Kinect Sports

The Short


Pros
- Six one to two player events: Volleyball, Soccer, Boxing, Bowling, Table Tennis, Track and Field
- Over a dozen minigames based on these events; minigames are 1-4 players
- Kinect system works well with nearly every sport, and especially well with minigames
- Uses your Xbox 360 avatar and looks good
- Can give you quite a workout
- Better than Wii Sports if only because you can use your feet/whole body in events
- Free DLC that gives six more fun minigames

Cons
- Like Wii Sports, it's a game you'll play for a bit and then only bust out at parties
- Soccer isn't great, and Bowling is inferior to the one in Wii Sports
- Track and Field involves a lot of running in place
- Volleyball (while a lot of fun to spike), is basically just "make sure your hand is in this spot at the right time"
- Game can be exhausting at times
- Announcer gets really annoying really fast
- In the end, is just another sports compilation

Get ready for MORE SPORTS!

The Long


It's pretty much par for the course now that when you make a new motion control system you have to make a sports game for it. The Wii had it, the Playstation Move had it (Sports Champions), and now the Xbox 360 Kinect has it. Made by Rare (who used to be famous for classics like Banjo Kazooie, Viva Pinata, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Perfect Dark), Kinect Sports seems like just a cash-in on Wii Sports' success, and there is no denying that probably played a big part in its existence. However, digging a bit deeper we find a very solid sports offering, one boosted past Wii Sports because of one key change: the Kinect can detect both body position and legs, which is something the Wii can't.

The game has six events. So, like my Kinect Adventures review, I'm just going to blitz through each of them and then let you figure it out. Before that, however, let me say that the game looks very good graphically, with a clean interface and menues that aren't as easy to navigate as Dance Central, but certainly better than Kinect Adventures. You can use your avatar to play the games, which is a nice touch, and the sound-design overall is...decent. The voices of the announcers is extremely annoying, but all-in-all presentation-wise this game is certainly above average.

The eyes on that dude with the Hulk Hogan stash is freaking me out

Let's start with one I don't like: Soccer. Now, I have no problems with soccer as a sport, I played it a lot as a kid and it's one of the few real sports I'm actually decent at. However, it wasn't a very good fit for a motion control game, even one that can detect your legs. Essentially, you don't do much running, dribbling, or...anything. You kick the ball down field, your guys move automatically, and eventually you kick it towards the hoop and hope the AI sucks. It's...not wonderful. Maybe on paper this made sense, but as a full-fledged game it's quite lacking.

It does, however, have some good mini-games associated with it (like one where you kick balls and dodge shoes, or play goalie, or kick at targets in a goal for points), so it works on that front I suppose.

Xbox Avatars in sports bikinis is just...unnatural. Look at how big her head is!

I actually really like Volleyball, even though - like soccer - most of the movement is automated. Essentially you and the other team volley back and forth, which means an indicator will show up on your screen (your character will automatically move to the best position), and you just have to swing at the right spot at the right time. Often this'll pass it to a teammate, who will then pass it back to you for a spike. Spikes are why this one is awesome: you actually have to jump into the air and hit downward, like you were spiking a real volleyball. You can also do that when you serve if you want a power-serve. It's weirdly fun despite being simple, though spiking can get exhausting and volleys can last way longer than they ever do in actual volleyball games. I also never figured out how I adjusted the direction, power, or whatever on my spikes or hits; it just sort of happened automatically. Maybe it's timing based, I don't know. 

Volleyball also has a lot of fun minigames, including one that is ripped off from Fruit Ninja where you whack fruit and dodge bombs. Pretty good stuff.

Boxing is about as inane and unpredictable as the Wii Sports version

Now to one that's just...ok. Boxing sounds like it should work good in theory. The Kinect detects where your hands are (if they are guarding, etc) as well as where your upper body is (for dodges), and it can also detect your punches. Here's the thing: it really can't distinguish where I'm aiming on the opponent's body, and I can't figure out for the life of me what's open and what isn't. We have a friend who just flails about like a crazy person, and she always wins (hey, that sounds like Wii Sports too!). So while I guess there is maybe some skill involved, it can be overridden by sheer hyperactivity. 

