“Let your friends know you wont be sitting on the couch much” the game blurs during the intro movie and while Kinect adventures can be seen as many things, you can never call it a liar because during your time with this game you’ll spend a lot of time on your feet.
Surprisingly there is a story that connects the various activities within Kinect Adventures, you have become the newest member of The Adventure Team, a group of energetic go-getters who travel round the world performing hi-octane activities in the search of treasure and fun.
The bread and butter mode within the game is the adventure which tells the tale of your rise through the ranks of The Adventure Team, from junior explorer all the way to master adventurer, this mode consists of a series of challenges that each feature a combination of the different Activities.
There are five activities in the game each serving as a demonstration of how well the technology works and each varying in intensity from the incredibly laid back Spacepop which sees you floating around in space collecting bubbles by flapping y our arms to control your upwards motion to the gruelling Reflex ridge which serves as an on the rails obstacle course in which you must dodge, duck, jump and weave your way through obstacles which constantly race at you.
The other activities all fall somewhere in between these two, Rallyball is similar in someway to the retro game breakout though set in a 3d corridor you use your body to block the ball and break the blocks at the far end. River rush is a rafting game in which the player controls the boat by moving left and right with the goal of getting to the end of the river and collecting treasures along the way.
The last of the activities is also the most difficult, 20000 leaks sees you in a glass room at the bottom of the ocean with the sea life surrounding unfortunately these creatures like to bust holes in your windows with the player tasked with plugging these holes with hands feet and head, what makes it difficult is the precision needed to do so which can be at times difficult to perform.
as you progress through the story the difficulty increases either by increasing the score required or by extending the length of the challenge and it times even changing the rules of engagement for example giving the mode a timer which can only be extended by collecting time pins or requiring you to collect X amount of pins over several activities.
Do well in these challenges and you are rewarded with a prize such as a living statue which allows you to map your movements and voice onto analogues of other creatures like a hamster or a yeti, you’ll even receive gear for your avatar which reflects your status within the club.
The various cut scenes and rewards serve to create an engaging story which will keep you engaged for a few hours and allow you to get acquainted with how Kinect works.
Outside of the main adventure mode there are 3 options playing through each of the activities in free play or in a timed challenge mode allows you to play any of the various games at any time with one or two players , you can also go online and play with another person though most of the games are co-op with the only exception being reflex ridge.
The motion controls all work really well if you have the space, control lag is minimal to the point of being unnoticeable and with Kinect Adventures being the pack in game with the Kinect sensors its unlikely that owners of the sensor wont have this but if your wondering if getting Kinect without buying any other games them I would highly recommend it, Kinect Adventures will keep you entertained until you get your hands on other titles so long as you have the stamina.
