The mainstream press has reviewed the Kinect, Microsoft’s latest addition to the motion-controlled arms race, from pretty much every angle possible. I thought I would try and give a firsthand account of how the Kinect has been received in a family environment. The starring roles in this review will include my wife and two children.
The play space for the family Xbox.
Hardware
Let’s start with the actual hardware. The first thing to consider when picking up a Kinect, is whether or not you have the room for it. The numbers Microsoft gives are not mere suggestions; these numbers are words to live by if you want to have a Kinect unit in your home. A minimum of 6 feet is needed for single player action; if you want to invite a friend, plan on eight. The space requirement maybe a stretch for people living in apartments, and impossible for dorm dwellers. Thankfully, lighting only plays a small role in these concerns. The Kinect is able to operate in almost complete darkness; the only part it stumbles on is signing players in via camera. Good lighting is needed to sign people in and better light is required for people with darker skin, based on a Consumer Reports article.
Overall the Kinect hardware lives up to the basic promises by Microsoft. You can control most of your Xbox experience using only your hands and voice. The trouble with this is most of these things can be done using a controller or remote more easily. The awe factor in playing a movie with merely your voice is sure to impresses your Wii and PS3 friends, but in the long run it is a feature most will not use. The Kinect does a have a small lag issue that is noticeable to people observing the player and the game, but tends to go unnoticed while playing the game.
Before I move onto games, let me give you a few tips on Kinect sensor placement. To maximize the usable space place the sensor directly above or below your television. If you have a wall-mounted television, use the 3rd party mounting bracket or just hit up your local hardware store for some double-sided tape or Velcro strips. Also if you have a setup above a fireplace or another type of shelf, be sure to move the sensor forward far enough so that it doesn’t catch the shelf in its vision.
Dance Central
The first game my family tested was Dance Central by Harmonix. This game is by far the must have Kinect launch title. I am by no means an accomplished dancer, but with the help of the step-by-step ‘break downs’ of the moves before each song I was able to slowly build up to playing the first set of songs on all three difficulty settings. Not only does this game showcase all of the Kinect’s potential, it also demonstrates gesture controls that surpass the Xbox dashboard. My entire family took a crack at this game and everyone loved to play it. My wife and I seemed to be able to progress deeper into the game. My 9-year-old son wasn’t too far behind, given his very robotic dancing method. He nailed all the moves, but he lacked the fluid movements normally associated with dancing. My 5-year-old daughter on the other hand loves to dance; but she had little interest in trying to mimic the movements presented to her on the screen and was more than happy to just jump around and dance. Overall the game has proven to be the center piece for adult Kinect owners.
Your Shape
Next up is Ubisoft’s Your Shape fitness game. It was one of the highlighted games at Microsoft’s Kinect launch line up at E3. Using the games various modes, it fulfills all the requirements of a personal trainer. The Kinect’s ability to use skeletal tracking, allows Your Shape to surpass Wii Fit. Your Shape doesn’t rely on weight transfer from the left to right side; using the Kinect it is able to monitor the precise position of you arms, legs and body to determine if you are doing the movements correctly. My wife is really into yoga and loved the yoga classes this game offered. The instructor talked here through each move, much like an in-class instructor would coach the room, offering breathing tips and tips for correct movements. Next to Dance Central this was my wife’s favorite game. The only thing this game lacks is the ability for it to call and remind you it is time to exercise.
Kinectimals
This game has lingered in my daughter’s mind since I showed her the clip of the little girl playing with Skittles the tiger at E3. Once my daughter was able to start this game she was in pure bliss. She started the game by choosing her cub and then went on to explore the island. The game itself is a mix of mini games wrapped around the adorable fact that you get to play with a small jungle cub. During her time playing the game my daughter was able to throw baseballs, race cars, toss Frisbees and dig for buried treasures; but she seems to treat these mini-games as obstacles to her playing with her pet tiger Lulu. She seems to enjoy playing the games, but she really loves to dress her cub up, bathe it and play fetch. Overall Kinectimals is a child’s dream come true, especially if their parents will not let them have a real pet of their own.
Kinect Adventures
This is the game that comes with every Kinect unit. Kinect Adventures, like Wii Sports, is a collection of mini-games for showcase the abilities of the Kinect hardware. The game has five different game types that each has progression paths.
The most noticeable game for gamers will be the “Brick Breaker 2000” game, where each player attempted to rebound the oncoming ball back into the stack of boxes and power-ups. There is also the rafting game where players can work together to navigate through the rapids to collect the most tokens. There is also the train cart game where players must avoid obstacles by ducking and dodging to obtain the most tokens. The ‘Space Game’ requires movement within a 3D space to capture tokens, while flapping their arms to fly and holding them strait out to return to the ground. The final game is the underwater game. In this game players must continually plug the holes created by fish in an underwater glass cage. Players must plug the holes using their hands and feet.
The overall game play of Kinect Adventures is great for kids and adults. My children love to be able to play the game cooperatively and love the fact that the game allows them to jump in and out as needed to put away clothes and do chores. If you don’t own Kinect Sports, this is the party game for Kinect.
If your sensor is on a ledge, ensure that it is all the way forward so it’s vision is no cut off. Double-sided tap or Velcro is a cheap way to mount on top of flat screens.
Final thoughts
The Kinect hardware is very solid in game, but the dashboard implantation could really use some work. The thought of being able to control your Xbox with only your voice or movement is nice; but if it requires more work than picking up your remote, its worthless. I can only hope Microsoft imitates the gesture controls implemented by third party developers into future dashboard updates. If you are interested in any of the Kinect games available at launch then I would recommend the purchase. If you haven’t seen anything that draws you in, then wait until developers begin to get a better grasp of what Kinect can do for their games and make the 2.0 versions.
Kinect and Kinect Adventures were provided courtesy of Microsoft.
Images courtesy of Harmonix, Ubisoft and Microsoft.
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