Latest Reviews
Review Hulk Hogan's Main Event (Xbox 360)
Oh brother
In the sweeping midst of Hulkamania, Hogan set out three demandments for Hulkamaniacs: to train, say your prayers and eat your vitamins. A fourth was added a few years later in 1990: to believe in yourself. Had Hogan had the foresight to add a fifth — “don't make terrible video games” — we all would have been spared of the tedium...
Review Kinect Sports: Season Two (Xbox 360)
The best just got better
Despite posting impressive sales figures and delivering some engaging titles, Kinect has arguably struggled to find that elusive ‘killer app’ that is capable of convincing both casual and hardcore gamers of its worth. While the original Kinect Sports was a fantastic grounding in Microsoft’s brave controller-free world,...
Review The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (Xbox 360)
Bored quiff?
You know the drill by now: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a film tie-in. It also uses Kinect. It can't be any good, right? Well, the drill has changed slightly this time around. Unlike THQ's efforts such as Kung Fu Panda 2, Tintin is a standard controller-led platformer, with Kinect's functions tucked away in the...
Review Minute to Win It (Xbox 360)
Bored in 60 seconds
Another day, another Kinect mini-game collection themed around a reasonably popular TV game show. This time out it's NBC's Minute to Win It, in which Food Network chef Guy Fieri takes a break from introducing the nation to diners, drive-ins and dives across the country to give contestants a chance at the big bucks through...
Review Michael Phelps - Push the Limit (Xbox 360)
Naked men
When it comes to the world of swimming, there's no bigger name than Michael Phelps, but even his mighty reputation isn't enough to secure Michael Phelps: Push the Limit a gold medal. Any game that starts with a warning that it's physically draining even by Kinect standards should set alarm bells ringing, but Michael Phelps smartly rations...
Review Dance Central 2 (Xbox 360)
Step out of the ordinary
If history has taught us anything it’s that dancing games will eventually go the way of the Guitar Heroes and the Rock Bands before them – although we anticipate the grave will be filled with less plastic instruments. Like any trend, what goes up must eventually come tumbling down but if Harmonix’s dance-em-up sequel...
Review Nicktoons MLB (Xbox 360)
Not quite a home run
With the real MLB season coming to a close, the sport is rapidly approaching its Toy Story moment: when no one is around to see, what happens to all the players? They're recruited by Nickelodeon, apparently, for a simplistic and, despite its best efforts, charming take on America's pastime. Nicktoons MLB falls under the same...
Review Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster (Xbox 360)
"C" is for "charming"
It’s every child’s dream to be able to play with their favourite TV characters. To them, they’re not pretend; they’re just as much a part of their reality as anything else. The talented folks at Double Fine have teamed up with Sesame Workshop to give kids the chance to play with their favourite Sesame Street monsters in...
Review Forza Motorsport 4 (Xbox 360)
Leader of the pack
We've seen a handful of games call themselves "Better with Kinect" — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I and Virtua Tennis 4 are two of the more high-profile titles, but neither managed to use the sensor for more than mildly entertaining side games. Arguably, Forza Motorsport 4 is the first game to show the...
Review Just Dance 3 (Xbox 360)
Hands in the air like you just don’t care
With a whopping ten dance titles shuffling towards store shelves in time for the holidays, you’d be forgiven for writing off every single one as being just another dancing game. Whilst that’s arguably the case, the Just Dance series hasn’t earned its millions by just being another dancing game...
Review PowerUp Heroes (Xbox 360)
Here to save the world?
After last year's disastrous Fighters Uncaged we thought we'd never want to touch a Ubisoft fighting game for Kinect again, but then along came PowerUp Heroes to change our mind. It's easy to see the big difference here: whereas Uncaged was set in the dirty world of street-fighting, PowerUp transports you to a world of...
Review Kinect Fun Labs: Mutation Station (Xbox 360)
Malformed
We all imagined that Kinect Fun Labs was Microsoft's way of providing engaging, free content to Kinect fans, but with the third paid add-on it's clear the emphasis has shifted towards a microtransaction model. Does Kinect Fun Labs: Mutation Station offer enough to justify the adoption of this new sales strategy? While Kinect Sparkler...
Review The Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole Returns Again! (Xbox 360)
The legacy of Reel 2 Real lives on
Dreamworks’ Madagascar films are notable for two things: Resurrecting Reel 2 Real’s 1994 jam I Like to Move It and spawning a zoo filled with a team of goofy penguins. Said penguins proved popular enough to get their own spin-off show on Nickelodeon, which then went on to birth TV specials, DVD collections and...
Review Burnout CRASH! (Xbox 360)
A crashing disaster or a wheelie good success?
When it was first announced, Burnout CRASH! was dismissed as a cash-in on a very popular video game series. Nothing like the titles before it, nothing to do with racing and what seemed like boringly simple controls portrayed this game as one that'd head straight to the scrapyard. But those first...
Review The Gunstringer (Xbox 360)
A fistful of crazy
You'd be hard-pressed to find a development studio with more spring in their step than Twisted Pixel or a game with such joie de vivre as The Gunstringer. Where a lesser studio may have slapped some skeletal cowboy puppets into a Kinect-enabled rail shooter and called it a day, Twisted Pixel snatches the western marionette theme...
