"The sports featured in this game are extremely dangerous", reads the warning screen that flashes up at the start of MotionSports Adrenaline. It obviously can't wait to get your juices pumping. The follow up to last year's MotionSports, a Kinect sports game that, well, is probably best left untouched, MotionSports adrenaline thankfully takes the series in a slightly different direction. Instead of trying to be a more realistic version of Kinect Sports (and failing), instead, think of MotionSports Adrenaline as Kinect Sport's more extreme cousin. And it's actually a lot better for it.
It's amazing the difference a year makes in terms of ideas, because Motionsports: Adrenaline has been much more sensibly put together. Gone is the emphasis on minigames that require pinpoint accuracy and minor adjustments, instead replaced by a series of minigames that have been designed to hide Kinect's weaknesses in the sake of accessibility. With six games to choose from, in the form of Wingsuiting, mountain biking, kayaking, kite surfing, rock climbing, and the incredibly named extreme skiing, there's certainly plenty of variety - and for the most part, it's pretty good.
Extreme times on the mountain bike, jumping over logs.
Mountain Biking offers a great example of how the game's been simplified to suit Kinect. Rather than having free control over your bike careering down a hill, instead, by holding your hands out in front of you and acting like you're steering a bike, you can shift left and right between three tracks, as you try to collect as many coins as possible, or get to the finish as quickly as you can, depending on which mode you're playing. This being an extreme game, you'll be forced to switch tracks to dodge fences that block the track, leap over jumps, and steer at exactly the right moment (when the ground turns a handy shade of green) to slide around corners. It's fun, and more importantly, it works - even if you only bend your legs and straighten them again to jump. In fact, the only problem with this mode (which applies to most of the below modes too, seeing as it features in most of the minigames) is when it asks you to match a pose. Adding an extra challenge to the mix for mountain biking, at random points you'll come across purple circles that show a stick man posing in a certain way - jump into them, and match the pose as you pass through, and you'll earn extra points. The only problem is, it often tell you you're doing it wrong, when you can see quite plainly with your own eyes you're not. As these things often do, it can get rather annoying.
Kite surfing works similarly well. For the uninitiated (and that includes us when we chose it), kite surfing involves holding onto a giant parachute style kite, and using it as your motorboat for skiing across the water. Luckily, with unlimited wind power behind you, all you have to do is steer left and right (although you're free to go wherever you want this time), up ramps, over jumps, and across handily placed rails as you either collect as many tokens as you can, or try to race to the finish in as little time as possible. With similar controls to mountain biking - hold both hands out in front of you as though you're holding the bottom of a kite, and tilt left to go left, or right to go right - and ramps that are a lot bigger at the bottom than they are at the top, to make them easy to hit, again, this is a lot of fun.
Extreme Skiing is pretty much what it says on the tin - although we're not entirely sure what's so extreme about it. To us, it seems pretty similar to the skiing found in Kinect Sports: Season Two - all you have to do is zip down a hill at top speed, hitting jumps, and again, either trying to collect as many coins as possible, or trying to make it to the finish as quickly as you can. To steer left and right, all you have to do is lean to either side, with the game picking you up with no trouble - although it can be a bit tricky to steer onto the jumps in time.
Here's your wingsuit. Extreeeeme.
Wingsuiting, again, is a bit of a strange one, but it's an interesting enough idea. Turning you into the human equivalent of a giant squirrel, you get chucked out of a plane, and, holding your arms out at either side, have to avoid the rapidly approaching mountainside and trees, whilst collecting as many tokens as possible (yes, each of the minigames follows a rather similar theme). The problem with this one is the controls aren't quite up to scratch. Making a jumping motion to move forward is all well and good, but to move down, you'll have to crouch - something which Kinect really seems to struggle with. Not once did it actually pick us up when we did this, meaning it was impossible for us to move down the screen - which in turn meant we missed several pickups.
Kayaking, meanwhile, isn't quite so great. Whether the developers just forgot this (and the next) one existed or not, we're not sure, but the controls are nowhere near as good as the other games. In order to progress, you'll have to paddle down the raging rapids, by making a paddling motion above your waist. Put your hand down lower on either side, and you'll steer left and right. It all sounds simple enough, but, sadly, it just doesn't work. Steering isn't responsive enough, leaving you to just smash against rocks time and time again, while the game even struggles to pick you up rowing. Add in a number of rocks that you have to be going at a certain speed in order to be able to smash through, and we've got a recipe for disaster.
Try and smash through the stone gates for extra points - if you're going fast enough.
Rock Climbing, meanwhile, is similarly awkward. While it possibly counts as an extreme sport, depending on where you're doing it, we're not entirely sure who thought it would make for a good game. Acting as though you're, er, climbing a giant hunk of rock, you're intended to put your hands in the right place and pretend you're climbing a rock. Except you're not - you're in your living room. Without anything to actually be moving from and to, this gets rather confusing rather quickly, as you end up moving your hands either in the wrong direction, or not far enough, and the game has no idea what you're aiming for either.
With four good games, and two not so good games, Motionsports: Adrenaline certainly improves on its predecessor, and it's a game we can see ourselves coming back to. If you're after something a bit more grown up for Kinect, or have already seen everything there is to see in Kinect Sports, perhaps this is worth a shot.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
