Goatmoose

Lately I’ve been a sucker for new Kinect content – likely due to the tremendous dry spell of worthwhile games that has been the situation since the device launched last Christmas. Fortunately, the time has come for the Arcade market to jump into Kinect, providing easy access to some simple Kinect-based fun. With a plethora of MS Points sitting in my account, I decided to pick up Fruit Ninja Kinect last week, and Hole in the Wall this week. Overall neither of them are totally amazing, but at least we’re moving in the right direction with easily accessible, creative, original Kinect content.

Fruit Ninja Kinect

Apparently a lot of people have played Fruit Ninja on their phones and handheld devices. Being one of the four people who downgraded from a smart phone to a “normal” phone, I wasn’t aware of the title until it made its way to Kinect. I do, however, doubt it would be nearly as much fun on a phone screen as it can be using your body with the Xbox hardware.

Fruit Ninja puts a shadowed version of yourself up against a plethora of fruits. As they come up on the screen, you slash them in true ninja style. Depending on the game mode being played, you may have to slash against the clock, work to get as high a score as possible, or avoid a milieu of bombs as they fly through the air along with the fruit. That’s really all there is to the game – but it’s fun, and great with a group of people. Especially semi- or fully-drunk people.

Fruit Ninja knows its foundation stands on the very basic principles of gameplay, and it executes it well. That said, whether or not it’s worth 800 MSP is debatable. It probably isn’t, but not due to a lack of quality, only due to its thinness. While the game works well and is fun within its limitations, it’s ultimately still a pretty slim game with only a few different play modes that could grow old pretty quickly. Smashing fruit is very fun, but not for extended amounts of time. I personally don’t regret shelling out the 800, but I’ve certainly got plenty more for my money on other things. Its achievements aren’t very difficult either, once you get the hang of what you’re doing, which cuts down on replay value as well.

A little tip – the first time you play it, don’t do so longer than you’re capable. Your arms will be horribly sore the next day.

Hole in the Wall

This was a game show I remember hearing about a while back but only assume made it to the air at some point, as I never actually saw it on television. The idea is that you (or your team) are on a platform while a moving wall comes at you. The wall has a cut-out section in the shape of some ridiculous pose. You have to contort yourself to fit through the hole, else the wall pushes you backwards into a giant pool of green Mountain Dew-ish water. It’s a funny idea, clever and unique, and though it apparently failed for TV, makes sense as a Kinect game.

There is a “show” mode, which plays off how the television show worked. It puts your team up through three rounds of play where you have to fit through a number of walls. Three strikes (failures to get through the wall) and you’re out. After those are passed, there is a Final Round where you have another sequence of walls, but the lights are turned off and it is harder to see the holes you need to fit through. Obviously as you progress, the walls get more complicated and move a little faster.

The other mode is an endless survival mode, the point of which is basically to get through as many walls as you can without failing. And that’s about it.

The game responds pretty well using the Kinect. It recognizes your movements well and is fairly fun to play. But like Fruit Ninja, and probably even moreso, the game’s fun wears off fast. It’s good for a party, entertaining in concept, but falls flat quickly. With little else to the title, I’d say wait until this one is on weekly special for 400 MSP. It doesn’t deliver the substance to be worth the standard asking price of 800 MSP.

Tags: arcade, download, fruit ninja kinect, hole in the wall, xbox live