The gameplay of all time.

Seriously, the whole "Kinect era" has just been a weird one for me. It almost feels like something that didn't happen yet I remember it so vividly. This is the Kinect's version of Wii Sports. It serves to show off the tech of the new hardware and for all intents and purposes, should surpass Wii Sports, but it just doesn't. Maybe it's because Wii Sports felt new and interesting at the time due to motion controls being an innovation in 2006, or the simplistic yet charming and iconic design of the Mii's compared to the generic avatars in this game, but something here just doesn't feel as timeless. It's nothing offensively bad, but I never have the urge to come back to this game after the initial appeal wore off.

To this day some of my fondest gaming memories have come from the Nintendo Wii. It might not have been a graphical powerhouse, but its motion controls were something special and their novelty paired with the accessibility and charm that so much of its library possessed made it the only console I could ever get the whole family together to play. Even my grandmother loved the thing! For years I haven’t seen anything that’s had quite the same ability to pull in the casual crowd the way the latest big PlayStation release will the hardcore. At least not until I got online recently, saw that people are selling their old Kinects for pretty cheap, decided to pick up one up for myself to finally check out the, like, three games on it that I was actually curious about, and got this title that I originally wasn’t even interested in bundled with it.

In case you couldn’t tell from the name, this is essentially the Xbox 360 peripheral’s equivalent of Wii Sports. Which is to say it’s a compilation of easily recognizable, popular recreational activities designed specifically to show off the hardware’s unique movement sensing/tracking capabilities. Something I think it does remarkably well! I was legitimately blown away by how accurately it could detect my actions, making every punch thrown in boxing or spike in volleyball feel reliable and precise. A far cry from what the failed Microsoft accessory’s disastrous reputation had led me to expect going into this, and that fact alongside how just about everyone will already know how each of the included amusements are supposed to be played makes the act of jumping in and immediately enjoying yourself completely effortless.

As much fun as it is to play this by yourself, and trust me it’s a blast thanks to multiple AI difficulty levels, the package’s true value only comes out when you get other people involved. That won’t be hard to do either as any bystander’s curiosity will naturally be piqued upon witnessing you clear a 7-10 split or deliver the perfect backhand topspin without a controller of some sort anywhere on your person, and have them wanting to try it out for themselves. It leads to the best kind of friendly competition, where you can delight just as much in watching your opponent’s turn as when yours finally comes back around thanks to how amusing it can be to see everyone put their all into trying to win as they steadily get more invested.

I think a smaller, but no less significant reason this is so entertaining comes in part from who developed it as well. Rare Ltd., the studio behind hits like Banjo-Kazooie and the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, were responsible for creating this and that pedigree can certainly be felt. On top of simply being incredibly well made, little touches like how you can conduct a crowd’s cheers in a stadium on one of the main menus with a wave of your arms or the snippets of licensed music that can be heard whenever you do something cool enough to be worthy of a video replay that may seem a touch superfluous at first only serve make the experience all the sweeter. Plus, they also inject a level of the British juggernaut’s personality that was, not altogether missing, but somewhat muted in their other Xbox offerings I’ve played.

It all comes together to form a game that I’m just as likely to break out at a party as I am to return to on my own for hours at a time. Free from the need of an input device beyond the camera itself, the Kinect can require a lot more physicality from you than even modern day VR technology does. Here you’ll be asked to run or jump in place, and it can make for a pretty engaging workout if you want it to be. Not to mention, included alongside the typical variety of sports are a bunch of minigames that change up the rules in creative ways, or in the case of Track & Field separate the events off individually so you don’t have to go through the whole gauntlet of them all at once. My absolute favorite aspect though is how it manages to transport me back to an era when I used to play similar themed collections with my friends or relatives, and in a manner completely devoid of wrist straps and waggle. I have yet no idea if the rest of what I’ve bought for this willfully nearly forgotten piece of the 360’s history will be as good, but whatever the case this gem alone has made me more than happy with my purchasing decision.

9/10