So, back when Kinect was announced the game that got heavily showcased was an interactive action adventure in the Star Wars universe… universes?
So like any game people are excited for, it got pushed back and delayed etc etc. Then the skepticism built. What was supposed to be a Kinect launch title was seeming like it was never going to come out; happily acquired ammo from the core gamers who still hate on Kinect. Plus in a market where people would rather harp on the Kinect for its less than stellar games like Sonic Free Riders and Adrenaline Misfits rather than focus on great titles like The Gunstringer, Kinect Sports, Carnival Games and Fruit Ninja, Kinect Star Wars has already been dismissed by many gamers before it even had a chance to be out in the market.
Here we are now, a little under two years of Kinect’s life and Kinect Star Wars has finally joined us and, though I wouldn’t call it competition for The Gunstringer as a must-have title for the Kinect library, it’s still pretty fun.
Plot
Kinect Star Wars is a myriad of game elements rolled into one, I hesitate to call it a minigame bundle because A: Kinect already has a lot of those and B: the amount of effort put into these elements make it unfair to call them “mini”.
The game’s core campaign takes place during the Star Wars episodes one through three trilogy, following the tale of a Jedi master and her band of padawan learners. The players select one of these young Jedi (I still don’t know if the pluralization of Jedi is “Jedi” or “Jedis” so I’m playing it safe) The campaign revisits many familiar aesthetics of the Star Wars franchise with speeder chases, lightsabre battles, force wielding and more.
Side games let you compete in one on one lightsabre duels, pod racing, going on a rampage as a huge Rancor and even partake in a “Galactic Danceoff”, an odd mode that really feels more like it could have been a Dance Central expansion pack.
Controls
Kinect recognition is staggered at times to say the least. During the core campaign the players will quickly find what elements work and what doesn’t work as well. Lightsabre battles are cumbersome and awkward, especially in a smaller room where you can’t overexhaggerate the motions. The Kinect follows the player’s movements very well when taken at a deliberate pace and there are few enemies on the screen, but as the screen fills with more enemies, the framerate drops and your adrenaline forces you to move more quickly, making rapid slashes and movements rather than the precise, deliberate strikes, the sensor will start to miss motions, sometimes at the most costly of times. Jumping, dashing forward and even dodging left and right can get lost in a flurry of movements if the player is swinging away too franticaly, and I found myself too often having to remind myself to slow down and not get ahead of the game’s ability to follow me.
Likewise with the lightsabre battles, using the force can be a little less than expected. The force feels watered down, with most enemies being mildly inconvenienced by force push and levitation attacks; with the exception of key cinematic moments, the force just doesn’t feel as powerful as someone would expect and I know I’m playing as a padawan but I found myself rarely using the force abilities unless I needed to. Combat should be handled with a lightsabre as long as the player remembers not to get too wound up and move too fast.
Speeder chases, pod races and starship shootouts are where this game really shines. Controls are very tight, sometimes too tight in the starship firefights, but the responsiveness of the motions is spot on, and when you’re zooming through the woodlands of Kashyyyk or roaring through space, shooting down Sith fighters, the controls just feel right and I don’t think it could have been done better.
Rancor Rampage is a little bothersome for following controls, I can see this mode being more geared towards kids but damn it us grown up nerds want to destroy stuff too sometimes!
Galactic Danceoff, like I said, is basically Dance Central. It has the crisp motion recognition as you groove to familiar pop songs reworded with Star Wars-inspired lyrics. It’s a clever game mode, again won’t be for everyone but the recognition is brilliant in this mode, so my low scores can only be attributed to my lack of ability to dance rather than faulty recognition.
Visuals
The game has an interesting merging of visuals from the Clone Wars television series with an attempt to make them look a little more lifelike. The cartoony looks are helpful for keeping the graphics from getting bogged down when there’s a lot going on, but the framerate and texture pops do have frequent issues anyways when there’s too much going on. Environments are nice enough to look at and the character models aren’t awful, I can see what they were going for but it felt like it could have been pushed out a little better.
Audio
This is another mixed bag for me. The iconic music from the movies makes the game’s moments feel true to what you would feel from watching the movies, and the clever reworded songs in Galactic Danceoff sound just like they should, but sometimes the voice acting is just… well… off.
Yoda doesn’t sound right, and with the plethora of people in the world who can do a mean Yoda impression, I’m shocked they went with someone who was that noticeably off. Mace Windu sounds like he should, I know Samuel L. Jackson will be a part of anything but I don’t think that was him in the game, just someone who really has his voice nailed. Obi Wan, C3PO and others sound quite spot on with their voice acting, even if the script is rather watered down at best sometimes. I think just my biggest gripe is that Yoda doesn’t sound like Yoda… maybe he has a cold, who knows.
What I Liked
The overall feel. Despite the game’s shortcomings I still kept playing it because, at the heart, it IS a fun game. Iconic music makes the atmosphere feel more dramatic and triumphant. Extra modes are clever and fun. Vehicular activities in Star Wars have never felt so good.
What I Would Change
Framerate issues and motion recognition both need to be upped. Though it happened rarely, when I would have to make the same motion several times to make my character finally do it, and again usually at the most inopportune times, it grew a little frustrating. The lightsabre duels specifically are boring and frustrating. Yoda’s voice, I want the real Yoda, damn it!
Final Thoughts
I hear a lot of “adults and hardcore Star Wars fans should avoid this game” and, well, I argue that. I’m an adult and I had a lot of fun with this title. I would never say I’m a hardcore Star Wars fan but I can appreciate purists and long-term fans being less than thrilled with the story line, but let’s face it at least from my experiences it’s more the having to get up and DO something that would deter hardcore Star Wars fans from this title more than a less-than-inspiring story. HIYO!
Though not a must-have like the Gunstringer, this is a fun on-rails adventure game for the Kinect. It’s not without its shortcomings but it does offer the player a lot for their money as far as variety. Ideal for kids but still enjoyable for casual fans, if you can find a copy on sale I’d suggest giving it a shot.
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