Kinect Sports Rivals Reviews
While the majority of motion control games seem be best suited for party play, KSR takes the genre beyond party play with its Hub, online features and equally compelling single player experience. Wrap it all up in a sharp, colourful package that is priced right and you have a winner.
The single player, story mode, and challenges contain more than enough content to keep solo players occupied, the real fun is in being able to experience this game with others, where Kinect Sports Rivals shines.
As someone who enjoyed the first two Kinect Sports games, but felt they were held back by the limits of the technology, I'm impressed by how good Kinect Sports Rivals turned out. The responsiveness is much closer to 1:1 now than it was then, and other than the issue with the screen being obscured, everything works quite well.
Kinect Sport Rivals gave me a renewed faith for the Kinect. What Rare did was show us the technology works. Finally we've got a fun party game for the Xbox One that's easy to pick up if you have the space. It's not perfect but the title atones for past motion control sins. Most importantly, it gives us confidence for the hardware's future.
Dust off Kinect, do some stretches and get ready to compete. Kinect Sports Rivals makes you pleased to own the motion controller.
Until then, Kinect Sports Rivals will remain an interesting experiment that never manages to live up to the expectations linked to it.
Kinect Sports Rivals is a great leap forward for the series but it still shows the shortcomings of the Kinect technology. While a majority of the sports work great, such as bowling and rock climbing, others (tennis in particular) really leave a lot to be desired. I love the shift in focus to offer a more well-rounded and robust gaming experience rather than being simply a polished tech-demo. Kinect Sports is one of the most played games on my 360 and this will likely hold a similar position on the Xbox One in my household.
Kinect Sports Rivals is a good game on the Xbox One but it's not the game that successfully turns Kinect into a true gaming medium. I'm sure this will come but for now, it is easily the best motion controlled game on any console and developers RARE have really thought outside the square in terms of translating these real world games onto the Xbox One console. Some games such as a soccer were a little too complicated, especially with the accuracy of the motion controls but other titles such as bowling and jet ski racing almost felt like the real thing.
Kinect Sports Rivals isn't a knock out, but it does enough well that I'm excited for Kinect's future.
Kinect Sports Rivals is solid enough to get players moving, and provides entertainment when competing against friends. As much as the game may try, however, the limitations of Kinect is its biggest rival.
However, I'm not convinced the purchase price of $59.99 lines up with what Kinect Sports Rivals has to offer. Of the six game modes, only bowling and wake riding stand out, and the other modes suffer from a lack of entertainment. For all the enhanced graphics and technology involved, the game isn't that much more impressive than Wii Sports was at release, and it doesn't feel worthy of a full-price sticker. It's fun to pick up and tool around with some of the modes, and between the gameplay and the avatar scanning, it showcases the Kinect's capabilities. It's just disappointing that the game doesn't have that much depth, and with few exceptions, its only successes are things that have already been done before with different technology.
Kinect Sports Rivals has an inexcusable amount of wasted space with bowling and soccer, but the other four activities are engaging, and the world is charming and appealing enough to win over most of the gamers who enjoyed Wii Sports. If you have a family who likes getting together and play games like this, go ahead and pull the trigger -- all other curious parties should wait for a sale to compensate for the weak activities.
Kinect Sports Rivals isn't going to sell anyone on an Xbox One, or even Kinect for that matter, but it is definitely the best use of the device to date. For those looking for a fun way to get active with their new $500 machine, this is the best example of it yet. I love Rare, and think they still make some of the best software. Rivals definitely feels polished and carrying that quality.
Kinect Sports Rivals isn't the incredible demo that Microsoft's Kinect 2.0 peripheral needs in order to prove its worth, but it still exists as a relatively fun game.
It should go without saying that sports compilation games of this type are lightweight and disposable. But within that context, Kinect Sports Rivals does its job well. The motion sensing works, with a few exceptions, and the events are wrapped up in some beautiful presentation. Microsoft finally has a decent excuse for Xbox One's all-seeing eye.
".. the Kinect as a controller is impressive. I did my best to break the Kinect and it worked (at least partially) in every situation I came up with. "
KSR is better and deeper than most motion controlled games that I have played, especially of the family/sports compilation variety. However, it's still light on content and just doesn't have a great deal of staying power or replay value you would hope for.
I admire the effort to build an online infrastructure and career story mode, but the selection of games feels slight
Xbox One's first truly Kinect-driven game showcases the new sensor's superior motion detection – and its enduring issues.
If you can stomach the price tag and a few other issues, there are some minigames worth your time.