Latest Reviews
Review Rapala for Kinect (Xbox 360)
Lacks a-lure
This'll surprise you: Rapala for Kinect isn't a fishing simulation in any way. Sure, you can select your lure in the hope of attracting a particular fish, but that's about as deep as it gets. This is fishing arcade-style: score as many points as you can in the time limit. Your fish is scored on size and rarity, with bonuses for grabbing...
Review Let's Cheer! (Xbox 360)
Let's not
2K Play's Let's Cheer! isn't the first cheerleading game in the world — there was We Cheer on Wii a few years back, for instance — but it is the first that doesn't need anything in your hand to get you into the game. Is that enough to make it worth a purchase, though? As you'd expect from a game based on pep, everything is bright and...
Review Nickelodeon Dance (Xbox 360)
Excellenté?
There's no end of dancing games on Kinect, but each occupies a small subsection of the genre. Nickelodeon Dance joins Just Dance Kids at the very youngest end of the spectrum, and if you've got little ones who like to get jiggy it might be worth a look. As you'd expect, Nickelodeon Dance is a collection of catchy kids' pop tunes from...
Review Yoostar on MTV (Xbox 360)
Warning: this game contains Jersey Shore
Yoostar on MTV isn’t a video game so much as it’s a toy that relies on the Kinect technology. Sure, there’s a score element, but that will never be the reason you play. The very definition of a party game, Yoostar on MTV will be a game that you bring out when you have lots of people over and the alcohol...
Review Kung Fu High Impact (Xbox 360)
The fight of your life
Okay everyone, you can stop saying that there are no hardcore games for Kinect, because Kung-Fu High Impact is as hardcore as they come. Kung-Fu High Impact, the awesomely-named video game from the equally awesomely-named developer Virtual Air Guitar Company, casts you as the hero of a comic book, pitting you against hordes of...
Review Victorious: Time to Shine (Xbox 360)
No boys allowed
Licensed games always tend to be less accessible than those based on original intellectual property. The barrier to entry is even higher when, as grown men, we must tackle games that are based on television shows designed for young girls. Still, we soldier on in the name of our craft. Victorious: Time to Shine is based on the...
Review Winter Stars (Xbox 360)
Stay frosty
Any prospective Kinect sports compilation has a rough road ahead of it: Kinect Sports set the bar pretty high, and so far no competitor has been able to get close. That's why it's so surprising that Winter Stars is actually quite good. For starters, it's not just a mini game compilation like Big League Sports or its associates: events...
Review Motion Explosion (Xbox 360)
More of a "pop" than an explosion
Motion Explosion is a tough nut to crack. At first glance it seems like nothing more than another simple minigame compilation, and a sloppy one at that. It’s only after really looking at how the game presents itself and what it asks of you that you truly realise what game Majesco actually made. Motion Explosion...
Review Big League Sports (Xbox 360)
Little league
Sports compilations are what motion controllers were made for, if you believe the Wii and Kinect catalogues, both of which heave with representations of all manner of bats, balls and beyond. After two leading efforts from Rare and middling efforts from other developers, Activision's Big League Sports takes to the field in the hopes of...
Review Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (Xbox 360)
We got the 'munk
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Harmonix’s ego has to be gargantuan at this point. With Kinect recently celebrating its first year in retail, best-selling smash hit Dance Central has seen more than its fair share of imitators in a relatively short time span. Luckily, Majesco and Behavior Studios’ Alvin and the...
Review Just Dance Kids 2 (Xbox 360)
You know, for kids
With enough dancing games on Kinect to last a lifetime, Ubisoft has spotted a gap in the market, aiming Just Dance Kids at the young ones. With the juggernaut Just Dance name attached, it's sure to get parents interested. There's a lot here to recommend, with a 40-strong tracklist that provides something for the very young up to...
Review Jillian Michaels' Fitness Adventure (Xbox 360)
Jungle gym
Until Wii Fit burst onto the scene in 2007, combining the words "fitness" and "game" would have got you laughed at. In this day and age we're considerably more enlightened, but most fitness titles are more like interactive videos than actual games, but not so Jillian Michaels' Fitness Adventure, Kinect's only...
Review Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (Xbox 360)
"You had me at Halo"
The purple "Better with Kinect Sensor" stripe is a familiar sight on games now, but strangely it's nowhere to be seen on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, a HD revamp of the game that arguably established Microsoft as a major player in the console business. To put it another way: no Halo, no Kinect. Halo CE brings the...
Review Raving Rabbids: Alive and Kicking (Xbox 360)
One for the committed
Ubisoft's crazy Rabbids hit the Wii five years ago, but what many don't realise is that the original Rayman Raving Rabbids was ported to Xbox 360 with support for the doomed Xbox Live Vision camera. Surely with that experience — and the vastly superior Kinect — to bring to bear on Raving Rabbids: Alive and Kicking, Ubisoft...
Review The Black Eyed Peas Experience (Xbox 360)
Rock that body
Some would say we've already had too many dancing games on Kinect, and certainly with Dance Central 2 and Just Dance 3 now on the sensor there's not much of a gap left for another title to make an impression unless it's of a competitively high quality, and that's where The Black Eyed Peas Experience comes in. Developed by iNiS — the...
