Kinectimals

Yup. I bought a Kinect.

I like to embrace NEW technology which is why I got a Kinect and NOT a Playstation Move.

Kinect is a can of laser guided worms that I am not going to open... maybe I'll open it when I get more than 8 feet in my SF apartment living room.

From the local library I checked out a copy of "Kinectimals". Mainly to watch my girlfriend play it. Hold on! This isn't a comparison to The Wii Fit Girl from back in the day. But no. I'm not that simple. That joyously simple. I wanted to see my girlfriend play with Kinect on a gam that would interest her more vs. a "JUMP AROUND THE LIVING ROOM AND SCORE POINTS" kinda gam. I wanted to see if the Kinect controls would do what she would be interested in!

One thing they never showed in any Kinectimals trailers...

That thing. 

He has a bushy tail. INSECT WINGS and has the voice of Richard Horvitz (Invader Zim).

For about 45 minutes my girlfriend played Kinectimals and the entire time was nothing but a tutorial. She was just along for the ride, waving her hand or moving around when the gam told you. Hmmm.. sounds like a Call of Duty gam!

This flying creature with the hands of an 80 year old human pulls you away from whatever you are doing instantly. He shows you fun gams you can play, but when you figure it out and are ready to play more, he pulls you away to your 50th load screen to explain another feature you will forget about when/if you get into the "open mode" of this gam.

I have NO IDEA what it would be like to be a kid in this day in age with awesome technology and really crazy videogams. I am hoping if I was able to play Kinectimals as a child I'd get fed up with these tutorials. I want to give myself credit on that. But I am sure I'd be there with my jaw dropped, laughing at everything this creature was doing.

I am sure Microsoft/Frontier did months and months of manhours worth of Focus tests on this too with kids. In my mind I am picturing a kid YELLING at the TV that this creature is talking too much; interfering with the fun that could be had. I'm curious if they just set them up with sandbox mode or made them do the whole starting session.

Cats don't act like dogs.

Another one of the big problems is the choice to make it "cats". Were they so worried about comparisons to nintendogs they used cats? The behaviors of the animals are that of dogs. They like to play, they know how to play fetch and they like being scratched behind the ears. Kittens don't like that! When kittens turn into selfish cats they like scratches behind the ears.

Kinectifelines??

With the name Kinectimals, you'd almost expect a few ANIMALS. They set up the idea that it's a crazy tropical island that could be home to dozens of wildlife. Why not have a pet baby elephant? Zebra? Giraffe? Capybara? Polar Bear! 

End

I took the gam back to the library. the gam failed to grab me, or my girlfriend after 45 minutes. Listening to and watching a frightening creature fly around the screen for 45 minutes as your Kinecticat is waiting for you to give him attention was just too infuriating.

The Kinect Controls seemed to work. Camera pans were done intelligently. Cycling through the inventory with arm "swipes" only seemed to work 1 of 5 swipes my girlfriend performed. And she had a ton of trouble with accuracy in the beanbag toss. I didn't play these, but I watcher her miss. A lot. Too many load screens. Graphics were colorful! But, This is never going in my Kinectibox again.