Xbox 360 Game Reviews
Review Wipeout In the Zone (Xbox 360)
Good grief
Few things in life are as satisfying as some good ol’ schadenfreude, and the producers of hit ABC show Wipeout know that more than anyone: it’s like an obstacle course interpretation of home-movie clip shows where everyone gets knocked in the balls — fitting, as the most iconic obstacle is a set of huge red balls. There's a...
Review Let's Dance with Mel B (Xbox 360)
Zig-a-zig arrggh
Every Kinect sold comes with a demo of Dance Central tucked away on the Kinect Adventures disc, meaning everyone has a chance to play the sensor's best dancing game by far. Now you have the chance to play one of its worst, Let's Dance with Mel B. We've always had a nagging feeling that developer Lightning Fish Studio overachieved...
Review UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System (Xbox 360)
Muscle bound?
Quite why it's taken so long to combine the testosterone-fuelled sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) with fitness software is beyond us; the predominantly female-targeted exercise game may rule the sales roost, but with UFC rapidly gaining popularity the two mediums have finally come together in UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness...
Review Child of Eden (Xbox 360)
A real trip
It's been far too easy to overlook Kinect as a valuable, or even viable, addition to traditional gaming in its first year of commercial life. Far too little of its catalogue so far has amounted to anything more than bite-sized experiences that only go to show that, why yes, you can kick an air football in your living room, without...
Review Kung Fu Panda 2 (Xbox 360)
Not so awesome
Faced with all sorts of different platforms and peripherals, THQ made the bold decision not to make just one game for the Kung Fu Panda 2 licence, but four entirely different ones to play to console strengths. PlayStation 3 got the most "sequel-y" version with a traditional gamepad-based adventure; both the DS and WIi...
Review Virtua Tennis 4 (Xbox 360)
Anyone for tennis?
Last year's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I was the first game branded "Better with Kinect Sensor" but it proved to be anything but. Now the second green-box-purple-stripe game has landed in the sporty form of SEGA's Virtua Tennis 4, but does it fare any better as a sensor game? If you want to play with...
Review Fantastic Pets (Xbox 360)
Best in show or just plain no-show?
Frontier Developments' Kinectimals captured most of the cuddly critter market last year, with its furry felines pouncing on decent scores in the gaming press and good sales at retail. Six months on, THQ is hoping for similar levels of success with Fantastic Pets, but it can't top the best in show. Fantastic Pets...
Review Michael Jackson: The Experience (Xbox 360)
Thriller?
Michael Jackson's videos and stage shows were extravagant affairs — his Dangerous live show ended with him flying off in a jetpack — so the idea of letting gamers enter that fantasy world is a proposition too enticing to resist for Jackson fans. That's exactly where Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience wants to put you: centre...
Review Carnival Games - In Action! (Xbox 360)
All the fun of the fair
Kinect's already got a reputation for being home to some awful minigame compilations, with dross like Game Party in Motion and Deca Sports Freedom like a lead weight on the overall quality of the sensor's gaming catalogue. You'd be forgiven, then, for expecting Carnival Games: In Action (also known as Carnival Games: Monkey...
Reel deal?
Acting and singing have a lot in common: plenty of people believe they do them brilliantly, and the speed with which celebrities flit between both disciplines would have you believe they’re easy. As anyone who’s listened to a loved one murder a beloved song at karaoke will tell you, singing is best left to the professionals, yet games...
Review Brunswick Pro Bowling (Xbox 360)
Gutter ball
Say you had a bowling game strongly rooted in realism that goes through the trouble of including life-like physics, online play and even replicating lane oil patterns for an extra bit of strategy. Now, say you wanted to make it as difficult as possible to actually play. What would you do? You do a poor job of bringing that game to...
Review Dr Kawashima's Body and Brain Exercises (Xbox 360)
Grey matters
The original Dr Kawashima's Brain Training on Nintendo DS started a revolution back in the day: suddenly game developers realised they could tap into a brand new market of buyers eager to kickstart their cerebral centres, and a host of copycat titles emerged over the next few years. With Kinect ready-made for this same market, it's no...
Review Def Jam Rapstar (Xbox 360)
Rap karaoke ain't nuthing ta #$*! wit
Between Rock Band and Guitar Hero, music fans looking for a game focused largely on rock, metal, punk and whatever else you can bang out with a guitar, a bass, a drummer and a vocalist have been pretty well covered. There have been a few deviations into other genres, like Activision's rather splendid DJ Hero...
Review Deca Sports Freedom (Xbox 360)
When sports compilations go bad
Sports compilations are quickly becoming a dime-a-dozen when it comes to showing off new motion-sensing technology. Rare's Kinect Sports did a nice job of showing off some of Kinect's impressive features, and now Hudson has decided to bring its oft-forgotten Deca Sports (known as Sports Island in Europe) series to...
Review Game Party in Motion (Xbox 360)
Motional breakdown
Kinect's marketing would have you believe the system is a game-changer, bringing new ways of interaction to the home and banishing uninvolving, inaccurate and unplayable minigame compilations to the darkest depths of history. Then along comes Game Party in Motion, lurching to the sensor like a rotting cadaver, leaving only...
