Kinect Review
Posted under: I bought a kinect.
What’s a kinect, you ask?
The kinect is a black box hardware addon to the xbox360 gaming system which allows people to play games (clearly marked for the kinect) without using or needing a controller.
Oh yes. You heard me. No controller.
Your BODY is the controller.
Navigating menus within the game is often a combination of arm swipes and holding your hand in a specific position. Standing straight up and holding out your left hand low and at your side for long enough (just a few seconds) will cue up the pause menu for any game.
This is cool stuff. VERY cool. It revolutionizes user interfaces and feels amazing.
The first time I played with it, I couldn’t wipe the silly grin off my face.
I feel like a WIZARD when I play with the kinect.
Even better, Microsoft has released a package that will allow you to build your own applications using kinect technology, which people are using for some very cool stuff.
There are drawbacks, of course. This is first generation software and hardware, so there are bugs. The kinect sensor needs a pretty chunk of empty space between you and it so that it can properly pick up your body movements. A cue spot on the right side of the screen actually requires a hand motion close to the belly to activate. Throwing a ball in some games results in crazy results.
It’s not perfect.
It IS awesome.
Okay, seriously, I’m pretty sure Microsoft must have been spying on my dreams in order to design this game. Of COURSE I bought it.
The premise is that you’ve landed on this island populated only by NPC lemurs and a handful of big cat cubs, which you can adopt, pet, play with, and enter competitions with. As you attain points by playing with your cub and winning competitions, you unlock new areas of the island, buy stuff to decorate your house, and even unlock new cat species to play with. (Update: new version includes BEAR cubs as well as kitty cubs, and there’s a suspiciously-wolf-shaped statue that hints at a third planned expansion for the game)
I’ve already unlocked the clouded leopard, and a google search assures me there is a saber-toothed tiger in my future.
It’s freaking cute.
I mean mind-blowing cute.
The first time I pet the little tiger cub, I’m pretty sure my “D’awwwww” broke the sound barrier.
The animation is top notch and fluid. The cubs are toothache-inducingly adorable. They purr, they murr, they perk their ears and flop around and bounce and floof and tackle and slurp the screen and you’d pretty much have to be Ebenezer Scrooge to not have your heart melt at them.
The flying lemur who guides you through the game is just irritating enough that I wish I had a way to turn him off, but he skedaddles pretty quickly when he’s done dispensing information. Could be worse.
The game is clearly aimed at little kids. Since I am, at heart, still a little kid, this tugged on every single one of my heart strings. I particularly love playing soccer with my little kitten, as well as tossing the ball (underhand, so as not to flip out the kinect sensor) and knocking over dominoes.
Love this game, times a billion.
There are a LOT of workout games available for the kinect. The lack of a controller really lends itself to full-body form corrections (there are twice as many dance games as there are workout games).
I did a decent chunk of research and found that The Biggest Loser game has great reviews and the negatives typically fall into the “it’s not FUN, but it’s a great workout” category. I’m okay with that. I was looking for a serious workout, not a pat on the head.
I got what I was looking for.
Not only does The Biggest loser scan in my body and run me through an evaluation workout, it creates a workout plan targeted directly at ME, for my level of workout and to bolster my weak points.
This workout includes cardio, weight lifting, yoga, stretching, frequent water breaks … the whole shebang. It’s got multiple workout levels (including “easy”) to suit a variety of different fitness levels.
The game is almost ruined by its user interface, though. If I didn’t feel like I got a great workout from it, I’d have tossed it almost immediately. Menus are “mystery meat” style, with cryptic icons that require hovering over to read the description. Hover too long and you accidentally select the menu item. Imperfect hand motions over the tiny icons mean you may flash over too many, obscuring the text you were trying to read. Customizing your avatar using hand motions is so frustrating that I can’t believe they even bothered giving me “shape the nose” style options.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the instructor will begin a new exercise while the majority of the screen is obscured by an informational block. Immediately, your workout “score” gets deducted because you’re not doing the workout … the workout you can’t even SEE! Sometimes the voice will correct “Dip lower!” while the screen says “Don’t dip so low”. It can be frustrating and conflicting at times … but it was still a FANTASTIC workout.
That being said, the visual and audible cues to correct your form are VERY helpful (if sometimes a little frustrating while you try and learn a new exercise). Watching my green-jelly-blob Tami working out in the bottom right corner is fascinating, and the sensitivity of the game to detect my motions is impressive.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the quality of workout I’m getting from this game.
Anyone else?
Anyone else tried the kinect? I haven’t used the Playstation Move, but I’ve played with the Wii, and I feel the controller-free kinect to be totally different. Having been smacked in the face with a Wii cable when doing pushups (the cable runs between the controller and the nunchuck) with a Wii game,
I’m really loving the hands-free nature of the kinect.
I played Kinect at a friend’s house during a New Year’s party. We played one of the dance games. It has become an inside joke/meme for my friends and I to imitate the silly dance moves in that game. I still think it was a pretty fun game though.
My friend Aly got the PS Move. I feel like the controller is much more responsive and easier to use than the Wiimote. I also really enjoy the games the Move is marketing. For the Wii it feels like a lot of times the Wiimote is a gimmick, in the same way the accelerometer in the PS3 controller is a gimmick. But for the Move the games seem to be built around the technology.
The one game I’m really looking forward to on the Move is called Sorcery. You -are- a wizard, and the Move is your wand. It looks -awesome-.
Reading your description of Kinectimals makes me want to buy it though…
Oooh, that wizard game sounds great!
KITTENS? I want!
My brother has an xbox. Maybe I will start hinting…
Faith´s last post ..DRAGONS. PLOT DRAGONS. Which squiggle.
SO incredibly cute. It’s ridiculous.