Review Rise of Nightmares (Xbox 360)
Shocking?
Kinect has been on the market for a less than a year, and in that time has amassed no fewer than six dancing games, five fitness titles and an alarming number of minigame compilations, but where are the more mature titles for single players after a story? Rise of Nightmares may not completely fill the gap, but it'll do in a pinch. The...
Review Champion Jockey (Xbox 360)
Cracking the whip
Admit it. The concept of a horse riding simulator isn’t instantly appealing. When you consider that the medium of video gaming allows us to explore unlikely fantasies and pretend to be characters we could scarcely dream of becoming in real life, it makes you wonder who in their right mind would want to step into the grass-soiled...
Review Kinect Fun Labs: Air Band (Xbox 360)
A musical joke?
After Kinect Sparkler turned out to be rather dim, the second paid addition to Kinect Fun Labs is here in the much more pleasing form of Air Band, which lets you become a musical ensemble with just your bare hands. You and a friend can jump in to one of five musical styles — disco, rock, pop, latin and country — and mime playing...
Review Hole in the Wall (Xbox 360)
Bring on the wall!
Hole in the Wall is as simple as a game title can get; a wall with a hole in it comes hurtling towards your Avatar. As the player, you must use your body to fit through these holes and avoid being knocked into a pool of water behind you. There are two main modes of play on show; Quick Survival and Show. Quick Survival mode fires...
Review Fruit Ninja Kinect (Xbox 360)
Juiced up
In an age where smartphone advocates are gloomily predicting the End of Days for dedicated home consoles, it’s incredibly ironic that one of the best-selling iPhone and Android titles of all time (over 20 million downloads, and rising) is made even more compelling by its fusion with Microsoft’s home console-based Kinect peripheral...
Review Avatar Superstar (Xbox 360)
Lacks the X factor
It feels unfair being overly critical of an Xbox Live Indie game. For a measly 80 Microsoft Points you know you're not going to get an experience on-par with the best games out there, but we must still be truthful in our critique of Avatar Superstar. The screenshots and branding suggest that this is a karaoke experience, whereas...
Review Kinect Fun Labs: Kinect Sparkler (Xbox 360)
Fizzles out
Kinect Fun Labs is a set of interesting toys, tools and gadgets designed to show off what Kinect can do, and while the service started off free, it's now embracing paid add-on content with Kinect Sparkler. While the price is a measly 240 Microsoft Points, however, it's still expensive for the content. Kinect Sparkler is a doodle pad,...
Review Wipeout In the Zone (Xbox 360)
Good grief
Few things in life are as satisfying as some good ol’ schadenfreude, and the producers of hit ABC show Wipeout know that more than anyone: it’s like an obstacle course interpretation of home-movie clip shows where everyone gets knocked in the balls — fitting, as the most iconic obstacle is a set of huge red balls. There's a...
Review Let's Dance with Mel B (Xbox 360)
Zig-a-zig arrggh
Every Kinect sold comes with a demo of Dance Central tucked away on the Kinect Adventures disc, meaning everyone has a chance to play the sensor's best dancing game by far. Now you have the chance to play one of its worst, Let's Dance with Mel B. We've always had a nagging feeling that developer Lightning Fish Studio overachieved...
Review UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System (Xbox 360)
Muscle bound?
Quite why it's taken so long to combine the testosterone-fuelled sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) with fitness software is beyond us; the predominantly female-targeted exercise game may rule the sales roost, but with UFC rapidly gaining popularity the two mediums have finally come together in UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness...
Review Child of Eden (Xbox 360)
A real trip
It's been far too easy to overlook Kinect as a valuable, or even viable, addition to traditional gaming in its first year of commercial life. Far too little of its catalogue so far has amounted to anything more than bite-sized experiences that only go to show that, why yes, you can kick an air football in your living room, without...
Review Kung Fu Panda 2 (Xbox 360)
Not so awesome
Faced with all sorts of different platforms and peripherals, THQ made the bold decision not to make just one game for the Kung Fu Panda 2 licence, but four entirely different ones to play to console strengths. PlayStation 3 got the most "sequel-y" version with a traditional gamepad-based adventure; both the DS and WIi...
Review Virtua Tennis 4 (Xbox 360)
Anyone for tennis?
Last year's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I was the first game branded "Better with Kinect Sensor" but it proved to be anything but. Now the second green-box-purple-stripe game has landed in the sporty form of SEGA's Virtua Tennis 4, but does it fare any better as a sensor game? If you want to play with...
Review Fantastic Pets (Xbox 360)
Best in show or just plain no-show?
Frontier Developments' Kinectimals captured most of the cuddly critter market last year, with its furry felines pouncing on decent scores in the gaming press and good sales at retail. Six months on, THQ is hoping for similar levels of success with Fantastic Pets, but it can't top the best in show. Fantastic Pets...
Review Michael Jackson: The Experience (Xbox 360)
Thriller?
Michael Jackson's videos and stage shows were extravagant affairs — his Dangerous live show ended with him flying off in a jetpack — so the idea of letting gamers enter that fantasy world is a proposition too enticing to resist for Jackson fans. That's exactly where Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience wants to put you: centre...
