E3 2010: Hands-On With 'Kinect Adventures'

By Hector Cortez Jun 20, 2010, 3:53 GMT

Kinect offers a more engaging experience than either the Wii remote or the PlayStation Move.

Written by Michael Barryte

Kinect is Microsoft's attempt at penetrating the casual gamer market that Nintendo has been hoarding since the Wii hit shelves. Tech wise, Kinect offers a more engaging experience than either the Wii remote or the PlayStation Move, but the telling factor, like everything in the industry, is the games.

Kinect Adventures is all about flailing and points. In many ways it feels like two-player mini-games lifted from Mario Party. The demo offered three different games: a raft ride, an obstacle course, and a ball game reminiscent of pong.

The raft ride was fairly simple. By shifting your body, you and your partner would guide a raft down a river trying to collect as many Adventure Coins as possible. You could also jump, to make the raft hop and by perfectly timing your jumps with your partner you could catch some major air. There were also several points in the course where a camera would snap a photo of you and your partner more likely than not in a very weird pose. The Microsoft guide in the room couldn't specify whether or not the game would be playable in a solo mode or with more than two people.

The obstacle course continued with the "get the coins" theme. You would race against another player on a fixed track (again, no word on whether four people could play), ducking and shifting around obstacles. The initial start up was a little odd, needing to push myself out of the gate and Kinect didn't seem to register my overzealous movement resulting in my opponent getting a head start and me getting frustrated. Once the race was on though, it was quite fun shifting and reaching out to grab coins. This mini-game also featured an in-game camera, allowing us to review our frantic gestures at the race's conclusion.

The final game was the same as the tech demo shown at last year's E3 when Kinect was still Project Natal. I would hold my arm up and a bouncy wall would appear and I would swing down to serve the wall at the opposing wall and then basically play goalie as I tried to also calculate how to ricochet balls to clear the blocks down at the end of the hall. With two people this game gains a new franticness to it, mainly because we're both swiping air very close to one another's faces to reach the outstretched balls. We can expect injuries just as bad if not worse than those Wii-related traumas.

All and all Kinect Adventures seems as though it will be a hit with the casual gamer or simply the watcher as you lounge for coins, dodge obstacles and kick balls all from the safety of your living room.

Michael Barryte is a Monsters & Critics Gaming contributor and is also the co-creator and co-star of the internet series Ari & Stone.