Body-Tracking Multi-Sports Video Game Review: Kinect Sports: Season Two

Kinect Sports brought the Xbox 360 its own take on the popular Wii Sports title for its competitor, the Wii. However, with a lack of the most popular games from that title, it didn't shine quite as brightly.

That changed when Microsoft tasked Rare with making a sequel for the body-tracking Kinect camera, this time with help from developer BigPark.

Kinect Sports: Season Two contains more sports including gridiron football, skiing, and darts. This time around, it finally features some of the most popular games from Microsoft's competitor Nintendo, including tennis, golf, and baseball.

The sequel manages to get around one of the main problems of the Kinect, which makes it need a lot of room to get full-body tracking. Season Two's use of upper body sports has more going for it for people, like me, who only have enough room to get partial body tracking. 

This game, by far, gets the use out of the two games by my family. Darts is a favorite of my mother's. She often asks to play it because it is fun, intuitive, and easy to use with the Kinect camera. I, personally, enjoy the baseball minigame. Like darts, it works great with the Kinect camera. All of these work much better than season one as the camera isn't as finicky due to the fact the entire camera body tracking isn't needed. You can toss around the pigskin, throw darts, and hit baseballs and tennis balls with ease. Even golf and skiing work with just half a body detected, although these two can be more finicky than the others, especially in the case of skiing.

This game still contains the major drawback of the Kinect, however, as that's purely a hardware issue. The Kinect camera has trouble detecting dark colors, so make sure you don't have on a dark outfit so that the sensor has the best chance to detect your body. Unfortunately, this trouble with dark colors also is seen with hair and even skin color. I have natural jet-black hair, and I have played many Kinect games with my hair completely cut off. People with dark skin tones have reported even worse issues, with Kinect not detecting them or cutting off entire body parts.

Kinect Sports: Season Two is a drastic improvement over the predecessor. It solves some of the problems the Kinect has with a small living room space by having games that need only partial body detection. Gridiron football, darts, and baseball work great. Even skiing and golf work with just partial body detection, although these might need more adjustment than the others. The hardware issues with problems detecting dark colors are still a problem for people with jet-black hair and even worse for people with dark skin tones. However, Kinect Sports: Season Two managed to better play to Kinect's strengths with a game that is very satisfying to play.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

Body-Tracking Multi-Sports Video Game Review: Kinect Sports

With the surprise runaway success of the Wii, thanks in large part to its pack-in title Wii Sports, Sony and Microsoft rushed to make their own motion-sensing technology. Sony released the Move, essentially its version of the Wii Remote. Microsoft, meanwhile, released a body-tracking camera known as the Kinect.

Microsoft deemed that Kinect needed its own sports compilation, so it tasked one of its subsidiaries with the project. The company that worked on Kinect Sports was the famed English video game developer Rare.

Kinect Sports contains several sports including bowling, boxing, soccer, table tennis, track-and-field, and volleyball. Track-and-field actually constitutes five separate events including discus throwing, hurdle jumping, javelin throwing, and long jumping.

As long as you have a lot of room that allows the Kinect to detect your entire body, all of the sports work well. That's the main drawback of any Kinect game. A lot of room is needed. It will be a struggle to get the game to detect the entire body in a small room, especially with furniture in the way. 

In this game, volleyball is my favorite, as it seems to be the event that works best even with only partial body-tracking. If I'm lucky enough to get it to detect my entire 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall frame, the other games are fun as well. Another drawback of the Kinect is that it has trouble detecting dark colors, so make sure you don't have on a dark outfit so that the sensor has the best chance to detect your body. Unfortunately, this trouble with dark colors also is seen with hair and even skin color. I have natural jet-black hair, and I have played many Kinect games with my hair completely cut off. People with dark skin tones have reported even worse issues, with Kinect not detecting them or cutting off entire body parts.

Kinect Sports is a fantastic showcase for Kinect. However, it also showcases the issues with the Kinect sensor. If you are tall or have a small living room space like me, most of the games aren't fun to play. Volleyball still works well with partial body tracking, but the rest, especially soccer and track-and-field, are unplayable. The Kinect also has problems detecting dark colors, which has been an issue for people with jet-black hair like me and has been even worse for people with dark skin tones. Kinect Sports is great when it works, but it is brought down by the limitations of the Kinect.

Final Verdict:
3½ out of 5

Creature Collecting Gardening Game Review: Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata was a creature collecting gardening video game by Rare, featuring animals represented by colorful piñatas, that was published by Microsoft Game Studios.

It was originally developed as a gardening game for mobile devices but shifted to a console game after the Microsoft acquisition of Rare.

The game uses that gardening simulation as a base, as the player has to plow the garden, plant seeds, and create ponds. The main draw of the game is what happens when the garden grows. If conditions are met, a silhouette of a creature will visit the garden. If more conditions are met, that creature will become a colorful piñata creature that will join your garden.

Thus, the goal is not just to grow a garden with ponds and plants, but to collect piñatas as well. It takes a while to collect them all, but it is a very calming and peaceful game with cute designs for the piñatas. 

It is a unique game so, like games such as Nights into Dreams, it might take a few plays until you discover whether this game is your cup of tea. It took me two consoles to discover I really enjoy it. I first played it on the Xbox 360 but stopped playing it after a while. After I played it on Xbox One due to its inclusion in Rare Replay, I discovered that I actually enjoy it quite a lot.

Viva Piñata is a hard game to judge, as it is one of those unique games that you either hate or you love. It has a relaxing game design and the piñatas are adorable. It also does what it says on the tin. You grow plants in a garden and attract various piñatas. However, it is a slow-moving game that doesn't involve much beyond farming. If that's your cup of tea, it is a fantastic game since it takes the usual farming mechanic and adds a creature collection aspect on top of it. However, if you aren't into farming games, it's a game that likely isn't going to be for you.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5