The arsenal of games for the Kinect just took on a significant upgrade
with the Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure. The game is a series of
mini games based on the popular Pixar animations: The Incredibles, Toy
Story, Up, Ratatouille and Cars.
Gameplay
Upon launch, the game
begins by doing a 'scan' of your body to create an in-game avatar. Once
your avatar is created, you are inserted into the Pixar Park, where you
interact with other children in the park. Now from our time with the
game, we felt that the game overall was designed as a multi-player
environment, but in case you play by yourself, an AI will take the place
of the other player.
The Pixar Park has areas designed after the
five movies the game is based on. The players are in "free-roam" mode
and can go from one part of the park to the next. We started with
running over to the area designated for The Incredibles.
Once at
the game area, we teamed up with an AI and were "teleported" into the
Incredibles environment. The first thing we noticed how our character
was uniquely dressed up as a character that could be identified with the
characters from the movie itself.
The first mission seemed to be
more of a training mission, geared towards getting us familiar with the
motion controls that applied to the game. However, it did not feel like
an instructional set at all. The mission does follow a story line that
seems to be a continuation of sorts from the movie itself.
The
opening mission of the Incredibles required some rather elaborate
movements that required not only speed, but also agility. It's
interesting to see just how much of a workout this game was, helping
break the whole 'lazy-gamer' stereotype. We experienced absolutely no
lag as far as controls were concerned and the on-screen instructions
were for controlling the character were amazingly easy to follow.
Each
mission of the game requires the player to not only complete the
objective of the mission, but also collect various tokens throughout the
game-play that help unlock characters and achievements at the end of
the mission. Successfully completing a mission also unlocks the next
stage of the game-play for that particular game.
Successful
completion of the mission sends the player back into the Pixar Park,
where they can free-roam, interact with the other AI (in case of single
player mode) or other players (in case playing multiplayer) and proceed
to other areas of the park designed after other Pixar movies.
We
encountered a little bit of a problem with controls when playing the
Cars game. It seems that the only way to drive in the game is by
extending your hands the way you would if you were holding a steering
wheel. While this does give a rather life-like feel, the problems comes
in after a few minutes of game-play when the stress on the biceps can
get excruciatingly painful, especially for little children. We figured a
more comfortable way would be to tuck in the biceps an just extend the
forearms. Doing so eliminated most of the strain and allowed Kinect to
still pick up our movements perfectly.
Next we hopped over to the
Toy Story area of the Pixar Park, since we had been very eager to see
what the game would be like given its Kinect integration. In Toy Story,
we don the roll of a robot toy on a mission to help out Mr.
Pricklepants. As you go through the various missions, the game will have
you pick up and throw objects, dodging obstacles and even zipping on
clothes lines.
Of course, this game too follows Pixar's long
standing tradition of the buddy system and pairs you up with any of the
many characters from the movie. As you go along, you unlock characters,
including Buzz Lightyear. One round of Toy Story later and we found
ourselves looking for something to sit on. Besides being a child's game,
it could clearly double up as a workout routine.
While Toy Story
was definitely our favorite, we couldn't help but wonder what the
streets of urban Paris would look like from the perspective of
everyone's favorite mouse. As soon as our Toy Story mission was finished
and goodies were unlocked, we moved onto the French theme park to
engage ourselves in the world of Ratatouille.
The game pairs us up
with a familiar face from the movie and our first mission is to get to
Linguini as fast as possible to warn him about the health inspector who
is about to visit their restaurant. But it's not as simple as that. You
must dodge people trying to swat you with a mop, slide down roofs and
even hose pigeons who often tend to block your way. Time is of the
essence and the sooner you get to Linguini, the more points you earn.
We're not going to lie, something about taking a slide down a French
rooftop made us wish it wasn't just a game we were playing.
After
experiencing the French rooftops, we moved on to experience the
adventure that was the movie Up! The movie brought an old heartbroken
man together with a young boy with an insatiable thirst for adventure
and the game replicates the same environment for us.
Up takes a
slightly different approach to game play as compared to Toy Story, and
requires less of vigorous and strenuous movements, but more of puzzle
solving. However, there are portions of the game that require you to
jump over gaps, which can sometimes be frustrating if you fall through
one them and have to wait a few seconds till you can try again. One of
the many fun parts was swinging from vine to vine in order to get though
the level, making us feel a little like Tarzan at one point.
All
the mini-games are based on movies and offer a gaming experience that
very effectively immerses the player in the movie-like environment.
Everything fits, from the story-line, to the look and feel, to the
character voices. One of the best things about Kinect Rush, besides the
immersive experience, is the exclusion of the concept of "player health,
allowing children to play endlessly without worrying about the dreaded
"game-over" screen.
Graphics
The graphics of Kinect Rush
follow the same design principles as other Kinect games, that is, it
looks a little cartoon-ish. This works really well given that the
premise of the games is based on animated movies. Graphically, the game
doesn't offer anything new or groundbreaking, but maintains the high
quality visual experience that can be expected from a Kinect game.
Soundtrack
The
musical score for the Kinect Rush is again divided up into various
genres, each one composed specifically to fit the game you are playing.
The musical score lends beautifully to the immersive experience that is
otherwise offered by the individual games.
Verdict
Kinect
Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure is an exclusive Xbox 360 title, designed
to take full advantage of the Kinect sensor that has made the console so
popular in modern times. It's amazing how Asobo Studios has managed to
incorporate s many varying gaming styles and experiences into one
package.
Each mini game is based on five Pixar moves and offers
very unique missions and achievements that the player can unlock as they
go along. The free-roam concept lends the game sort of an RPG-like
feel, as does the ability to converse with the other AI in the game.
Overall
we feel that just like the Pixar movies are enjoyed by both children
and grown-ups alike, Kinect Rush would definitely be a hit with all
age-groups.
Score
Story: 5
Gameplay: 3.5
Graphics: 3.5
Sound: 4.5
Overall: 4