Microsoft's answer to its competitors' motion controls is the Kinect for Xbox 360, a $150 device that combines motion-sensing cameras and microphones in an alchemic wonder that sucks you into games like no previous system will.
Adding the Kinect to the Xbox 360 makes the console seem reborn. The device grants you the ability to manipulate its interface by speaking commands and moving your hands in the style of "Minority Report." What you lose in the tactile feel of holding an object in your hand is more than made up for with the immersive feel of guiding the action on the screen with every part of your body.
Even the Kinect's awful games, of which there are many, are a joy to play simply to explore the different ways they take advantage of the controls.
Pathetic offerings such as the hovercraft racing game "Sonic Free Riders" and street-fighting brawler "Fighters Uncaged" and the dumbed-down car racer "Kinect Joy Ride" are exercises in frustration, with laggy, often unresponsive controls that have you flailing around to make your character do something that resembles your intention. But the games are still enjoyable larks and give you a heart-pumping workout.
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Speaking of exercise, a number of the initial games are based on sports and cardiovascular activities. The finest of the lot, other than the outdoorsy "Kinect Adventures," which is included in the box, is "Kinect Sports," a "Wii Sports"-like compilation of sports-based minigames. You can kick penalty shots in soccer, slug opponents in boxing, run in place to simulate track and field events and dig, set and spike balls in volleyball.
Beware of the latter game, which spurred me to lose track of my surroundings and shatter my TV by spiking an overhanging ceiling fan chain into the screen.
"Motion Sports," an ill-conceived "me too" game, is a shadow of "Kinect Sports" and plagued by a burdensome unlocking feature that makes you slog through several dull events in order to access the more exciting ones. "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved" and "Dance Central" get your blood pumping by simulating moves onscreen.
"Kinectimals" is an odd duck. The requisite pet simulator, the game has role-playing elements that are aimed at getting you to bond with your little tiger or lion. It ends up as more of annoyance than anything thanks to an intrusive narrative, with drab story scenes that keep you from interacting with your pet at your own pace.
Games aside, Kinect revolutionizes the way you command the Xbox 360's interface. It's not necessarily quicker to tell your game machine to pause a movie you're watching than to press a button, but it's such a captivating novelty that you'll probably want to keep your media remote on the shelf.
What will determine the success of Kinect in the long run is whether the wondrous feeling of the voice and motion control gimmicks stays fresh or grows stale. It's up to the software developers to keep Kinect feeling magical.
