Mr Granstaff's Blog (69 followers)

Since I was fortunate to receive a review code for Beatsplosion for Kinect, let me take a stab at my editorial skills for a change. I've been known to destroy with words, so I'll be gentle.

Actually, this may come as a shock to some, but I actually have more good things to say than bad. To start off with, let's go with a description of the game followed by a history lesson:




Here's a few other fun facts:



With that out of the way, here's my experiences with the game. You start off with a tutorial and shows you the jest of the game. You're an atomic space ninja on a hovering UFO with fists smashing these crystals because… uh… it's just the cool thing to do. Plus, you can't go wrong with ninjas in my book!

I do wish the tutorial explained how to swipe specific crystals because when I first approached a certain crystal formation, I was stumped initially. It's easy enough to adapt and figure it out that all you need to do is swipe your hand over the set of crystals, but would have been nice to have known that beforehand, nonetheless.

Anyway, right off the bat, I noticed the tracking is phenomenal, so you could tell some care went into the development of this game. While I'm obviously a big supporter of Kinect, I will admit that some games just doesn't track well. However, I had minimal issues with this game's tracking. It failed to pick me up jumping at first, but my Kinect needed to be calibrated, so that was on me. Ever since then, the tracking worked flawlessly. No joke.

After the tutorial, you start off at White Belt and then progress through traditional belt levels in martial arts: White, Yellow, Green, Purple, Red, and ending with Black.

When you complete each world, should you meet the requirements, you unlock an additional two levels: Random Patterns and a 20-minute challenge.

While I would have enjoyed the 20-minute challenge to be continuous since the game actually breaks it up between 3-minute intervals six times, but then again, I'm always wanting a challenge. The Random Patterns level was done well though as each level was never the same.

Plus, you can't really fail a level either. I have mixed feelings with this as one part of me would have liked the focus to be more geared towards skill. If you don't smash enough crystals, you don't progress until you get better, but then again, the main focus is getting a good workout, so the game meets expectations there.



If there's one thing that's important to me, it's how a game evolves throughout and this game did an excellent job of that. It starts off with a slow tempo, with a manageable pattern to follow while you're at white belt status, but it turns into full blown "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" crazy when you reach that black belt insane challenge.

The environment is simple, but does enough to immerse yourself into the game, making you feel like the Beat Ninja itself. And, have I mentioned how awesome it felt to smash crystals? Too bad I couldn't put specific faces on some of those crystals and watch them explode into tiny bits!

While I would have loved for the game to implement one or two more variations of crystals or platforms to dodge, there's enough obstacles to keep you wanting more and have you guessing what pattern is coming up next. Personally, I loved the "One, Two" pattern as that did a good job mimicking the movements whenever I do pad work with my boxing gloves. I always seemed to received a 100% too! Go figure, huh?

I'm probably not the best person to listen to when it comes to music, but I quickly found myself punching to the beat, which was quite addicting. Having a rhythm to follow made it easier to get into the zone and into doing all of those movements/punches without really paying attention.

Usually during the halfway point of each 3-minute level, there's a bonus you can get. Basically, you have to smash this huge boulder before you reach the next segment. Good change of pace, so I thought that was implemented nicely.

And, while the game shouldn't take you no longer than 8 hours to get through everything -- both Easy and Expert levels separately -- it wouldn't be surprising to catch yourself coming back for more to build up a quick sweat.



Before I wrap this up, let's touch base with the achievements because who doesn't like achievements?

That's what I thought.

Anyway, the achievements are all fairly manageable. There could be two or three that might be a little difficult, but I personally didn't have any issues with them. Then again, if I may toot my own horn, I'm not your average bear.

As I said earlier though, you really can't fail any levels, so you'll eventually complete this game, it'll just take you longer to do so if you perform poorly.

Should you decide to take a shortcut and start off on Expert difficulty, you could theoretically complete this game in a few hours. Unfortunately, my tracked playtime is off since I ate dinner and watched some TV while leaving the game idling, so my 5 hours isn't as accurate as I would like it to be.

Other than that, most achievements should be unlocked naturally, besides the few you could have some trouble with. My personal favorite was:

That achievement was one of the more creative ones, so kudos there.



Ultimately, you get good value for the money you'll spend on this game. From the same developer, there's a good bundle going on right now too:

Kinect Bundle: Squid Hero + Boom Ball - $8.99

To summarize this game, it's a good workout with solid gameplay. Keep in mind that my views of this game is by factoring in that the scope of Beatsplosion isn’t on the same scale with the Halo series, but neither is the price.

With that in mind, if you want a great way to work out without it feeling like a work out, then this is a great candidate to do just that. It won't be as strenuous as Xbox Fitness or Shape Up, but it's a good alternative.

You'll also get a quick bump in GS too!

I'm hoping they consider doing more combat-oriented stuff in the future because the model with the overgrown fists would be excellent for a boxing game.

I’d have liked for them to have added kicks as well, but after asking the developer this, I agree with their decision not to: "doing that in a way that wouldn’t have been just a tacked-on gimmick would have increased the production time and budget and resulted in a higher retail price. Something to consider for the sequel though!"

Let's hope that can expand on that because that would just be fantastic.

All in all, I give this game a 4/5 rating.

One could argue that I don't have much to compare it to (and I don't), but with the game's sole purpose of being a workout that's fun, it does the job and does it well (if you do it right). It's basically a game that has elements of rhythm, combat and exercise -- all combined together in a unique way I've never experienced before.

Wait. That's tomorrow!