I'm really actually disappointed they didn't make this game like Punch Out! on the NES. It would work, too: all that game had was high/low punches, blocks, and side dodges, which the Kinect is totally capable of. It isn't like Microsoft isn't below ripping off its competition. Make it happen, Rare. I'd pay for that.

It's minigames are just as inane and fruitless as the main game, so...avoid 'em. Though the one where like two punches KO a dude and your goal is to just beat the crap out of 100 people is sort of entertaining.

Ah, and here is a Wii staple

Bowling is actually pretty good, and has a lot of really fun minigames to go with it. It's basically exactly the same as Wii bowling only both more and less precise. You are probably wondering what I mean by this, so I'll tell you.

The game gives you indication of where you are currently pointing, and you can walk left or right to adjust. It also has fairly good detection on if you curve or spin a ball (thus ruining my chances at bowling, since I have an awful ball curve), which is good. The problem is that somewhere between when you pull back and release, the Kinect sort of goes a little crazy and (I'm assuming) guesses where you actually released it and the direction. This can lead to a ball in every six or so not going exactly where you want it to. It isn't bad enough to break the game or even make it less fun, but it removes that precision we came to expect from playing Wii Sports. It's minigames are great, though, including one where you use both arms and just fling bowling balls down the lane at rapidly approaching pins. 

I'd say Table Tennis was their answer to the Wii's Tennis, but Kinect Sports Season 2 has regular tennis in it, so I have no idea what is going on anymore. 

Table Tennis is also really good, though it's also really easy to throw your shoulder out. It's essentially Wii Sport's Tennis, except with one rather massive improvement: instead of your character moving automatically (like in the Wii iteration), you actually have to move to go get the ball. It's cool and transitions well into living-room play, though sometimes I thought I was hitting the ball harder than the game thought I was (sort of similar to the Bowling/Volleyball problem of the game not picking up the actual speed of my arm). The direction is also kind of weird, with a hefty amount of auto-aim tacked onto your movements. Still, two players is intense and really fun, so this one gets the stamp of approval.

It also has fun minigames just in case you haven't thrown out your shoulder during the main game. Kinect Sports really wants you to have to go see a doctor.

It's like being in the actual Olympics! 

Then we have Track and Field, which honestly feels more like a minigame collection than the rest of them (because essentially...it is). You have a sprint, a hurdles, a javalin run/throw, a long jump, and a discus throw. All of these except the discus throw require you to run in place, which also requires you to bring your knees up high so the Kinect knows what you are doing, which is exhausting. The fact that I'm stomping in place also reminds me of that World Class Track Meet game on the NES. You know, the one that needed that huge power pad? That was pretty awesome.

Everybody knows you just lean over and slap the buttons as fast as you can with your hands to win. 

There are a few variations that aren't just running. Javalin require you to hold and release it (like you were actually holding it) while running and without running out of bounds, which is actually sort of complicated. Discus throwing is one you just do in place, and is probably competing with the Table Tennis game as to which can dislocate your freaking shoulder. The running and jumping of the rest of them is pretty self explanatory, though again: it registers high knees better than actually running fast, so you have to run like a total idiot in order to win. Worth it? I dunno.

The "minigames" associated with this are just the individual events without having to do them all in sequence. Which I recommend, since one batch of Track and Field is perhaps the most exhausting thing on the Kinect to date. Yes, even more exhausting than the entire exercise game I already reviewed.

Congratulations! You win the "flailed around insanely the best" prize!

As a whole, Kinect Sports is a solid offering. While it clearly was a cash-in at some point, Rare spent some time with it (and the Kinect technology) to make a game that both plays well, has a ton of variety, and actually uses the sensor to its advantage. Like Wii Sports, it isn't a game you are going to pull out and sink several hours into (Dance Central is the only Kinect game to date what my wife and I will play for more than an hour at a time), but Kinect Sports makes a fantastic party game, and since most of its events are unique from Wii Sports, even people who have played the Wii's version will find something new to try out. 

For a Kinect game, Kinect Sports is solid. If you can grab it for $20-30 I'd say you got a decent deal (though it depends on if you have friends that will come over and play it with you, because playing alone sucks). Where I to award it a star rating, it would be four out of five. 

Or you could just go buy a PowerPad, because apparently Nintendo already figured out the "run in place to win a race" technology almost twenty years ago.