Misfire
Kinect's had a few quirky shooters so far — step forward The Gunstringer and Child of Eden — but nothing so conventional as Blackwater. Dubbed a "first person experience" by its publisher, it's the first war game we've seen on Kinect, and carries with it all the pleasures and pitfalls you'd expect from that mantle. Blackwater isn't...
Review Kinect Disneyland Adventures (Xbox 360)
Taking the Mickey?
Parents, take your child or children aside and ask them what the happiest place on Earth is. If the answer isn’t a resounding and enthusiastic “Disneyland” then you’re not doing your job properly. Those Disney DVDs are chocked full with adverts for their vast wonderland getaways aimed directly at an audience that’s...
Review Family Game Night 4: The Game Show (Xbox 360)
Wrong answer
After four instalments of EA's Family Game Night series you'd expect the company to have the format pretty down-pat by now, but regrettably Family Game Night 4: The Game Show is totally off the mark. Based on the Family Game Night TV show, the game is split into five activities, each based on a Hasbro board game: Connect 4 Basketball,...
Review Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Hunting Party (Xbox 360)
Aim for something else
The appeal with Kinect was always supposed to be that you didn't need a controller to play. With the "You Are the Controller" mantra so engrained in Kinect's marketing, it's a bit of a surprise to see a Kinect game ship in a large box with a hefty peripheral. Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Hunting Party certainly does...
Review Grease Dance (Xbox 360)
It’s got groove, it’s got meaning
If you’re a die-hard Grease fan who’s daydreamed about roaming the halls of Rydell high with the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, then Grease Dance is an absolute must-purchase for you. For everyone else it’s not as sure a bet as Greased Lightning, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had. At first glance,...
Review Kinect Fun Labs: Musical Feet (Xbox 360)
Can you stamp the high note?
Keeping in mind that Kinect is supposed to be a piece of equipment which the entire family can enjoy, Kinect Fun Labs: Musical Feet initially appears to be a lot of fun; recording and playing a virtual keyboard in your own living room while also messing around to other sounds such as a dog barking or cow mooing. Upon...
Review Twister Mania (Xbox 360)
Twist and shout
Twister, as a traditional video game, would be destined to fail. Pressing a button to put right leg on red would just be nowhere near as fun as wiggling your limbs to screw over some poor sap struggling to make their body obey the almighty colour spinner. But Kinect’s Twister Mania is no traditional video game, eschewing buttons...
Review MotionSports Adrenaline (Xbox 360)
Adrenaline junk
Last year's MotionSports was deeply average, but then it was never going to compare favourably to Rare's Kinect Sports. Ubisoft hasn't surrendered the sporting crown easily though, returning with MotionSports Adrenaline's all-new range of extreme sports. Far from the familiar motion-gaming sports that made up most of last year's...
Review The Sims 3 Pets (Xbox 360)
Ruff?
Traditionally, The Sims hasn't transitioned to consoles particularly well: the move from mouse-clicks and keyboards to analogue sticks does nothing to streamline the controls, and seeing as The Sims is all about control that's a major problem. The Sims 3 Pets still doesn't fully conquer the issue, but it does a good job of hiding any cracks...
Review Hulk Hogan's Main Event (Xbox 360)
Oh brother
In the sweeping midst of Hulkamania, Hogan set out three demandments for Hulkamaniacs: to train, say your prayers and eat your vitamins. A fourth was added a few years later in 1990: to believe in yourself. Had Hogan had the foresight to add a fifth — “don't make terrible video games” — we all would have been spared of the tedium...
Review Kinect Sports: Season Two (Xbox 360)
The best just got better
Despite posting impressive sales figures and delivering some engaging titles, Kinect has arguably struggled to find that elusive ‘killer app’ that is capable of convincing both casual and hardcore gamers of its worth. While the original Kinect Sports was a fantastic grounding in Microsoft’s brave controller-free world,...
Review The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (Xbox 360)
Bored quiff?
You know the drill by now: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a film tie-in. It also uses Kinect. It can't be any good, right? Well, the drill has changed slightly this time around. Unlike THQ's efforts such as Kung Fu Panda 2, Tintin is a standard controller-led platformer, with Kinect's functions tucked away in the...
Review Minute to Win It (Xbox 360)
Bored in 60 seconds
Another day, another Kinect mini-game collection themed around a reasonably popular TV game show. This time out it's NBC's Minute to Win It, in which Food Network chef Guy Fieri takes a break from introducing the nation to diners, drive-ins and dives across the country to give contestants a chance at the big bucks through...
Review Michael Phelps - Push the Limit (Xbox 360)
Naked men
When it comes to the world of swimming, there's no bigger name than Michael Phelps, but even his mighty reputation isn't enough to secure Michael Phelps: Push the Limit a gold medal. Any game that starts with a warning that it's physically draining even by Kinect standards should set alarm bells ringing, but Michael Phelps smartly rations...
Review Dance Central 2 (Xbox 360)
Step out of the ordinary
If history has taught us anything it’s that dancing games will eventually go the way of the Guitar Heroes and the Rock Bands before them – although we anticipate the grave will be filled with less plastic instruments. Like any trend, what goes up must eventually come tumbling down but if Harmonix’s dance-em-up sequel...
