- Kinect Sensor Required
- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
- Developer: Frontier Dev
- ESRB Rating: “E" for Everyone
- Genre: Adventure
- Pros: Great re-creation of Disneyland; intuitive controls; lots of rides and hidden stuff; kids will love it
- Cons: Pretty simple overall; movement controls are awkward
Kinect Disneyland Adventures is a pretty simple game, really. The Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California has been re-created as accurately as possible in the game and you are free to explore it. If you've ever been to Disneyland, everything should be where you remember. Every bench. Every churro stand. Every souvenir shop. Every ride. It is pretty much all here. There are also dozens of Disney characters wandering around the park for you to interact with as well, and every conversation begins and ends with either a wave or you actually saying "Hello" and "Goodbye". There is plenty of hidden stuff as well like hidden Mickeys and special things you can interact with using a magic wand. And you have a camera you can take pictures with all of the characters with where you have to copy their pose for the picture. It is all super cute and fun and pure Disney.
There are more than 20 rides that you can go on as well. They aren't the real rides (which would have been boring to just sit and watch) and are instead mini-games inspired by the rides. The Matterhorn is a bobsled race down the mountain where you have to dodge obstacles and avoid a Yeti. Each ride also has multiple parts to it you play separately, so the Peter Pan ride starts out with a flying level where you follow Tinkerbell to Neverland, and then the next level you sword fight with Captain Hook. The mini-games are all pretty fun and offer unlimited respawns so you never see a "Game Over" screen. It is fun and easy and great for kids. And you can play all of the rides with two players, which makes things more fun.
Gameplay
Microsoft
The Kinect controls work pretty well for all of the minigames, but we aren't fans of the movement controls when you're exploring the park. To walk, you raise a hand in front of you and then basically point where you want to go and your character walks in that direction. The movement is slow. Your character turns around painfully slow. Walking around is just exceedingly dull. And trying to actually focus on something to look at it is kind of a pain. The awkward movement is one of the few times with Kinect where I actually thought the game would be better with a normal Xbox 360 controller in my hand. The rest of the Kinect controls are intuitive and work well, but the movement is no fun.
Graphics & Sound
Visually, Kinect Disneyland Adventures is a really nice looking game. The park is really nicely detailed and looks fantastic. One thing I noticed immediately is that while there are other people at the park with you, it isn't anywhere near as crowded as the real thing. Another bonus to playing the game versus going to the real park. The Disney characters look good - big and cartoony and mascot-y, but pretty much just like they really do at Disneyland.
The sound is very good as well. Disney theme music all over the place. Solid voice acting from all of the characters. It looks and sounds just right.
Bottom Line
Microsoft
