Kinectimals has your character showing up on anisland populated by cute wild kittens. There is a cheetah, lion, tiger, panther, and more, and they are all adorable. You choose one to raise as your own, give it a name (you speak its name out loud and it will recognize it from then on, my cat's name is Richard, by the way ...), and then set out to play and explore the island. The island is actually pretty large, and your ultimate goal is to fill out a map and find any hidden treasures the island might hold. To open up new sections of the island you have to play with your cat, play minigames, and complete specific objectives. Along the way, you earn credits you can spend at a shop to buy new toys and items for your cub, as well as new furniture and decoration for your hut.
Gameplay
The game is equal parts minigame collection and virtual pet simulator. It is all pretty fun, but the minigames aren't quite as good as they could be. A lot of them are variations of throwing objects at targets, which gets old fast. It works fine with Kinect - I've found follow through is important to throwing things exactly where you want, you generally target whatever your hand ends up pointing at - but it gets repetitive.
Other minigames have you running in place, jumping, ducking, and weaving around in front of Kinect to guide your cub through obstacle courses. These sections are pretty hit and miss as there is some definite lag between what you do and it actually showing up on-screen. You also get to drive a little R/C car around ("hold" the steering wheel in your hands to turn, push out to go fast, pull in to reverse) and it can be fun. I kind of wish there were less minigames and more goofy playing with your cat, because those parts are awesome.Raising your cub is the highlight of the game. It is so ridiculously cute to just sit back and watch, but how it reacts is fairly believable ways as well. When you pet it, it purrs and arches its back and rubs against you. It can play fetch (or you can throw balls at its head, which is also fun). And you can teach it to do tricks like sit, lay down, roll over, "do a barrel roll", jump, and more. The tricks use hand and body motions as well as voice commands, and work pretty well. It is surprisingly satisfying when your cub learns something new. You also have to clean your cub (they get really, really filthy if you don't brush them), feed them, give them water, and more. Your cub usually tells you what it needs by bringing whatever it wants over to you, but you are free to access the menu to select whatever toys or food or care items you want at any time. The game is just silly fun, but you do get attached to your cat.
A couple of additional gameplay comments. You have a guide of sorts on the island in the form of a cartoonish flying lemur thing named Bumble. He is sort of awesome, since he is voiced by Richard S. Horvitz (Invader Zim, Raz in Psychonauts, Dagget on Angry Beavers), which is awesome. But Bumble is also super annoying. He's always trying to drag you through the meager "story" to get you to explore more even though you'd rather sit in the pretty meadow and play. He is also the only really cartoony, unrealistic thing in the game, which is somewhat off putting.Another comment is that your cat has a super short attention span. It gets bored easily and constantly runs off to find a new toy it wants you to use. It is the most active cat I've ever seen. Ever. I suppose a game where your cat sleeps on your lap while you try to work wouldn't be exciting enough, though. That is just a silly nitpick, though.
For the most part, the game is a blast. Your cat is so cute, and playing with it is really fun. I always have a huge smile on my face the whole time I play, which is usually a good sign that whatever you're doing is pretty dang fun.
Graphics
Graphically, Kinectimals is one of the best looking Kinect launch games. The island is lush and green, and the cats are really fuzzy and cute. It has a distinct "Viva Pi?ata" look and feel to it despite the fact that Frontier Dev., and not Rareware, was responsible for the title. The game looks fantastic, and is right up there with the best looking Xbox 360 games overall.
SoundThe sound is mostly good. Aside from Bumble jabbering at you constantly (though he does sound like Invader Zim, which is pretty cool), the rest of the sound is good. The cubs growl and purr and sound like cats. Sound effects are good. The music is light and fits perfectly.
Bottom Line
If you love cute cats and animals in general, Kinectimals is definitely worth picking up. The "videogame-y" parts of it aren't stellar, as the minigames tend to get in the way of the real fun more often than not, but the animal raising aspect (the real fun) of the game is amazingly good. The cats are so cute and expressive and fun to watch. And it is really, honestly, fun to play with them and care for them. This is one of the better virtual pet games I've ever seen. It clearly isn't going to appeal to the hardcore, shoot everything, "M" rated Xbox 360 gamer (at least they won't admit it), but for kids and families and big ol' softies who like cats, Kinectimals is worth a look.
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