Written by: PlayDevil.com Staff

 

 

 

So, I was lucky enough to get a good 30 minutes hands on time with the new game toy from Microsoft, "Kinect" at the weekend @ the Kinect galleries in central London.

 

You may have already seen the video of me larking around on the site (link here), but if not, it’s worth a watch, even if the video is unfortunately a bit grainy!

 

In my preview, I got to try out the e3 demos of Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures, Kinect Joyride, and Kinectimals. I’ll give a quick hands on with each, and then let you know my thoughts on Kinect itself.

 

 

I got to try some single and multiplayer here- and the coolest part is most definitely how another person can just jump in front of the camera and the game automatically switches to split screen.

 

The game itself feels pretty decent, as the amount you lean affects the amount you steer by in

river rafting. In the obstacle course, however, everything felt a little gesture based, and the reaction of the system was pretty slow- you definitely need to move before you would in a ‘real life’ situation.

 

 

Basically similar to Wii Sports, I played a hurdles race and some bowling. It’s cool that you don’t need a controller, but the bowling felt a little easy once you had found the correct motion. It’s definitely more responsive and easier to pick up and play than the Wii equivalent though.

 

The hurdles game is definitely gesture based again though, and the jumps have to be well timed in advance, although the demo was good at telling you when exactly you needed to make the jump. It’s also a serious workout too- and definitely got a sweat up!

 

 

Joyride has the most unusual control system of the lot- you basically use your hands as a steering wheel- the game accelerates automatically for you. The game actually plays well, and has the least lag of any of the action-orientated games I tried out (although the boost, where you thrust your hands forward, is a bit hit or miss), although I found it a little hard to start with.

 

I also tried the stunt mode, which was actually really fun gaining points as you dash up and down, left and right as you go up and down half pipes to perform stunts and collect pick-ups- it’s the most fun I’d had in this kind of environment since Tony Hawk 3.

 

 

The controls work well on Kinectimals, but it’s basically not a game in its current format. You can play with your animal, and pet it, and take it round an obstacle course, but there is very little other content at the minute- although, of course, this was a limited demo. I’m just not sure how even kids would be entertained for long though.

 

However, this is one game where the control scheme really shines through, and you can see the 1:1 tracking of the camera at its best, and speaks volumes about the potential of the system

 

 

"Kinect" clearly has so much potential to provide amazing gameplay experiences. However, the demos I played couldn’t grasp all that technology yet. Whether it was the use of gesture based controls (rather than 1:1 motion tracking), or general lag between your actions being reproduced on the screen, the demos aren’t of the highest quality, and many of them seem like Wii games without the controller.

 

In the future, I can see great uses for the system, especially in ‘Better with Kinect’ branded games, that will use a joypad and the camera to improve the gameplay of titles- imagine playing Call of Duty- the way it should be played- with a joypad, but throwing grenades using your arm, or looking around the cockpit of your vehicle in Forza by just turning your head whilst driving.

 

I really hope that Kinect lives up to its potential, because the technology is amazing with what it can do- but it just needs to be implemented well- which I’m not convinced it is at the minute.