7 Kinect Disasters That Ruined Motion Controlled Gaming

6. Kinect Star Wars

YouTubeYouTubeAll of the games on this list are bitter reminders of opportunities missed. Kinect Star Wars stands out as the most glaring disappointment of all, simply because it was such a promising concept. Forget your flappy floppy sports party games and forgettable dance-em-ups - Kinect was born so that we could become Jedi. With a flick of the wrist, the player sends a squabble of droids reeling€ Gesture control? That, right there, was a Jedi Force push, buddy. Oh, that tentacled dancer in the Mos Eisley Cantina doesn't want to give you her phone number? Just wiggle your fingers in her direction€ Jedi mind trick€ sorted. Imagine the epic battles, three Jedi outnumbered by Sith, swirling lightsabers casting a neon glow across the space port, Force powers fizzing through the air - it's almost too much to bear. That's what could have been. Instead we were punished. Severly. Punished with a rancid collection of Star Wars themed minigames, all loosely floating around a weak campaign which savagely drained the medichlorians out of this Jedi simulator. Sludgy motion detection made the delicate art of handling a lightsaber feel more like stirring a vat of lard with a TV remote. The rest of the Jedi arsenal suffered a similar fate, the potentially incredible feeling of hurling Force powers around with reckless abandon quickly turned into a arm-waving, foot stomping, heartbreaking fountain of despair. It was an unfortunate conundrum: to get the most of the in-jokes and covert references you would need to be a rather clued-up Star Wars zealot; but any passionate fan would have been reduced to tears to see the revered Star Wars cast being digitally abused as they were in Kinect Star Wars. So we're left with a target demographic of children old enough to be able swing a pretend magical laser sword, but young enough not to care that their efforts are going mostly unnoticed by the game itself. All in all, a flagrantly offensive abuse of the Star Wars licence.
Contributor
Contributor

Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.