The rough spot that was Rise of Nightmares aside, Kinect gaming has had a comfortable run-up to Christmas, with Child of Eden, The Gunstringer, Dance Central 2 and now Kinect Sports: Season 2 all scoring eights and nines. The best, however, is yet to come. You're pretty sick of hearing the words "the best is yet to come" in relation to Kinect, aren't you? Fulsome apologies. Please read on regardless.
Kinect has established itself as an entertainment brand, but there's still something to be desired in terms of core games. That's core games as in "substantial, testing, imaginative", by the way, not core games as in "has gunz; zero latency; unlock a foregrip when you reach level 20". Fortunately, upcoming offerings look substantial, testing and imaginative indeed. Here are the games you should take an interest in, care of our now-on-shelves Kinect Special mag.
A ghoulish, stylish Xbox Live Arcade game in which you hurl baseballs at hordes of demons. Use your left hand to aim and, once locked-on, pitch the ball with your right hand. It starts off sedate, but quickly becomes frantic, though the arcade tinkling of giant gold coins is worth the pain. When you're not wearing your arm out, you can catch incoming projectiles with your mitt, leap over them or smash them away with a bat. When jugular-gnawing defeat looms, get a friend involved via same-screen co-op. It's Kinect Sports for Twilight Zone fans, basically.
Goodbye, tank-sized custom controller! Hello, the sweet, sweet mercies of 3D gesture recognition! From Software's Heavy Armour reboot takes place in a world where silicon-eating microbes have devoured all the computers. Which means international spats are waged not with guided missiles, jets or IR scopes but honking great diesel-powered mechs. It's World War II meets steampunk, a dark, chunky action epic in which shooting and movement fall to the pad while Kinect handles the surprisingly crucial business of looking around your cockpit. You'll need to switch control banks to use all your mech's systems, and there's a crew to manage. Some men may lose their bottle when the battle's fierce, and require dragging back to sanity with a yank and a slap.
We know, we know, it's a first-person Fable, and in the eyes of the Lionhead faithful, that's grounds for tearing your controller in half. But it doesn't look that bad. There's no melee combat, as Peter Molyneux doesn't think swordplay translates well to controller-free gaming, so purging Albion's demons is all about moulding and tossing balls of plasma instead. Keep your hands close together and jerk them forward sharply for a surgical, high-powered blast. Keep them spread and push the air rather than punching it for a slow, pensive Hadoken. There's an item crafting system to fatten out the game's back-end, plus a bunch of non-combative action mechanics like fishing. Best of all, you can sit down on the job. Slouch even. Ah, the benefits of horse and cart transport. Oh, and it's not on rails.
6 comments so far...
rickyisgodjay on 30 Oct '11 said:
For me Kinect gaming won't start until I'm holding my lightsaber and using the force. I was a little disappointed the game got put back until early next year but if Star Wars Kinect is as much fun as I hope it will be then I can't wait.
bennyt on 30 Oct '11 said:
None of them, especially Fable: the journey, not after Fable 3...
I've had my kinect for over a week and abit now and i love it (the rest of the family are warming to it). There are some great, fun games for it; K'Sports season 1 and 2, Kinectimals, Adventures, JD3, The Gunstringer etc and having it downstairs makes it a family experiencing and gaming for everyone with plenty of fun and laughter.
However, as for upcoming kinect games, the only one i'm interested in is Star Wars. The rest of my attention is going towards; Halo CEA and Rayman Origins for this year, Mass Effect 3 and Ghost Recon for next year.
With that said, i would love to see:
1) Avatar game with kinect-using body to perform jumps, fighting techniques, fly/steer on different beasts. Add in exploration and the ability to play from the view of the Na'vie and the Marines...
2) The Gunstringer 2
3) Angry Birds (arcade or with the gunstringer 2 as an extra similar to fruit ninja)
4) SW Republic Commando 2-the tv as your hud
msbhvn on 30 Oct '11 said:
As each month passes by with no decent reason to buy Kinect, my heart sinks a little. No one can deny that Kinect is an amazing idea, but there don't seem to be any top developers who are willing to take a risk and use Kinect to its fullest. We're stuck with optional (read: ignorable) Kinect features in new games and purple box games that are almost universally disappointing. From your list, only Ryse seems promising, the others are just gimmicks and we have enough of those already.
I'm afraid it's going to take Kinect being included/integrated with the next Xbox before we see any decent developers using the technology in AAA titles.
CunningSmile on 31 Oct '11 said:
My Kinect is currently sat next to my Wii, ie gathering dust through lack of use.
As msbhvn says no one seems to want to risk anything with it and so we either end up with recycled Wii launch titles or optional add ons shoe hoerned in for no good reason. I can see Cliffy B's point that no one wants to risk developing for a peripheral that half the market don't have, but come on guys live a little!
And three words: KINECT VIVA PINATA. You know it makes sense.
Vegetunks9000 on 31 Oct '11 said:
Sorry but as for Horror games. They should definetly do a Project Zero Kinect game.
Captain_Chao5 on 29 Nov '11 said:
I have to agree with previous posts...none of these really set off my 'excite-ometer'. I've had Kinect since launch day, and most games have followed the same pattern - buy, play for a week or two, then gather dust. I really expected Kinect games to take off and IMPROVE. There always seems to be the promise of an update from M$ that will drastically change the way we play, but so far the offerings have been little more than average.
I too have high hopes pinned on Star Wars, but a small part of me is doubtful it will deliver - I hope I am wrong, or the PlayStation fanboys will have a field day.