Motion Sports (image: ubi.com)
Kinect has been a pretty popular piece of kit in our household, but as we’ve worked through some of the launch game we’ve had to learn to be a little bit picky over what we invest our money in.
In fact, with Decca Sports Freedom and Dance Masters bringing up a few problems for our family I was getting a little worried that only the first party Kinect games were going to be spot on – and I’d had enough of that sort of business with the Wii.
Thankfully though, some time with Motion Sports soon put pay to that idea. The problem we had wasn’t with the game play of Decca Sports Freedom or Dance Masters, it was more the accuracy of the controls. Both these games aim really high with what they are trying to deliver to the player. But our kids really struggled to keep up with what was being asked of them.
Dance Masters was simply too hard, even on easy, for the novice dancers in our family. Decca Sports Freedom on the other hand asked for too much fine control in some of its events. Paintballing is an interesting example. It is really ambitious – essentially trying to deliver a first person shooter game via the Kinect controller – but ends up being a little bit too complicated.
Motion Sports was a breath of fresh air next to these. The controls and difficulties were spot on. What’s more it took the accurate controls of Kinect Sports and mapped them into sporting events that looked realistic.
Motion Sports Hang Gliding
Skiing and Hang gliding were two stand out events for us, with my daughter also weighing in for Horse Riding. Each of these recreates the real-world event with some accuracy. This isn’t only the visuals, although they are impressive, but the combination of player movement and the instantaneous in-game response. Kinect, as its name suggests, creates a real connection between the player and the game.
Motion Sports Skiing
The result is a game that isn’t all that different from what has gone before, but it feels very different to play. A sense of speed, space and occasion all become contributing elements. It’s not until you experience it that you realize just how absent these have been in previous titles.
Although we have slowly warmed to both Dance Masters and Decca Sports Freedom, for us Motion Sports is still one of the best combinations of visuals and controls our family has experienced on the Kinect controller.
Motion Sports is available from Amazon for $49.99.
Decca Sports Freedom is available from Amazon for $37.99.
Dance Masters is available from Amazon for $47.99.
