Finally got my Xbox 360S with Kinect! What is with the quotation for the adventure? Read on and you will understand why. In this post, I will review two kinect exclusive titles namely Kinect Adventure and Dance Central.

Before that, let me start with the review on the new Kinect system.

Setting up

Personally, I find the set up of the Kinect relatively simple. This could be due to the optimal configuration of my furnitures in my living room. I have a rather good clearing of 2m x 3m in front of the Kinect. So the set-up is done through the ‘Kinect Tuner’ with relatively no hiccup. And I did the entire set-up without using the calibration card included with most Kinect Games.

Facial Recognition

You can log into your Xbox Live simply by facing the Kinect Sensor. This feature is kind of cool but given that I am the only one with account on my Xbox 360, such feature is actually redundant to me. But still, it is a neat feature to have.

Another point ot note is that when playing some titles that uses your Xbox Avatar, Kinect will identify you and the avatar in the game will change accordingly to your profile. I should also take the opportunity to praise the accuracy and speed of this recognition system. However, recognition only works well under good lighting condition. There was once Kinect fails to recognize me when I was playing the game in the evening.

Voice Command

My test with the voice command is that it isn’t very responsive. At times, I feel like a crazy person shouting ‘Xbox, Xbox, Xbox!’ when the machine is not responding. Probably because the guys at Microsoft tested it out with American testers and therefore cannot pick my my Singlish-like accent. But hey, I didn’t say ‘Xbox lah’ or anything of the sort. And the most weird thing is that voice command is only enables for certain locale. Selecting English (Singapore) will not enable this feature! But selecting English (US) will allow you to use voice command. Weird…So is Microsoft trying to say that we as Singaporeans don’t speak English that are good enough for Kinect to understand? Maybe the Ministers are right, time to speak good English…

Other than some hiccups, the voice recognition does deserve some credits as the user do not have to speak into the microphone but can simply give commands at where he or she is at. Another point to note is that Kinect comes with an array of four microphone instead of just one.

My Kinect ‘Adventure’

Ok, I am not going to review the game Kinect Adventure yet but will be relating my very own Kinect ‘Adventure’ here. After playing happily on the Kinect for 3 days, I invited my friends over and we all started prancing in front of the kinect sensor. Suddenly, the Kinect Sensor light turned from green to the red light of death and an error message pop out saying ‘Kinect Error’. We were just 20 minutes into playing Kinect Adventure so overheating shouldn’t be an issue. So I unplugged Kinect, restart my Xbox and plugged in Kinect again. Not working. I went online and got a suggestion to update my software and also found a ridiculous suggestionthat my Kinect is too cold (both on Kinect official site). So after the software update, my Kinect is still down! Microsoft! And the best part is, Xbox support line is only opened on weekdays and that means I have to wait two days (since it broke down on Saturady) before getting some help.

After some fruitless attempt at finding the problem online throughout the weekend, Monday finally arrived and I called to get the authorization code to exchange my Kinect. So I carry my Kinect and went all the way down to Funan’s Service Hub to get it replaced. Personally, I have no complain with the one-to-one exchange, I am just appalled by the fact that the set broke down within 3 days. Ok so much for my Kinect ‘Adventure’. So for those who experienced the Kinect ‘red light of death’, just called Microsoft and asked for a one-to-one exchange. Forget about trying to troubleshoot yourself.

Kinect Adventure

Finally the real review of Kinect Adventure. Kinect adventure is a game that comes with my Kinect sensor. It consist of 5 mini-games with various stages of difficulty. The games are a good starter to show players what Kinect is capable of. The mini-games includes:

 1) 20,000 Leaks

In 20,000 Leaks, players got to plug the leakage of their glass cube using their avatar’s head, legs and even head. You will find yourself in some awkward positions and before you know it, Kinect will take some hilarious pictures of you.

 

2) River Rush

In River Rush, one or two players steers a river raft down a river. You can jump to lift up your float to reach for height.  When playing with two players, do be careful as I bumped into my friends several times when I wanted to steer left and he wanted to steer right.

3) Rally Ball

Rally Ball’s objective is to destroy blocks down a hallway using balls which will bounce off your avatar. You can kick the ball, smack the ball and even hit the ball with your head.

