OXCGN’s Kinect Rush Review: Rush to the shops?

Posted on 9 April, 2012 by dkpatriarch

OXCGN’s Kinect Rush Review

Rush to the shops?

by: KidGamer

©2012 KidGamer

Editor: Let’s face it, a hardcore gamer doing a review of a Disney inspired Kinect game is like a hard-core metal rock fan reviewing popular young pop artist Justin Bieber’s latest album.

So we at OXCGN decided that it was more in keeping with the target market of Kinect Rush to get our guest ‘Kid Gamer’, a tween who held a game controller before he learned to walk, to do this review.

I have to admit that since getting my own Kinect over Christmas for my own children and non-gamer guests, I’ve had a load of simple but pure fun swashbuckling and kicking hombres in Puss In Boots and swinging my arms around wildly in the must-have Kinect Fruit Ninja.

However, for a ‘real’ gamer this is the snack before the upcoming AAA title.

How does this attractive looking Kinect ‘snack’ fare with the ‘Kid Gamer’ tester? Does it take him to Disneyland, or a Kinect hell more like being trapped and strapped onto the It’s A Small World ride? (watch link for self torture)

A Rush of Blood To The Head?

All my life I have loved Disney and PIXAR movies so when I heard about this Kinect game I was overwhelmed with excitement.

The game features the lovable Disney PIXAR movies Toy Story, UP, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille.

When you first start this game the Kinect sensor attempts to create a character that looks like you, but I found that it generated a completely random character that didn’t look like me at all (last time I checked I wasn’t African American with an afro). So I chose to use a default character.

You use this character in an interactive big playful park which is used as the hub for the different movie-themed games.

This made navigating the menus more fun and much more suitable for kids.

You can also walk around the park and play the missions with a friend which is the best way to gain the most enjoyment out of the game.

Kinect Rush is geared more towards children but I found it enjoyable for the whole family because most people love the Disney PIXAR movies, not just kids.

Due to the fact that this game is more like 5 games in one I feel it is more appropriate to review this game by looking at each movie-themed section separately.

Up

Up is an enjoyable adventure game that is affected by some problems.

The first problem is the controls. I think they could have been better, especially in the area of running and turning.

I found Up very frustrating because you almost had to do a complete 360 to turn around in-game and then you would have to turn again to face the Kinect sensor to see the TV.

However the missions were varied which made the game appealing and fun.

In the first Up mission in Kinect Rush the house was floating away with Kevin the bird in it.

You had to help Russel the little boy save the house through running, dodging and even jumping over a number of obstacles that blocked your path to the house as it floated away.

This is a lot of fun because the fact that this is a Kinect game means you do the running, jumping, and dodging yourself, making it feel like you are actually the character in the game.

It feels a lot more ‘real’ than if I was using a controller and pressing a button.

When I was jumping in this game I also found that it wasn’t always sensing me properly and if it did then there was a little delay.

A couple of activities you had to do in Up, like walking across a tightrope or sliding across a zip line, required precise movements for the Kinect sensor to pick you up, otherwise you would just fall.

However, Kinect Rush had a great system for when you die because if you died three times in a row in the exact same spot then the game would skip that part, which is ideal for impatient easily frustrated kids.

What is also appealing is that each mission on Kinect Rush is only about 5-10 minutes long.

I found it was also great that you had a variety of characters helping you along the way.

Up, for the most part, is a well animated, fun part on Kinect Rush.

Up Score: 8/10

Cars

The Cars section consisted of simple but fun racing/seeking missions that unfortunately felt repetitive as each one wasn’t very unique.

The missions’ objectives ranged from chasing trucks that contained bombs to trying to keep up with the sheriff.

This, along with the fact that you are transformed into an awesome spy car to go on secret missions to save the world with Fin Mcmissile, gives this part of the game a sense of action movie to add to the racing feel.

Cars also had great scenery which ranged from Radiator Springs to Italy and the animated visuals looked vibrant (thank you Miss Cole for vocabulary tests…).

One thing that was implemented very well in Cars was the controls.

They were very simple; all you had to do was put your arms out and pretend to hold a steering wheel.

