Kinect Joy Ride Reviews

This is my review for Joy Ride on the XBOX 360.
*Please remember this is my first review and tips for the future will be most welcome.

GAME PLAY

The game play for Joy Ride is good, there are the odd moments when your car will turn a direction you didn't want it to, but overall it is a good title and the steering with your hands is an added bonus. There are many stunts you can perform in the game and these are easy to pull off, there is also the ability to boost. One of the main flaws in the game is the fact that you don't have the ability to control the braking or the acceleration which sometimes leads to slowness on straights and awkwardness around corners.

MODES

There are 6 main modes in the game. These are:

Pro Race - This is the standard race mode where you can race the AI or another player via split screen.

Battle Race - This is a Mario kart style where you pick up items and use them to destroy your opponent.

Xbox Live race - This is where you race other people on Xbox Live, any places left unused will be filled by AI so you will always have a full room.

Stunt - This is where you perform stunts to earn points, there are items that also give you bonus points and each time you break a section of glass you will be given a score multiplier.

Smash - This is where you drive around destroying mini statues for points and big statues to proceed. Destroying statues while drifting will build up a multiplier and give you a significant amount of points more. Once all big statues are destroyed you are tasked with destroying the boss statue for a large amount of points.

Trick - This is a mode where you in the sky flying and to stay up you need to move into certain poses to help build your score and stay in the air.

VISUALS

The visuals in the game are nice to look at and they won't make your eyes sore.

Achievements

The achievements in the game are good and will offer a nice verity but will take an age to get the 1000G as there are achievements such as drive for 10hrs.

Avatar Awards

The game contains avatar awards for completing certain achievements.

OVERALL

Overall joy ride is a fun game for you and the family to enjoy. There are a few problems with tracking at times and the menu is awful but if you can see through these flaws then this is a game for you. Can only hope for a sequel with more features.

Overall 4 stars.

Xbox 360 has never been a haven for quality family games, but Kinect has opened the floodgates, for good or bad. With kart and stunt racing games a popular genre for young children, the only question that remains is a simple one... is it possible to create a decent Kinect-controlled racing game with no steering wheel, no acceleration, and no braking? That's just what Microsoft has done with Kinect Joy Ride.

Family racing games have a few staple features - they've got to be fun, feature simple control, and look like a cartoon. For the most part, Kinect Joy Ride meets all these goals... with a few obvious and frustrating shortcomings. Those who've enjoyed other Kinect titles will find the control scheme familiar, utilizing sweeping arm gestures in menus, body lean during stunt jumps, and dance-like moves during the Trick mini-games. The core driving control is simple and relatively effective, although some gamers may find themselves flailing more and controlling less without a wheel to limit their gesticulations. While wildly gesturing like Fred Sanford joining his dear wife Elizabeth makes for great in-game photos, it doesn't add to the game's sense of realism.

From a visual standpoint, Kinect Joy Ride is a winner. Each gamer controls their self-designed Xbox Live avatar, so if you don't like your appearance, look in the mirror. The levels have the look of a Warner Brothers cartoon, bright, colorful, and filled with obstacles and other well-designed race cars. Sure, it's not a Criterion-designed realistic racer, but it's not intended to be... as a family racer, it has a perfect look. Even the lesser Crash and Trick modes have their own unique graphical elements, with the former featuring hundreds of destructible statutes and the latter a cannon that shoots your flying car into the stratosphere.

Speaking of game modes, Kinect Joy Ride features plenty, each gaining you fans to open more levels and vehicles. Pure racing fans will enjoy Pro Race and Dash, action gamers might enjoy Battle Race, Crash, and Stunt modes, and just about everyone will have fun with Trick mode. Each of the modes is worthy of inclusion, and Microsoft has keyed all the race-based achievements to trigger in either Pro or Battle mode, so gamers who prefer one over the other won't be forced to endure the same tracks and races twice. Bravo, Microsoft. I never got bored playing each of the modes, although it is mostly a single-player experience.

The multiplayer experience in Kinect Joy Ride is one of the weakest elements, but not by virtue of poor game design. Kinect is simply not a great multiplayer device, as most gamers don't have a living room large enough to accommodate multiple players. Still, there is a two-player side-by-side simultaneous mode... just try not to poke your competition in the eye. Also, the Xbox Live mode is well-designed, asking gamers if they want to play with anyone, just friends, or only their Xbox Live Party... and once connected, the race will be populated with bots as well as human players, so finding a game isn't difficult. Also, each gamer votes for their preferred track, and if there's a tie, it's chosen randomly from those selected. Pretty clever, and a nice shout-out to more high-end multiplayer titles.