 
4) Reflex Ridge

In Reflex Ridge, players stand on a platform that will move through an obstacle-laden wooden track. Players will have to duck, jump and move around to avoid beams that will come at you. To increase speed, you can jump on spot. One of the more physically strenous game in Kinect Adventure.

 
5) Space Pop

In Space Pop, the players have to pop bubbles that were appear from holes in the playing area. Players can hover in mid air and ‘fly’ by flapping their arms. This is the one of the mini-game that make full use of Kinect 3D capability. You will have to move back and forth in order to pop all bubbles.

While Kinect Adventure can provide some fun time for the family, the game is rather repetitive as there are only five fixed mini-games. I got bored after playing the games for two days.

GameTrader.SG rating: 6.4

Hurray for the good demonstration of Kinect’s Capabilities.

Boo for the lack of re-playability.

Dance Central

Dance Central is a new dance game by Harmonix, the team who brought you Rockband and Guitar Hero. Played this game with my mother and for once she was at some point of time coaching me some of the dance steps! I can’t believe I am saying this, but I actually needed help from my mum to play games!

In order for the player to learn the moves to a total of 32 songs, Harmonix includes a break-it-down mode. In this mode, you will learn each individual dance step of the particular song. You can choose to slow down the move if it gets too difficult for you. The entire dance is also splitted into a few segments. After learning the individual dance step in a segment, you will then chain them together.

I started with easy mode of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ and followed the dance moves with little problem. They are mostly simply dance steps such as side stepping and punching you arms in the air. Nothing my mum and I can’t handle. However, as we tried out the harder songs, some moves are really demanding considering my limited talent in dancing. I do get frustrated slightly when I keep failing in getting a certain move correctly.

At first, I thought a virtual ‘me’ will be dancing in the back drop mirroring my move, however, I was disappointed that there isn’t such a feature. Instead you get a tiny silhouette image of your body during the game. Also, the game does not really support two players dancing simultaneously together (as seen in earlier video demo of the game). In Dance Battle mode, which allows for two players, you take turns to dance in front of the Kinect. Hmmm…probably they want to avoid players hitting each other (see video below) as some of the moves required much spaces.

During the dance, there is also a free-style mode where you are free to dance to your heart content. Be warned though that the footage will be captured and stored!

GameTrader.SG rating: 8.4

Hurray for the accuracy of detecting players’ moves.

Boo for the lack of multi-player support.

Zombie-themed games are ever so popular. Game developers just cannot stop producing such games. While I am not a fan of zombie games, I do enjoyed playing some of these genre of games. So below is a list of zombie games that I would like to share with all readers.

LEFT 4 DEAD 2

This can easily be the hottest game in LAN shop for the entire year. Had been playing this game at LAN shop with different groups of friend and the fun never ends. The sound track and ambience of the game (coupled with the dim lighting in LAN shop) creates the perfect environment for Left 4 Dead 2. My personal favourite? The Witch who will start chasing you after you inflicted it with the first shot.

The multiplayer mode also allows you to go 4-on-4 in a team battle. Each team will assume roles of either human or zombie. Of course, being zombie is always fun. Spawn as a Tank and knock you friends off into an acid pool. Jockey your friend into flames. Spit acid onto unsuspecting victims. A great game for a group of friends to play.

[PROTOTYPE]

Not exactly a zombie game but the plot of Prototype is typical of most zombie-themed game. An outbreak of an infection that cause mutation in a densely populated city, and you play the hero who tried to find a cure. Ok, I am not talking about Will Smith’s ‘I am Legend‘. But despite the not so original storyline, the game’s physics will truly amaze you when you first play the game. You play as Alex Mercer, a protagonist that possesses shape-shifting ability. He can change his hand into blades, claws, whip and hammer that enable him to boulder and slice his enemy. He can walk on walls, glide in air and falls from an height without sustaining damage.

If shooting zombie is not fun enough for you, you can crush them with tanks or blow them up with missiles in Prototype. Wicked.

Oh, you also get to fight these super agile mutated creature call Hunter. More gore and blood. This game is definitely not for the minor or people with Hemophobia.

