Kinect Sports: Season 2 - Kinect Required (Xbox 360)

Lots and lots of fun.The new voice controls work pretty well.Golf is really excellent.Tennis feels just a bit unengaging but not bad at all.Darts is fun and very sensitive; the developer, Rare, have done a great job there.I even enjoy the Football(american version) though still not entirely sure just what's going on.Baseball is a lot of fun.Skiing is exhilarating..and a nice little touch here, spectators can raise their arms..and listen for cow bells !!
One slight downer for me is there seems to be bit too much celebrating going on , but its okay.

The controls have definitely tightened up from the previous Kinect Sports.

Plenty of licensed music, more than Kinect Sports.

Overall.. very, very good.

HAVE UPDATED MY STAR RATING FROM 4 TO 5 STARS.THERE ARE MORE SUBTLETIES TO SEASON 2 THAN AT FIRST MEETS THE EYE.(eg. try jumping with the ball in Football to avoid being tackled.In baseball there are some other, unannounced, ways to pitch the ball)
ALSO WITH THE 6 NEW MINI-GAME DLC JUST ANNOUNCED(AND FREE), ITS A 5 FROM ME.

UPDATE:as another reviewer pointed out (SJP on 20th Nov 2011)the golf for me often sticks on Observation.Seems no way out of it.Hope you are listening Microsoft, and can issue a software patch.
UPDATE: Seem to have totally fixed the above glitch..simply by placing my Kinect sensor a little higher!

Kinect Sports Season 2 is naturally the follow up to the first successful title. I am not sure how many people will buy this one without owning the previous one. If your intentions are to try this before getting the first Kinect Sports, I'll advise you to go get the first one first - it's just the natural order of things, and understanding how Season 2 works (and what doesn't?) you'll need the first game. Having said that, it echoes the sentiments of many reviewers that this is not really a game that deserves to be a standalone title, but should have been an add-on to the original. This would have actually complemented both games as you wouldn't have to change discs to play different sports, and you could just keep one disc in the Xbox drive and enjoy all the games from both titles.

Kinect Sports Season 2 sees the addition of sports like Darts, American Football, Tennis, Skiing, Baseball and Golf. The only sport that seems to be a hiccup here is the American Football with fans of the game complaining about its restrictions and others (like me) who have never played/watched it having no idea how the game actually works. The rest of them works really well and builds upon the reputation laid down by the developer for the first title.

The game works on the same premise as the first Kinect Sports, so you can expect awesome tracking at times and some iffy feedback at others. You'll avatar will do some cool moves and then do some twitchy ones. It's on this basis that I dare say I do not think this game is an improvement on the previous title in technological aspects. It feels and does exactly the same as the previous one, but it could be that the fine-tuning has been done for games like tennis and baseball where you have very quick movements. Kudos where it's needed.

Though I see that most people here are very happy with the games and their execution, we (a group of friends and family that get together for game nights) found the game to have lost a little bit of its sparkle. What we liked about Kinect Sports (the first title) is that it didn't try to be a 1-1 / 100% sports title. It was a game, for everyone. Kids could enjoy the soccer, track races, my parents (over 70) loved the bowling, and boxing was just plainly hilarious. Season 2 however seems to try to be more of a pure sport game, with baseball being played according to the rules and if you can't get 3 people in a team out the game carries on forever. Darts and tennis cannot be finished in just one try, you have to play until one competitor wins 2 rounds. This is not criticism, but what we dot used to in Kinect Sports for "mini-games" or rather "quick" games is lost in Season 2. Like I said, this is either a plus or a negative for the buyer, because you may want a more realistic approach to the sports, or like us, you may want a more cartoonish crazy approach to it like the first title.

The difficulty level has clearly been stepped up a slight notch and very noticeable with the young ones. With the first Kinect Sports on easy you never lost, it was a given. It was just casual play and fun. Here though it can take up to 3 attempts for casual gamers to beat their first match in tennis and/or darts. This was a little off-putting for some at our game night as they just wanted to have fun, but it quickly dawned on them that Season 2 wanders more in to the competitive realm of sports.

Another thing we frantically looked around for was the mini-games. A recent downloadable content (DLC) has given us 6 mini-games in addition to Season 2, and I suspect they may add more in the near future to keep the game alive until next Christmas. For me, that was a shocker though on the first day when I had bought the title and could not find the mini-games. This was a real nice feature on the first one and I just naturally assumed they would have this and expand on it in Season 2. I prefer the grouping of the mini-games of the first game to Season 2. Again, for some this may not be an issue as well, just personal taste.

All-in-all, this is an excellent title and a great example of what Kinect can do. Keeping the kids busy in a fun, but yet active way. It may feel that I'm being over-critical in the 3 paragraphs above, but I would rather say this is personal taste. Everyone that liked the first Kinect Sports should have the same fun with Season 2, as it really expands the library of Kinect titles. I guess we can expect more additions on an annual basis.

To sum up:

CONS
- American Football can either be twitchy (if you understand the game) or confusing (if you don't know the game)
- avatars on screen at times still do the Michael Jackson jerky movements
- mini-games are taking a backseat...for the moment it seems

NEUTRAL
- games can go on for too long (like baseball; even darts)
- some games need you to win a few times before the match is over (darts; tennis)
- Season 2 focuses clearly more on realistic sporting that the first Kinect Sports

PROS
- great tracking with little frustration, or none at all
- allows for more co-op play
- great online play
- seems that the developers will support the game with more regular - and free - DLC (downloadable content)
- voice control

This is a great title and a great addition. I give it a four star as I think it just lacks a little bit of magic. I gave it a three for fun because we all know how kids get when they cannot get it right the first time, let alone the second time - they just quit. And then the non-active people who enjoy something just for fun really can have a fit when they play tennis for the first time on easy and lose. It becomes very difficult to convince them to return to the game and try again. This makes a game night NOT fun, and here it seems to me that Season 2 has lost a little bit of it "casualness".

I loved the first Kinect Sports but clearly after playing it for a long time some of the sports lost a bit of appeal. Along comes Kinect Sports 2 and you've got double the choice. t's more of the same - great fun, brilliant on both single player and multiplayer. Really comes into its own when you have friends round. American football is challenging. Darts I expected to be poor and clunky but is very slick and enjoyable. Golf is a real challenge but like the real thing practice is helping me master the fairways and greens. Skiing, tennis and baseball finish the choice off and are all excellent. Great fun and hours of enjoyment for the price - a must buy for anyone with Kinect!