Written by: Mark

 

 

 

It is always nice to see developers supporting the Kinect hardware and even more pleasing to see the recent number of Kinect releases becoming available on the XBLA service aimed at a more family friendly audience and for affordable prices.

 

The latest of these is the quirkily named "Leedmees" which is a puzzle game from Konami and costs 800ms points. The main question is whether the game offers anything new to make it stand out in the massive amount of XBLA puzzle games or if it has been released to simply cash in on use of the Kinect hardware?

 

 

To be honest there is not much in the way of a story from Leedmees and from what I can gather you have awoken in a mysterious land filled with little white creatures with your body in a flat form. Although you cast an imposing figure the little white creatures need your assistance in getting from one portal to another avoiding various hazards and pitfalls along the way.

 

 

To say that the story is sketchy is an understatement as it never explains as to why you have entered this mysterious land but in all honesty the game does not require much in terms of story as it is all about it’s unique twist on gameplay and use of Kinect hardware and for this the lack of obvious storyline can be somewhat forgiven.

 

 

As I have already touched on Leedmees is all about guiding little creatures from one point to another and draws obvious comparisons to the smash hit franchise Lemmings albeit with a number of differences although the underlying concept is the same.

 

In Leedmees the objective is to utilise all of the body parts of the flattened version of yourself to pick up the Leedmees or guide them to collect stars and reach exits safely. Unlike Lemmings these creatures do not have any abilities which need utilising as the game is all about you and how your body movements influence the gameplay which to be honest works rather well and proves to be a fun concept, especially in short bursts. By this I refer to the fact that the game proves very tiring after a short while as the length of time you have to hold arms, bend, crouch etc to guide the creatures does leave you aching and this is to be honest where the main challenge arises.

 

The game features an impressive amount of levels each of which are played on single screens packed with obstacles designed to hamper your progress and as the game progresses this does throw up a challenge and requires some quick thinking as to how best to utilise your body parts to best effect.

 

 

Overall the gameplay in Leedmees may come across as something you have seen many times before but thanks to the impressive and almost flawless use of the Kinect camera proves a pretty fun and challenging experience which represents pretty good value for it’s 800ms point cost.