Resident Evil 5

A long lasting franchise of Capcom, this latest Resident Evil installment introduced co-op playing for the first time. So instead of just one hero fighting against horde of undead, you get two! Playing this game with a friend really enhances the gameplay experience compared to having to explore a zombie infested place alone.

Ok, be warned though that unlike Left 4 Dead 2, Resident Evil 5 is about surviving. You have very limited ammunition and most of the time you’ll have to scavenge for them. Oh, and I really hate those dogs that can split its head.

Plants VS Zombies

Yeah! Finally a more family oriented zombie game! Pop cap which is famous for making casual game such as Peggle creates this wonderful game which I’ve spent countless hours on. Despite its simplicity, this game is addictive! Probably more addictive than most facebook games in my opinion. Nope, you don’t get much blood and gore for this game. Definitely suitable for the minor.

In Plants and Zombies, you have to ward off waves after waves of zombie which will try to invade you house. Instead of machine guns, chainsaws or Samurai sword, you have plants as your weapon! This plants pack a punch and do just as well compared to conventional weapons. In fact, I love this game so much that I will include a music video of this game for this post! Enjoy!

So that concludes the best zombie games yet.  However, I do have to admit that I am not a fan of such games. Might have miss out some good titles. Do leave your comments if I missed out any good games.:)

 After waiting for months, I’ve finally had time to play the highly acclaimed Heavy Rain by Quantic Dream. By now, most of you might have read about or even completed this game. To quote Eurogamer.net, Heavy Rain is indeed “unlike anything else you will play this year”. As a player, I was quickly absorbed into the plot within a few minutes. Against the backdrop of a rainy weekend,  the thrill and suspense of this game is greatly enhanced (try playing Heavy Rain on an actual rainy evening or night with lights off and you will get what I mean). The game itself is rather short and I’ve completed it within 2 days. But this is no complain. Comparing this game with a 2 hour movie, the plot of the game is definitely thicker and more engaging.

The Story (Spoiler-free)

 

The story opens up in a light and warm-hearted tone. You control one of the main protaganist, Ethan Mars who just woke up to a bright new day and was preparing for his son’s birthday party. The player get to have some happy family time when controlling Ethan, drawing them closer to the character in the process. Later in the game, Ethan and his family visited a crowded mall where he will lose his son, resulting in a tragic car accident.

After this prologue, the story is fast-forward to 2011, two years after the accident. Ethan had lost his older son, Jason Mars, in that accident. He is divorced with his wife and he suffers traumatic pyschological depression. The setting of the game changed instantly to a gloomy and depressing mood overcast by the dark and rainy weather. Ethan soon lost his second son, Shaun, at a park to the Origami Killer.

The Origami Killer is a serial killer who kidnapped young boys and killed them by drowning them in rainwater. The victims would then be found with an orchid and an origami on him. The player would get to know more about the killer when they get to control Norma Jayden, a FBI who is sent to assist the police on this case.

On the sideline, a third playable character, private investigator Scott Shelby, attempts to collect clues and evidences from parents of the victims killed by the Origami Killer. He visits each of them and gather more and more evidences as he progress.

Finally, the player also gets to play the lovely Madison Paige, a female photojournalist who helped Ethan throughout the ordeal.

The story ended with a twist as the identity of the Origami Killer is known. All in all, there is about seven alternate endings depending on the choices taken by the player throughout the game.

The Gameplay

In Heavy Rain, player follows the on-screen 3D icon to determine which button to press at each specify stage of movement. Although it may seems like a mundane process (sometime you need to do day-to-day simple task like cooking an egg, bathing etc.), the action sequences are exciting as every button you pressed can assist the character in evading an attack or striking on the assailant successfully.

And yes, your character may die if you fail some of the fighting sequence making it even more thrilling and immersive. The six axis controller is also utilized fully in this game.

You get to move your controller in almost all of the available six axis. From simple task of shaking a carton of orange juice to steering a car. Although the Move Version may provide a more creative way of controlling the players, I feel that the six axis controller by itself has provided a basic yet effective way of engaging the player.

