For anyone that may havemissed it, Kinect-exclusive gameDisneyland Adventureswas announced during this week’s Microsoft E3 press conference.
Basically, the game allows you, the player, to wander through a meticulously recreated version of Disneyland and “ride” any of the rides, which essentially transports you to a variety of Kinect mini-games based onAlice in Wonderland,Peter Pan, or whatever ride you choose to enter.
Being a gigantic fan of Disneyland — and having been to the park more times that I can count — I wanted to see if someone that loves Disney (and isn’t a little girl) could enjoy this game.
I likedDisneyland Adventures, but am not sure if it is something I am going to purchase. And that makes me a little sad, since when I saw the game announced I kind of cheered.
The most impressive part, by far, is the recreation of the park.
It is perfect.
I mean, every restaurant, every food cart, every water fountain — they are all there and completely in the right location. The game is early in development, and there are still a lot of details like trees and walls missing, but, all in all, the recreated park is the right size, the right layout … pretty much the righteverything. It really is incredible.
I’m not going to lie: I was running around as my little girl character laughing and giggling along with her as I turned a corner and saw one of my favorite attractions.
But, alas, controlling the game in and out of the rides was a big chore.
Again, this is an early build and things will most likely be fixed, but I had trouble being accurate when walking around the park.
Moving is performed by holding your arm up and “pointing” in the direction you want to go. This works in large areas, but trying to make sharp turns is near impossible. At one point I just missed the entrance toAlice in Wonderland, but could not for the life of me turn around to get to it. It drove me insane! I ended up just giving up and trying to see if the churro stand by Big Thunder Moutain was there. (For the record: It was!)
The mini-game “rides” themselves were fine, but nothing special. They are nice to look at — especially given the Disney-theming — but play just like the games inKinect Adventures.
It is promised that almost every ride in the park would eventually have a mini-game (as opposed to the two in the demo), so that is something to look forward to.
Beyond the initial excitement of running through a perfect recreation of Disneyland, there was not much more I was interested in while playingDisneyland Adventures.
I am going to give the game the benefit of the doubt due to its early development status and the fact that I adore Disneyland, but I am not sure how this Kinect game is going to turn out.
Will anyone that’s not a little kid have fun withDisneyland Adventures(read: me!)? I sure hope so. I really want to love this game.
