Kinect Star Wars takes another shot at that fabled recreation of light saber action in a videogame. While it may not have the one-to-one controls of Wii-Sports Resort’s glowing sword fights, it does have the official Star Wars license behind it, not to mention contributing plenty of fresh content to the fiction.
My kids are just getting old enough to enjoy the films and, as I say in the video, I’m starting them on the original trilogy rather than the more recent films. Not only does this avoid the slightly more grizzly moments in the new films, but it also gives them the same route into the Star Wars mythology that I had when I was their age. I’m sure they’ll thank me one day, although at the moment they keep asking to watch the newer ones because they “look better.”
Hidden Text on Star Wars Xbox
Although it’s hard to tell just how good Kinect Star Wars is going to be without playing it through at home, the elements available to try at the preview event I attended were certainly promising. Having played it at last year’s E3 I was a little unsure just how much the game could add to the already burgeoning Star Wars catalog.
The big difference since then is the greater variety of game-play. Not only in the main story, but also in the mini-games included on the disc. I had heard about the Pod Racing game before but had not realized there was also a Dance Central style rhythm action game and Rancor Rampage open world destruction mode. The former takes classic dance songs and gives them a Star Wars twist (both in terms of choreography and lyrics), which was a really nice touch.
I also got to have a play with the Limited Edition Xbox 360 for Kinect Star Wars. Although I’ve never been one for special paint jobs on technology (R2D2 colored console and gold C3PO controller in this instance), the added feature of R2D2 sounds when you power up the console and open the disc tray has got me considering a pre-order, particularly with my current 360 having just failed due to long service.
The game itself seemed a little fussy in terms of how far you need to be from the Kinect controller, and I suspect that (as with most Kinect games) a little setting up time before letting the kids loose on it will be advisable.
R2D2 Talks to Andy Robertson
Kinect Star Wars does promise benefits over other Kinect titles. It offers two player split-screen co-operative play in both the campaign and mini-game elements. This allows players to choose their own routes to some extent rather than being locked together as in Kinect Rush and Disneyland Adventures. I know that my older kids will appreciate this play style, as they have found being tethered slightly frustrating — and R2 seemed less than impressed with Disneyland Adventures during the interview.
Overall the preview event made me pretty excited to see the game in full. I look forward to playing it and reading reviews when it is released.
Kinect Star Wars will be is available on 3rd April from Amazon for $49.99 and the Limited Edition Star Wars 360 for $449.99.
