Kinectimals for Microsoft Kinect on Xbox 360 is one of the big first party launch titles for the new motion controller. Filled with cuddly, anthropomorphic baby wild cats, it’s clearly Microsoft’s attempt at pulling in all the proud Nintendogs owners out there. The difference? You don’t need a stylus to stroke these adorable animals. Is it worth your money? What about if you don’t have kids? Find out in our full Kinectimals for Kinect review.
Make no mistake, Kinectimals is an innocent Kinect game meant for kids. It’s rated age three and up on the box, and your guide, an unnerving lemur cum fairy makes euphemistic comments like “Wow, it looks like your cat wants to go to the showers”. Don’t laugh! If you think that’s dodgy, you’re too old for this game.
At least you should be. But it’s pretty hard to resist picking a baby tiger, watching it respond to your name when you call it, then travelling over an island playing hilarious mini games with it, like Diddy Kong Racing-esque kart laps, fetch, and even ten pin bowling.
As with Kinect and most Kinect games in general, the controls in Kinectimals work absolutely flawlessly. Tennis balls go where you chuck them, you can look around with strafing steps to the left and right, and you can even play dead by lying down on the ground – which triggers a hilarious animation from your Kinectimals cub, who mimics your actions.
In truth, unless you have young children, there isn’t enough gameplay in Kinectimals to merit the full game pricetag (We like that Sony sells PS3 Move games for cheaper than big new “regular” blockbuster titles), even if you can withstand the embarrassment of playing a title meant for three year olds. The gameplay is deceptively linear too: you’re actually fed tasks in order, though you’ll be too busy awing and gurgling to care.
But if you wanted to use your little cousin staying for Christmas as an excuse to rent this adorable game, well, we wouldn’t blame you.
Kinectimals has made our Top 5 list of best Kinect games, which is why we’ve given it our Recommended rosette. Check out more Top 5s here and find out more about how they work with our Top 5 guarantee.
