Eclipsed Moon’s 2012 Kinect Review-A-Thon

Eclipsed Moon’s 2012 Kinect Review-A-Thon

As stated in a previous post, one of the presents that I got William was a Kinect motion sensor for the XBox 360. After playing Kinect Adventures for several hours, we decided that besides the fact that the games are insanely fun, we wanted to utilize the system to help get ourselves back into shape after consuming all of those Holiday calories. Since we have found ourselves in a situation where we have more disposable cash than sense at this point, we have decided to gather several different games together and see how good of a workout they give us!

After sitting down and filtering through the GameStop website, we have settled on 8 different Kinect games to review. Out of these eight, 5 of them are targeted for the ‘fitness’ demographic, where as the remaining three are targeted for dance/leisure, survival horror, and party/multi-player style gaming.

Eclipsed Moon’s 2012 Kinect Review-A-Thon Lineup

Title

Kinect Adventures
Rise of Nightmares
Dance Central 2
EA Sports Active 2.0 Bundle
UFC Personal Trainer
Zumba Fitness: Join the Party
Kinect Sports: Season Two
The Biggest Loser

“Official” Game Category

Action, Adventure
Action, Horror
Music & Party, Dance
Sports, Fitness
Sports, Fitness
Sports, Fitness
Sports, Fitness
Sports, Fitness

Average Rating

Player rating of [7.0]
Player rating of [8.0]
Player rating of [9.8]
Player rating of [7.0]
Player rating of [8.2]
Player rating of [7.3]
Player rating of [8.9]
Player rating of [8.9]

Quick Review F.A.Q.

Why aren’t you reviewing only fitness style games?

The reason we decided for three games outside of the fitness demographic was so that we could ascertain how demanding regular Kinect games are on a player. For example, while Rise of Nightmares is not a fitness based video game, it does require that you stand and move around within view of the Kinect sensor. Actions such as holding your hands in place above your head, and battling monsters as you play with swinging motions require some level of physical interaction on the players part. Since we wanted to get an idea how much exercise one can get from simply playing Kinect, we thought it would be best to throw in some additional games whose main focus was not to work up a sweat.

What can I expect from each review?

Each review will include our first impressions of the game, which will cover things such as graphics and menu navigation. We will also cover overall playability of each game, and how physically demanding we find each game to be on the player. We will also cover the average cost of the game, and if we feel that the cost of the game is worth the ‘fun’ that is gleaned from playing it.

I’m looking for a game with X can you point out if Y offers it?

William and myself will try to cover as much in our reviews that we can, but please keep in mind that we don’t know what you are looking for if you don’t tell us. If there is something you would like us to look into on each game such as “Does X game improve overall flexibility through training?” then we can certainly add it to our checklist. Simply reply in the comments that you are interested and what information you are looking for.

Also, if you are looking for a game for a specific workout type such as Yoga or low impact knee workouts then we can keep an eye out for these things as well.

  • Moni

    I actually love the kinect. It made me sweat in like 5 minutes and even workouts dont do that for me. My favorite is kinect sports. I just love that. Now I have kind of switched over to playing ps3 a lot. =D Lovely blog btw and site. I love the design and everything. Def. will bookmark.

    • http://eclipsedmoon.net Katherine

      Thanks a bunch hun! I alternate my exercising between the above games so my routine doesn’t get stale. :D

      But I totally agree with you that Kinect Sports gives you one heckofa workout. :)

  • http://mockingjay.org/ Domenica

    Wow, sounds fun! I have a wii but I really want a Kinect. I don’t find I have to get into it as much with the wii. I love the new layout btw. it is amazing. :) 

    • http://eclipsedmoon.net Katherine

      Thanks sweets!~ It was fun to put together!

      I got our Wii at Sam’s Club. (Where it was about $170), but I’m sure you could find one cheaper at a Gamestop. :D

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  • http://chocolate-pixels.com/ Sage

    My nephew plays Lady Gaga on kinect. It’s really cool I recon. My sis works out on the kinect too and she is a former gym junkie … 

  • http://electrolistings.webs.com/ Electro Listings

    Thanks for joining EL, your site has been added.

  • http://www.kmendaros.com/ kressa

    I’m a big PS3 gamer myself, but I would get the XBox just to play Dance Central/Dance Central 2 and sports games ^_^ 

    And I like your website and your art gallery’s pretty cool as well :)

  • Lonnie Anderson

    Hi.  Look forward to reading your reviews.  I’m new to Kinect and using it for some fitness work as well.  I have been enjoying Your Shape Fitness 2012.  I don’t have other fitness games to compare it to, but I think it’s great.  Add me as an x-box friend- gamertag- lonnie4 

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