 At anytime of the game, the player can delve into the minds of the characters by pressing L2. You can then hear what the character is thinking  about at that point of time. Sometimes, the character will have contradictory thoughts that illustrate the internal self-struggle that he or she is experiencing.

When playing as the FBI agent, you get to use a futurist ARI (Added Reality Interface) system. The system which consists of a pair of glasses and glove, display holographic representation of evidences and files. Get ready for some matrix-style high-tech fun with this device in the game.

The Graphics and behind the scenes

Running at 720 resolution instead of the Full HD 1080 (as featured in Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII), the graphic is still overall amazing. The physics of the sets are realistic and the realism of real-time rendered cut-scenes are commendable as well. The degree of facial expression seen in this game put many games at shame (especially compared with the recent CSI game that I’ve played). Other than a few glitches, (at one point of time, my Scott Shelby head is turned 180 degree for a second or two), the game level of realism pushes the boundaryof game graphic even further and gamers may now be even more demanding in terms of graphics quality.

Casting of the characters are based on real-life actors and actresses. For example, Madison Paige is actually created from scans of English Model Jacqui Ainsley who also does the mo-cap for Madison. In fact, almost all of the sequences are created using motion capturing. Facial expressions are also that of the actors’ and actresses’. The techniques used are similar to that of Avatar but Avatar captured both facial expression and movement simultaneously in a single shot unlike Heavy Rain.

Scott Shelby is modelled based on actor Sam Douglas. You can see a real-life ‘Scott Shelby’ in the video below 🙂

The creators of the game are very merticulous about the sets. Most of the sets are very elaborate and details much to my surprise.

In a scene of a small convenience store for example, all the racks are filled with real models of daily items. The lazy way of doing the racks of items is to apply a single textured images onto a shelf (as seen in older games such as Counter-strike).

In a mall scene, Ethan has to fight his way through a crowd to find his son Jason. Despite the large number of people in the mall, the gameplay was smooth and not jerky. For those who may not know this, games usually ‘lags’ when a scene consists of large number of objects. This is because, the graphic processors has to compute and draw each of these individual objects to the screen. Therefore, with more objects, the heavier the computation will become. This is also the reason why your computer will lag when playing RTS such as StarCraft II after building many units.

Lighting of the game is also very well-done. Note that rendering of all the scene has to be done in real time when the player is controlling the characters. That is to say that all computations of the 3D scenes have to be done in real-time. Effects such as shadow are not entirely impressive given that such real-time shadow generation is already seen in games such as Final Fantasy XIII and Assassin’s Creed. However, other effects such as reflection (be it off a mirror or reflective surface) will simply blow off your mind. To illustrate the level of difficulty in achieving real-time generation of 3D scene, a single Toy Story 3 frame (generally a film has 30 frame per seconds) took 7 hours to completely render. Now imagine Heavy Rain need to do all these in a fraction of a second. Given the result, I am very impressed by the quality of the graphics.

Soundtrack

What is a good game without good soundtrack? The cinematic soundtracks in the game bring out the various emotion that the director wants the user to experience, greatly enhancing the gameplay. One moment, your heart sinks with the despondent orchestral music, the next moment, it will beat faster as the music turned fast-paced and thrilling. A cinematic experience is how I would describe the soundtracks accompanying the game.

Conclusion

All in all, Heavy Rain is a must-play title for all PS3 owners in our opinion. A game with captivating plot and innovative gameplay presented in excellent graphic is how we would like to described this game. While no sequel is currently planned, I certainly do hope that Quantic Dream can come out with a new interactive drama title that does not build on the current Heavy Rain universe. I do agree that a sequel to Heavy Rain would undermine the game current status quo as a sequel would have problem delivering a newer refreshing idea compared to Heavy Rain. It is afterall, the innovative and new idea of the game that make it successful. Some critics said that Heavy Rain is more of a movie than game, but which successful game of today do not have a captivating storyline? Games in the past like Super Mario and Pacman can be successful without a thick plot. But gamers of today prefer such feature and it is almost seen in any modern games today. Movie or game? You decide. For me, it is not important. What matters is that I have thoroughly enjoyed the game.

GameTrader.SG rating: 9.2/10

Hurray for the good plot and graphics

Boo for a few plot holes.

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