Fruit Ninja Kinect

Overview

Fruit Ninja was developed by Halfbrick Studios and was originally released for iPhone in April 2010. After its initial success, it was ported to both iPad, Android OS and Windows Phone 7. In Fruit Ninja, the player's goal is to slice as much fruit as he or she possibly can. The fruit gets thrown up in the air, and the player must slice it before it falls to the ground. In previous versions, this action is performed by swiping a touchscreen, but in Fruit Ninja Kinect players are able to slice the fruit with their hands.

While playing the game using Kinect, the player will be able to see an outlined, shadow-like projection of themselves on the screen, which makes it easier to coordinate the slices. The Kinect sensor is used to track the location of both of the player's hands, which allows the player to slice multiple fruits at once.

Modes

Fruit NInja Kinect features a multitude of different modes, some of which are exclusive to this Xbox 360 version. Below is a breakdown of each mode, old and new.

• Classic: In Classic Mode, players attempt to slash as many fruit as possible without hitting bombs and without letting fruit drop, unsliced, to the bottom of the screen. If three or more fruits drop off the screen, or if the player hits a bomb, it's game over.
• Arcade: Arcade Mode resembled Classic Mode in that players must slash as many fruits as possible while avoiding the bombs, but here the bombs don't spell an instant game over. Instead, they just subtract 10 points. In 60 seconds, the goal is to score as many points as possible. Special power up bananas will also occasionally fly across the screen, granting powers such as time freeze and frenzy.
• Zen: Zen mode ups the time limit to over 2 minutes and removes all bombs and power ups. This is purely a combo-based mode, in which players must pick the perfect moment to slice the fruit in order to get as high a multiplier as possible.
• Multiplayer Versus (exclusive to Xbox 360): In Multiplayer Versus, two players will compete to see who can get the highest score. Each player is assigned half of the screen, and if a player accidentally chops a piece of the opposing player's fruit, points will be subtracted from his score. Bombs also subtract points when chopped. Sometimes special glowing fruits will fly across the screen, granting a 5 point bonus to the player who chops them first. At the end of the time limit, the player with the highest score wins.
• Multiplayer Co-op (exclusive to Xbox 360): In Multiplayer Co-op, the screen is no longer divided. Both players can chop any piece of fruit on the screen, and must cooperate to get the highest score possible. The special bananas are also active in this mode, as are bombs. If a player chops a bomb, all fruits onscreen will explode along with it and be rendered useless.

Downloadable Content

There are currently eight DLC packs available for Fruit Ninja Kinect, each at a price of 160 Microsoft points, except for the Christmas themed Christmas Present DLC, which was released in December 2011 for free.

Each DLC pack contains an additional five achievements, adding up to 50 gamerscore points per pack. The added content is purely cosmetic, with each pack giving the player an extra background, shadow and blade.

Pack-In With The Gunstringer

In late August, 2011, Microsoft Studios announced that they would be releasing Twisted Pixel's Kinect game The Gunstringer on disc, instead of as a download as initially planned. As part of a promotion to increase the appeal of The Gunstringer, Microsoft included a voucher for a free download of Fruit Ninja Kinect in every new copy of the game. Although some were disappointed by the pack-in, as Fruit Ninja Kinect had previously been released for 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA and many had already purchased it digitally, both games share colorful and frenetic motifs that blend well together.