It’s pretty obvious that Kinect is not for me. Chances are if you’re reading this it’s not for you either. Like Sony with the Move, Microsoft has decided to set their sights on those Wii loving casual gamers. The only difference is that while Sony has made at least some concessions to the hardcore it doesn’t seem like Microsoft has.
The Move is great when it comes to interacting with 3D space. It’s ability to track the remote and overlay graphics that you can manipulate is fucking uncanny. That said, it is a terrible pointing device. I Try playing a game like Time Crisis and no matter how long I spend calibrating it always seems to feel like I am dragging the cursor around rather that directing it. So I’m not sure why you would ever want to play a game like Killzone with the Move rather than a controller but the option is at least there. As much as I hate the Kevin Butler character, I have to agree that having buttons is a good thing.
Of all the crap I played yesterday on the Kinect only Dance Central and Kinectimals stood out as being quality titles. The controls in Sonic Free Riders just plain don’t work. With the exception of hang gliding Real Motion Sports is a mess. Kinect Sports wants me to bowl and play ping pong in my living room for the thousandth fucking time. I’m sorry but I have jumped around in front of my TV enough now. Granted I haven’t done it on my Xbox but I’ve done it on both of my other consoles and the Kinect games just doesn’t feel any different. In fact in many cases they feel worse.
I think the only part of my Kinect experience that was interesting was the Kinect dashboard. Using my hand and even better my voice to control the menus and interact with my Xbox was actually cool. Is that reason enough to buy a Kinect? Probably not.
In the end I have to say that nothing about the Kinect has me excited right now. Maybe that’s okay since like I said it’s not for me. I’d say the difference between the Kinect and the Move for me is that I can see the Move delivering a hardcore experience that I might actually like. I'm just not sure about the Kinect.
-Gabe out