While Kinect Joy Ride works well as a family-friendly racing game, it's not without flaws... some pretty serious. The game's music is repetitive and grating, with a "Ballroom Blitz" clone in Stunt mode and a "Price is Right" style theme song that echoes through the menus and into your nightmares. The menu system is deeply flawed, as well, forcing gamers to retreat to the main hub to select another track, car, or game mode... and the "Play" button is a smallish button on the hub, while the "Paint Car" option dominates half the screen space. Huh? By the fourth or fifth time you've accidentally entered the Paint mode, these words will seem like sage wisdom. Further, there's no quick solution for restarting a race, as their method requires returning to the in-game Kinect menu, then selecting "Restart Race", and then selecting "Yes" when it asks you to confirm... as though you'd accidentally hold your arm at a 45 degree angle for five seconds before holding your hand over a button for another three seconds. All in all, way too much time in menus contrasted to time in races.

So, what are gamers left with? A fun game, not too pretentious, with a few flaws that keep it from appealing to a greater audience. The controls are a simple combination of leans and arm movements, and while imperfect, rumors of poor control are massively overstated. If you've seen the YouTube video of Kinect Joy Ride winning with no player controlling it, let me tell you from first hand experience that it's a hoax. I tried this trick on three separate tracks, and while you will finish the race with the control assist eventually, you'll come in last place. On the final track, my car sputtered in two minutes after the seventh place finisher. Don't believe the haters, rent this game and play it with your nieces and nephews or brothers and sisters. It's fun and a little silly, and that's all it's supposed to be.

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With a game name like this, you expect some rides and joys.

The game is clearly made for casual gamers, and family parties. Crazy as it sounds, there are no breaks and speed shifts. The only possibility for acceleration is on boots you get form spots on the road or by doing back movements with your arms. They should have made an option for automatic or manual with foot movements.

Sometime the car seems to control itself, I’ve got problem to get to the shortcut, cause the direction didn’t seems to respond. And with the fact that there’re no breaks, you can actually finish a race stand still (Actually I finish last). And I had some problems to get boosting.

To change between races, you need to pass a lot of page in the menu. They should have made something like race tournament. I felt sometimes that I past more times in the menu that doing races. The menu is not well plan. Why put painting in the center of the screen (And how does it works?)

Playing this game with Kinect is good, but usual controller would have being just fine. Having an invisible steering wheel is a little odd. But for kids, this is cool.

The variety of car is good, but there is no difference between them. It’s just for the look. Each one usually has three looks to unlock. To do so you need to collect fans, by doing races. It does not take long to unlock them all. Getting fans unlock races too.

The look of the game is great, and very colourful.

Races cans be done standard race mode or battle. Battle Race looks like Mario Kart. The only problem is that to use item, you have to reach left or right, cause that can cause some problem in your driving. The items a quite classic, and really there is nothing new. These two modes are the only available in Xbox Live. They should have made more races tracks. But with the fact that you have other racing options, thats ok.
On the other hand, you have four other types of racing. Those are not available Live .

Stunt - This is where you perform stunts to earn points. You can fly up in the sky picking up cherries, bombs and hourglasses to add time. There is multiplier depending on height. I love that mode.
Smash - This is where you drive around destroying mini statues and big statues. You get more points by drafting and point of impact.
Trick – The car is now sky flying. You need poses to help build your score and stay in the air. I had some problems to match some poses. I’m tall so even in Dance central I always had some problem with the Kinect recognition. I didn’t enjoy this mode.
Dash – You just drive in a three ways road and move left or right to pass obstacle. Those races are quite easy and fast. I found out that I just had to bend to change lane.

The achievements in the game are good and will offer a nice verity. There is no achievement that is impossible to get. You just need to play for a while. Anybody out there could get them all. I wish they could have put an achievement for getting gold on every track. The game contains cute avatar awards.

Overall:
This is a great game for family parties and for casual gamers. Controls are very simple. The choices of race types and tracks are ok.
On the other hand, control can be tricky sometimes and regular controller would have been just fine too. And the menu is not very fun.

I’m up for a Joy Ride 2.