Star Wars Kinect - Kinect Required (Xbox 360)

***Please see bottom for update***

I'm writing this three hours after buying and playing the game for the first time.

I've had a good chance to look through and experience the different options.

The game begins with the main menu, which is in the Jedi Archives with R2D2 and C-3PO explaining the context of the game.

From here, you choose to begin your mission, which starts with a short training mode. From here, you continue with the main game - the 'mission' as it is called.

Other options on the main menu include a Dance-Off competition, which is great fun - and has some witty well-known songs with their titles changed (Going Solo = I'm Han Solo for example). This is a great passer of time, even for those players in the family who may not be Star Wars fans.

The Pod Racing section is also great fun, and quite difficult. This really gets the heart racing, and you'll be guaranteed to need a sit down after experiencing this!

I'm yet to experience Rancor Rampage or the Duel options - but they also look particularly intriguing.

As for the gameplay itself, I'll split it into positive and negative:

+ The graphics are great, especially close-ups of characters such as Yoda.
+ The music and settings, as obvious as this may be, are those of John Williams and George Lucas. It's authentic to the film canon.
+ You are playing as a Jedi, in private, hands-free, with no guilt. That can only be a good thing!
+ The use of the force is great. When you lift a ship for example, it really feels like you're doing something amazing!
+ Jumping is great fun! You'll see what I mean!

- The use of lightsabres. I may be struggling as it's my first day, but they're not as responsive as I'd like. Restricted to just a few moves.
- The learning curve is a bit steep, even on amateur mode. 2 minutes of training and then bang, you're off.
- A bit repetitive at the start.

Overall, I need more time to see what this is all about.

I'm a massive Star Wars fan, and this game promises so much. I'm pleased with the first 3 hours, but I feel I want it to get even better.

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***UPDATE: 6.4.12 ***

Having progressed far into this game, I'm afraid I have had to reduce my star rating by 1. It simply is not living up to its expectations as I hoped it would.

Some more negatives are listed below:

- A bug means that even if you sign in to you Xbox profile on the main Xbox menu, the game logs you in as Guest. Throughout the game, it keeps logging in and out of its own accord, often disrupting the play with a 'Welcome USERID' message. The very next minute, it'll pop up saying 'Welcome back Guest'. So frustrating! This happens when the internet is both connected and disconnected.

- The lightsabre gameplay is simply too slapdash. I was hoping I'd find new moves and new accuracy, but I stand in front of the TV waving my arms around wildly and it does the job. The force and lightsabre technique is all about pinpoint accuracy, but this is just wild flailing of the arms. It doesn't feel right, and it's hopeless.

- The repetitiveness has continued well into the game. *SPOILER*: How many battle droids do we really need to face within the first 3-4 hours of gameplay? I know this game is set at the time when battle droids are prominent in the SW universe, but give us something more 'Jedi'-like to do! Does this game have to be all about fighting our way through large swarms of enemies? Surely exercises such as Luke's training with Yoda on Dagobah (from the films) would be rewarding gameplay. Perhaps accruing points for the most accurate force usage? Sadly, I have encountered nothing of the sort thus far.

- A small annoyance, but when characters in cutscenes (which sometimes contain essential mission information) are facing away from the camera, their voices are realistically quieter. However, sometimes, the ambient sounds of the game actually drown out their voices. I turned up the volume so I could hear, and when the camera panned back around to a front-facing shot of the character, I was practically defeaned! As I say, a minor annoyance, but another negative which hinders enjoyment.

I will continue to update this review as time goes on, but I feel as though I'm continuing the game to justify the pricetag, rather than because I am genuinely enjoying it. A real shame, and a letdown for Kinect.

I hope my next review can add some positives.

***UPDATE: 25.4.12 ***

This will be my final update to this review, and unfortunately it's not a positive one. I haven't played this game in 10 days now, and haven't completed it. I have simply run out of motivation to stand and repeat the same tired moves, and the same tired fighting sequences.

As someone else stated, this game is not an absolute stinker, but as Jar Jar would say - "It smells (a bit) stinkawhiff".

Sorry Star Wars fans, you will be sorely disappointed if you purchase this game.

So sad, as this could have been the game which kickstarted Kinect, which seems to be stuttering somewhat with decent new output.

...Well actually,it was more like,a few weeks ago in a living room,not far from here...
I got my kinect about 3 weeks before this came out,so i was very excited by the thought of 'being' a 'jedi'. And after all the videos i saw online and the trailer which made this game look awesome,i was ready to get my gold bikini out from the cupboard,whip out my lightsaber & start talking like yoda...
Sadly,i'm afraid the game wasn't as good as i'd hoped.
The main story is...fun...in a way,you play a mute padawan who strangely enough,still had more acting credibility than hayden christenson did when he played annakin skywalker in "Star wars-Episode 2:the kevin & perry years"!
The story was as forgettable as "Episode 1:how i met your mother", & it was about an invasion or something or other,but i got the impression this wasn't about the story but more about the whole jedi experience.
And when i say experience,i'm using the term very loosely.
Yes it was fun for a while to use force powers to lift & throw things,& as for the lightsaber itself? Well,i felt more like i was madly waving about trying to swat a fly than using a jedi weapon.
The on-rails flying sections were jittery & annoying,the speeder bikes were quite good but the duels (in which your character goes head to head with a bad guy in a battle) were i thought, pretty awful.And to be honest the game was very repetitive.
There were other modes other than the main story...

There was a podracing mode,which reminded me of the old N64 game from years ago & it was quite good,except for when you raise your arms to activate repair bots & in the process forget about the steering!!

The rancor mode was kinda fun.

The duels of fate mode was the same as the duels in the main story & was about as much fun as having to give jabba the hutt a bed bath.

