I need to say at the outset that I’m not really a gamer. I’m probably like many of you in that I love the idea of the sport and fitness games but am not really interested in hard-core games. So when I first saw the Xbox 360, I didn’t know if it was really for me. Turns out it is 😉
The shining feature of the Xbox 360 is the Kinect sensor. The sensor recognises your whole body and essentially makes your body the controller. This means that you can play games without a controller which means that there are no annoying wires or cables. You can boogie away as wildly as you like. It’s also a great way for children to learn to interact with the games as they don’t need the fine motor skills required for a controller.
Of the ones we tried, my favourite game was Dance Central 2. My husband and I wiggled and jiggled (and giggled) our want through a whole lot of dances and I certainly got a sweat up.
Although she’s below the recommended age for the games we had, I tried the Kinect with my three year old daughter and was surprised how quickly she grasped the idea of using her body as a controller. She was really too young to properly enjoy the games but she did enjoy some of the more straight forward ones such as skiing in Kinect Sports Season 2. She also *really* liked Disneyland Adventures as she’s just the right age to love the idea of meeting up with Mickey Mouse. She was a bit young to follow the game properly but the images and story entertained her for ages.
As well as trying the Kinect with my own family, I invited a family with a six year old and an eight year old to come and play with us. They have games console at home and are used to using a controller but had no experience with a Kinect. Once again, I was amazed at how quickly these children were able to effectively use their bodies to play the games.
The favourite game of the day was Kinectaminals – a game aimed at younger children where you can play with animals. It’s a mixture of story, movie and game and the six year old boy, particularly, found this game captivating. When I asked him about it, he proclaimed it: “Awesome!… I like how I do stuff with the bear.” The bears in the version that we played were particularly cute and it was lovely for the children to be able to ‘interact’ with the animals. The boy’s father was really impressed with this game and felt that he hadn’t seen anything like it with other consoles. He went as far as to say that it was enough to make it consider buying this console above others.
The graphics in the Xbox 360 are astonishing, even on our dodgy old ancient television. I imagine that it you were using a decent tv or projector, the graphics would be breathtaking.
If you’re considering buying a gaming console, there are really two things to consider: the hardware and the games. In terms of hardware, the Xbox 360 with Kinect is a unique product. It’s the only console with a sensor that doesn’t require any other equipment and it works pretty well. It’s not perfect and you will need to work a bit to use the Kinect with real finesse but it’s worth persevering with as the games become more satisfying as you learn to control your movements better.
If you’re thinking about games, especially for younger children, you should definitely consider an Xbox 360 as their games for younger children are gorgeous.
Our testing family rated the games they tried 5/5 and the Kinect sensor 4/5. I’m going to be sad to see the Xbox 360 with Kinect disappear from my lounge!
