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Review: Kinectimals - Xbox 360

by Steven Williamson on 3 January 2011, 16:25 4.35

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Xbox 360, Children's

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Nurture, tame and develop your playmate

Kinect performs very well, recognising your vocal commands and gestures consistently throughout. The only thing that did slightly irritate us is how you have to ensure you shout the name of your pet at the camera exactly the way that you recorded it, in exactly the same tone, otherwise your pet can become quite a stubborn creature. However, alongside Dance Central, which we reviewed earlier today, Kinectimals showcases the strengths of the camera peripheral very well, which bodes very well for the future of Kinect.

There’s no question that the bond between child and pet grows the further you progress in Kinectimals, because you can't help but be sucked in with the cub's cuteness and Kinect's playability. And that's really where the magic lies. Kids will be able to train their pet effortlessly thanks to the smooth control scheme, and parents should get joy from watching them having such a great time. If you’ve got Kinect and have kids, we can’t recommend Kinectimals highly enough.Your young ones may also gain delight, though parents who have to fork out for it may not, from buying one of the Kinectimal cuddly toys that you can scan into the game. Overall, it seems Microsoft has all bases covered in this particular genre.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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It is worthy of the score given,

I bought this on the strength of the level of interaction that is offered and I was not disappointed, My OH was hooked when she started to pet the black panther she had chosen and he started to stick his chin out further, the more she scratched it, just like our own cat

Very clever use of the Kinect, things can only get better!
I has a play with this over Christmas on my brothers Kinect - it is very impressive technology but I can't help but worry how this is going to affect children's behaviour with pets/wild animals. For one - Cats have no real understanding of human speech unlike dogs so therefore they will never respond to sit/roll over etc. Also they are always wanting to play unlike a real cat/dog that needs timeouts periodically. Maybe i'm worrying too much but I can't help but think they should have at least made the animals dogs (as they seem closer in behaviour to dogs than wild cats!).
Has someone told Rai about the picture?
I had a go on the Xbox Kinect in PC world, they had it set up to have ago. The Game they had was some hand Ball game that you hit it against a wall & it came back at you, then you had to return it with your hand/arm or leg/foot. I thought the Tech was fantastic but the delay/lag was awful ! This type of game (Kinectimals) would work well but a fast moving game that requires no lag & good reaction would fail as the Ball game did for me !
Andi-C
I had a go on the Xbox Kinect in PC world, they had it set up to have ago. The Game they had was some hand Ball game that you hit it against a wall & it came back at you, then you had to return it with your hand/arm or leg/foot. I thought the Tech was fantastic but the delay/lag was awful ! This type of game (Kinectimals) would work well but a fast moving game that requires no lag & good reaction would fail as the Ball game did for me !

That ball game from Kinect Adventures isn't the best. There are much better examples. I'd say that was a problem with the game rather than Kincet.