Finally we come to the dance mode. For some this was the best part of the game...really? I haven't played the dance games this is based on,and i'm sure they're alot of fun but...in star wars? Seeing Han solo gyrating to going solo was wronger than a wrong thing from wrongs-ville,but strangely it captured your moves more so than the story mode which was a shame.

Oh,and the main story lasted about 5hrs maybe(?)
I picked out a few levels to replay after i finished the game,but got bored after a while and decided to go shoot womp-rats instead.

So,is the force strong with this game or is it a pile of bantha fodder?
Does it make you want to put your pet dog in the passenger seat of your car while you say 'laugh it up fuzzball' or do you feel like you've just taken out insurance on the death star by someone who sounds like james earl jones with asthma?

Personally i feel this is really aimed at the younger audience which i'm sure for many,will love.
If you're a fan like myself (particularly of the original trilogy) i would suggest rent first. Fun in parts with lots of variety,but on the whole not worthy of the price tag.

First off, it's not an absolute stinker. Caveat Emptor: it's pretty dull, repetitive and uninspired.

The story mode is fairly boring. The characters are instantly forgettable and Chewbacca turns up sporting the embarrassed demeanour of a dog that's been caught eating the sausages off your plate. For an hour wielding an imaginary lightsaber was light-hearted fun. But then the same old combat, enemies and tasks are recycled. Pretty much every enemy can be killed by jumping over them and slashing them. This is great when you're confronted with robots repeatedly telling you 'You're under arrest'. Just jump over them and whack the bejesus out of them. At least that was the tactic, before I started to realise that it would take KInect 4/5 occasions of me jumping to recognise one of them. The tracking for jumping is poor. I thought maybe this might be my set-up but works fine with my other Kinect games and on t'internet seems like this is a common gripe. To split up the armed combat there are sections on a speederbike, which I enjoyed the first time. Despite Yoda telling me 5 minutes into a densely forested level to 'mind the trees'. I hadn't noticed them as I was too busy studying the extra-terrestrial foliage. Cheers Yoda, get back to sullying your inter-galactic reputation by doing some more PC World adverts. Using the force with my left hand would have been aided somewhat by a reticle on the screen rather than me having to wave the arm back and forth like a drunk man looking for a corner in a circular room. More damning was the fact that most combat missions are easily completed by jumping (repeatedly) whilst waving your lightsaber arm at the Kinect. Much like a hyperactive wand-wielding magician having a turn whilst jumping on a trampoline.

The story mode does offer up some fun space missions where you have to destroy a range of enemy vehicles. Again, the Kinect stops you getting any obvious feedback like a controller would, but these levels are enjoyable enough. The whole of the story mode took me about 2 and a half hours to complete.

The Duels mode allows you to fight some of those Star Wars characters you once cherished and now inwardly pity every time you see their heritage sullied by another George Lucas TV advert cash-in. This part is rubbish, just copying the duelling aspect from the story mode. Basically this is what happens most of the time. The baddie (for it is not you) attacks five times, you have to block, then after blocking successfully, you attack them, repeat ad infinitum. I despair that someone can make lightsaber battles so utterly snore-inducing.

The pod-racing is a reasonable stab at recreating the only decent part of The Phantom Menace. But, somewhat ironically, it suffers from a lack of force. Driving games excel when played with a decent controller, or steering wheel; that give you some type of feedback through vibrating. This is a major problem that Kinect will never be able to overcome and this limits the enjoyment of the pod-racing. It's a decent enough part of the game and will bring a few hours enjoyment, but not repeated playing.

Rancor Rampage allows you to play the role of the Rancor, rather than end up with one after a nasty night on the tiles. You basically run around and smash stuff up. No doubt if this game had been available last Summer, then the London Riots (et al) would never have occurred, as the miscreants of society would have been dispelling their anarchic juice swatting another jet-trooper out of the air and jumping up and down on jawas. It's a bit of harmless fun really. But like most of the other game modes, after an hour you'll be looking at the corners of your ceiling wondering why you'd never noticed that massive cobweb before.

And then, the dancing. Up until this point, I've done a pretty decent attempt at hiding my contempt for this cynical Star Wars cash-in. George Lucas must eat $100 bills like they're Rice Krispies if he really needs to keep farming the franchise out. I can imagine soon he's going to be pimping out Han Solo's Carbonite sealing device to nefarious military operations around the world. Providing the blueprints to a working Death Star to extremist groups. Allowing Ann Widdicombe to wear Princess Leia's bikini. When will it stop? WILL SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN????

Han Solo grinding. Princess Leia provocatively 'grinding' for Jabba. In most levels, check out what the stormtroopers are doing in the background. Looks a little bit suggestive. The worst part about the dancing levels are that they are the only bit of the game that really works well, the Kinect is responsive, tracks you well and the gameplay is pretty good. Let's face it, who hasn't wanted to mince around as Han Solo?

Overall, it's about 4 hours of entertainment before it gets really repetitive. Most Star Wars fans are now beyond being hurt any more after the birth of Jar-Jar, most of the prequels and our childhood memories being trampled over by George Lucas' endless desire for money at the expense of credibility. My bitterness towards him has not clouded this review; the game's just not very good. Kids will get bored easily and frustrated at the Kinect's tracking issues; adults will despair that for the same price as this they could have bought 20 Star Wars figures 'back in the day' and been able to send off all those coupons on the back of the packet for the 'special figures' you couldn't buy.

If you love Star Wars and think the prequels are all good, you'll still love this. That is because you're nuts.
If you love Star Wars and despair at some of the prequel's events, you'll tolerate this. When was the last time you spent £40 to tolerate something?