I guess a lot of people are getting excited about kinnect this christmas.  The question is - are hey right to be excited?  I'm sure my three year old would love Kinnectimals, but this is a person that gets excited if you give her an empty cardboard roll - having used up all the kitchen roll on it.  (Cue - running around shouting 'A telescope! I got a telescope!') I admit I am pretty unfit, my thumbs are fairly well exercised but I can see the arguement for Kinnect fitness games.  Ultimately though - I don't 'do' dancing, by the time I'm in the mood to hit the dance floor - I tend to be so 'well oiled' all I can do is lurch drunkenly around the floor, belching, knocking people over and generally upsetting people - particularly my wife.
 
So no Kinnectimals, no Dance Dance Fever or whatever - what is left?  I did get quite excited about a Ubisoft title (Ubisoft - I know...) called 'Fighters Uncaged' now this looks like it it might be a bit of fun   I haven’t been training for a while, but I’m a 2nd Degree black belt Taekwondoist – been training off and on for over 15 years.  Now the idea of the game tracking my moves and smashing seven bells out of some digital thugs is quite appealing… Not quite as appealing as a 2 hour sparring and fitness session, but you don’t have to drive for forty minutes each way to do it.

So – I’ve been watching some video’s, reading some reviews – most notably the Eurogamer review of the game. Ellie,  the reviewer there gives it an unashamed 2/10 and having seen vids of it in action I can appreciate where she’s coming from.  The motion tracking seems awful, with the Giant Bomb dude trying to play it, completely unable to perform a headbutt despite some serious trying, and lost of moves clearly registering wrongly…

The enemies look either so camp they drink at the blue oyster bar, or so cliché they would have been rejected from character design in a 1980’s side-scrolling beat em’ up.

The tutorial looks really, really boring and seemingly can’t be skipped and seems to take ages..

Playing It looks less fun than being given a ‘Guantanamo style’ waterboarding…

So no don’t put my name down for the Kinnect this Christmas, I’m pretty much convinced there’s nothing for it even remotely worth playing.  The more annoying  thing is there probably isn’t anything remotely worth playing for XBOX 360 this Christmas… Certainly nothing that I’m keen on playing.

All in all it’s been a disappointing  year for gaming, I was looking forward to Hydrophobia, I really thought that looked interesting.  Now I wish it had been a full release title – at least I’d have the satisfaction of being able to throw the accursed thing out  of the window.

My highlights of the gaming year?  Red Dead Redemption – that was fun, hacking through Left 4 Dead 1 a few more times… Tropico 3, playing the big dictator… And um, mashing my Logitech Drum Kit on Guitar Hero when my three year old has not been around to stop me (It’s impossible to play if she’s there, she just keeps pinching the sticks and running around shouting ‘I want to drum!’)

Limbo was a highlight, I enjoyed that immensely – even if the ending was just annoying and towards the end the level design got a bit flat.  It’s just a pity that I’m left now in video game ‘Limbo’ wanting to play something new, and decent, but ultimately getting more enjoyment out of hacking through Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 on the PS1 again…