To turn you only had to turn your hands as if you were turning a steering wheel. This felt really cool, because you felt like you were really driving the on-screen car. Again, using a controller doesn’t feel as ‘real’, so this was a great use of Kinect.

You also had to jump over obstacles such as crumbling roads and dodge gigantic balls coming straight at you, by jumping.

This worked really well because the Kinect sensor picked up on your movements much better than they did in Up, improving the whole experience.

Due to the responsive controls and diverse environments Cars was a heck of a lot of fun, even though some of the missions felt repetitive.

Cars Score: 8.5/10

The Incredibles

I found the Incredibles had a huge variety of activities, such as lifting up concrete blocks and throwing them into glass windows (always great for destructive boys and girls) and riding around in a hovercraft trying to escape from a huge Omnidroid.

I loved having superpowers and cool vehicles to ride around in.

Another reason I loved this game was the fact that in the missions you could do things that you could never do in real life. In one of them you had to help ‘Violet’ (a kid in the park imagining herself as Violet, the superhero girl) save Mirage, a young woman, from a massive Omnidroid.

You had to run and dodge nearby objects in a race to save Mirage and I found it really enjoyable to do the movements.

The sensing of my movements were very similar to Up, meaning that turning in the Incredibles was frustrating at times.

Overall this was a great animated adventure that made me feel like a true Incredible.

The Incredibles Score: 8.5/10

Toy Story

The Toy Story section of Kinect Rush was the most fun out of all the sections.

This will probably be where most people start their adventure as it is the best known PIXAR film.

You had to run, dodge, slide and even drive your way through outstanding, well designed, levels.

The first mission involved solving a variety of problems ranging from trying to get batteries for a porcupine to jumping up and grabing hand holds on a wall with our hands to make our ‘toy’ climb up (rock climbing style) to the top to get over.

You also had to jump on seesaws to fling your character up onto a ledge or even grab a rope attached to a wooden door to make a passage way for your character to get through.

It was fun living the frantic life of the toys you see in Toy Story 3 at the Sunnyside Day-Care.

I also found out that if you can’t get past a ‘challenge’ then the game will give you the option to skip that section and move on. Due to this option the challenges weren’t as frustrating so it was a lot easier to enjoy the game and move on to have more fun.

Those who want to keep trying can also do that and feel like they’ve conquered a challenge.

Toy Story Score: 9/10

Ratatouille

The life of a rat in Paris is unfortunately not simple.

You have to jump all over the place, avoid people and even scare away a flock of pigeons.

The scenery during all this activity was absolutely stunning.

Ratatouille was also similar to Toy Story in the fact that it had a huge range of activities.

This game is also very similar to Up because you had to solve a huge variety of problems, but unfortunately like Up, you had to turn a lot and the sensor had the same problem with that.

Solving problems included jumping on see-saws, flinging a character up to a ledge so they could zipline across to a dangling chain that opens a gate, and even swimming where you do breaststroke arm movements to move.

The boat ride down the sewers was fun, as you controlled it like you do a car, holding an imaginary steering wheel.

I really enjoyed playing as a rat from the film because their world is so different (when is the last time you rode a boat through a sewer) and the gameplay was a mixture of some of the other sections present in Kinect Rush.

Ratatouille Score: 8/10

Rush to the shop?

Overall this game has a great variety of activities with each one themed towards a particular Disney PIXAR film.

The game’s sensor could occasionally be frustrating and had a slight delay, but the way the game makes you move to do the in-game actions was fantastic.

I found it really enjoyable experiencing a life as a super hero, rat, car, toy and an explorer.

This game is also great because it gives you the option to skip a frustrating part that you simply cannot get past- a really good addition in a game geared towards kids.

What I adore the most, though, about this game is that it is multiplayer.

I would hate not to be able to experience this without my family and friends, as sharing it results in much laughter, so it is definitely recommended as a game to play when your family is together.

While most of these games received the score of around 8, I think the game as a whole deserved a 9 because of the variety of games and movements required and especially because of the multiplayer.

Overall if you want to play as your favourite Disney PIXAR characters, controlling their very movements with the Kinect, or are looking for the perfect family game that gets everyone up off the couch, then don’t look past Kinect Rush because it is the game for you and your family.