Kinect Disneyland Adventures (Xbox 360)

This game really exceeded expectations.

Wasn't expecting much longevity from this title, thought once the kids had walked round the park, met Mickey Mouse, and hugged a Disney Princess they'd be bored.

However, there's a lot more to this game than I expected.

Firstly navigating the park is a doddle.. You simply point where you want to go, and your avatar make his or her way through Disneyland. The only pity is that the kids couldn't use their standard XBox Avatars in the game, and had to create their own "Disney" avatar (which is not as varied as what is offered via the standard Avatar editor), that cost the game a star I'm afraid. However the theme park is beautifully recreated, even the adults in the room were impressed when the kids first stepped out onto Main Street, USA. If you have been to Disneyland you can probably find your way round without ever having to refer to the map. Sleeping Beauty's castle is where it should be, as is Buzz Lightyear's ride, etc..

Speaking of the map.. one advantage of the game is that you can be stood in Main Street and be instantly whizzed to anywhere in the park just by calling up the map.. What you wouldn't give for that sometimes at the real Disneyland!? And when I say calling up the map, I mean literally calling up the map as this game seems to do the best job of implementing voice commands that I've seen in a Kinect title. And saying "Return to park" or "Continue" is a lot easier than hovering over the buttons with your hand..

Throughout the park are Disney characters for you to meet, hug, collect autographs from and a large number of them will also give you quests to complete (i.e. you will have to find burgers to feed a hungry Stitch, or will need to help the aliens from Toy Story find their friends). Completing quests gives you points which you can spend in the stores, to get autograph books (which you'll need to collect signatures of the Disney characters), photograph albums and costumes for your Avatar.

In addition to all the quests and characters you can meet and help out, all of the "big" Disney rides have been converted into mini-games that can be played by one or two players. So if you enter "The Haunted Mansion" you'll take part in mini games which involves falling down the lift, and later "busting" ghosts using your torch. If you go to "Peter Pan's Flight" you'll be soaring over the streets of London on your way to Neverland, before eventually confronting Captain Hook in a sword fight. The nice thing about these mini games is you cannot fail - important so as not to frustrate the younger players, but players who do well will be rewarded with higher scores.

All in all, this is fun, varied, graphically impressive and has the "wow!" factor for the kids (and the young-at-heart) who will love the Disney setting and characters. It has enough content to not just be a five minute "flash in the pan" like many games designed with kids in mind, and is fun enough to keep players coming back for more.

The adults in the family tested this game out for my daughters coming birthday and found it great fun even my eighteen year old son!! The cool graphics emerse you into the game with plenty of tasks and side games to keep you busy. Young and old kids will enjoy this game, great fun for all the family.

If you have been to a Disney park then the attention to detail here will be impressive. A great looking game which offers plenty of mini games using Kinect. Some of course, are better than others but I have to say my 6year old son loves most of them, in particular flying over London in the Peter Pan mini-game. Its actually quite magical! Very well made and does a good job in using Kinect without there being too many frustrations! Very good. One of the top Kinect titles for sure.