Review Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Xbox 360)
Back of the class
There’s no shortage of good fitness games for Kinect from EA, Ubisoft and more, but Zumba Fitness: Join the Party is the only one based on a real-life dancing craze. For those in the dark, Zumba is a fitness programme based on high-energy rhythms that’s designed to be taken in large classes, but how does it translate to a...
Review Get Fit With Mel B (Xbox 360)
Hot and spicy
Kinect is already awash with fitness games from most major publishers – THQ’s The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout, EA’s EA Sports Active 2 and Ubisoft’s Your Shape: Fitness Evolved have all launched in the sensor’s first few weeks on sale, but now relative minnow Black Bean Games has entered the fray with Get Fit with Mel B...
Review Adrenalin Misfits (Xbox 360)
From X-Game Hell they came
Kinect and snowboarding should go together like peanut butter and chocolate, yet out of the gate riding sports have fallen closer to the experience of discovering Vegemite on the floor: a (very) select (and brave) few will be able to wring some enjoyment out of the likes of SEGA’s Sonic Free Riders and Konami’s...
Review EA Sports Active 2 (Xbox 360)
Fitness with a little slickness
This is the first time since Kinect’s launch we’ve had to say this, but when playing EA Sports Active 2, you’ll need a controller in your hand. Not to engage in any of the 70 exercises, which are all operated completely controller-free, but rather to navigate the wealth of menu and options screens that stand...
Review DanceMasters (Xbox 360)
Are you a master of dance?
DanceMasters (known as DanceEvolution in Europe) is about as hardcore a dancing title as you can get on Kinect right now, moulded from decades of experience ruling the neon-lit arcades in downtown Tokyo. Some will find themselves drawn into its fast-paced world of J-pop and over-complicated gameplay concepts, but the...
Review Dance Paradise (Xbox 360)
Dance into the fire
Someone wise once said that ‘dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another’, but regrettably Dance Paradise dances with neither fancy footwork nor any heart. Instead it hopes you, the player, will be too drunk to notice its underwhelming gameplay. It doesn’t help that it’s directly up against...
Review Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (Xbox 360)
The spell is broken
After almost a decade of trying, one would assume that by EA would have nailed the perfect Harry Potter game. Since the launch of the first movie tie-in way back in 2001 – on the original 32-bit PlayStation, no less – there have been numerous missteps, false dawns and crushing disappointments, all of which have been made that...
Review The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout (Xbox 360)
Let's get physical
It’s no surprise that plenty of developers have seen Kinect’s potential for fitness games, with Ubisoft’s Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, Zumba Fitness and more titles undoubtedly on the way. Now entering the mix is THQ’s The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout. Licensed by the TV show of the same name, it has a lot in its...
Review Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (Xbox 360)
Not quite washboard
If there's one thing the Wii has proven to be lucrative, it's the market for fitness games. Unfortunately, nothing quite nailed a proper fitness regiment. Wii Fit Plus is good for some yoga and balance games but lacks a cardio segment, of which EA Sports Active did an admirable job but was ultimately hindered by its tether to the...
Review MotionSports (Xbox 360)
Just as generic as the name implies
Kinect is but a spry young thing and already its humble catalogue includes a notable amount of minigame collections. Between the pack-in Kinect Adventures and Rare's Kinect Sports, the case for another set is a rough one to make. Ubisoft's MotionSports is a competent enough package, but it's failure to really...
Review Dance Central (Xbox 360)
Get down on it
Of all the launch titles for Kinect, Dance Central stands out as the one with the potential to be the most ‘game-y’, due in no small part to the developer behind it. Harmonix has been ‘the’ name in the music genre ever since it first unleashed Guitar Hero on the world – a game that managed to emulate the feeling of nailing...
Review Sonic Free Riders (Xbox 360)
Free falling
Sonic Free Riders is the third entry in the hoverboarding offshoot of the hedgehog franchise, following on last generation’s Sonic Riders and follow-up Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity for Wii, both of which were poorly received by the gaming press and public alike. This latest iteration is revolutionary in that it ditches the controller...
Review Fighters Uncaged (Xbox 360)
Bad to the bone
Ubisoft's Fighters Uncaged sounds like a good idea on paper: a full-body fighting game where you can unleash a variety of punches, kicks and combos by actually performing them. But oh so much goes wrong in the execution that the end result feels like an abhorrent mess. The first sign of trouble is in navigating menus. This is the...
Review Kinect Joy Ride (Xbox 360)
It'll drive you round the bend
Kinect Joy Ride started life as an Xbox Live Arcade title before Microsoft reworked it for Kinect and sent it to retail. As such it’s simplistic, accessible and entertaining, but whether it’s worth the money is debatable. Control in Joy Ride is as simple as can be: hold out your hands and turn them to steer...
Cute and cuddly Kinect competitions
We've already seen quite a few variations of motion controls with the initial set of Kinect launch titles, but Kinectimals stands as one of the more unique of the bunch. Rather than the usual barrage of challenges you'd expect from a game release, Kinectimals instead offers up a more relaxing playing experience...
