) to bust a move to their selected track from a variety of different genres. The demo had Poker Face, Funky Town, Galang '05, Hella Good, Poison, and Body Movin' (Fatboy Slim Remix), though the complete game will of course be much more endowed. The screen displays your running score, a queue of upcoming dance moves, and a lead dancer with two back up dancers for you to mimic. That’s right, the dancers do not follow your movements at all. Instead, they simply show you how you should look. We did find it odd that only the lead dancer was scored, even though the Kinect tracks the motions of one’s backup dancers. We hope there will be some form of team scoring when the game is released. We were also quite thrilled that songs had distinct movements, based on their particular genre. Every song had a distinct feel to the dance style. So, we stepped up before the crowds at the Mall of America with so many curious onlookers and gave it our best go. This title is amazingly fun.
-Ben
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