Kinect Star Wars

If you're wondering what kind of blog this is, it was originally supposed to be a place to playfully judge movies. Then I changed that rule by reviewing t.v. shows.

Today we're looking at a video game based on one of my favorite childhood sagas:

Kinect Star Wars.

Why critique that game? Because I finally gave it a go and it's more accidentally hilarious than I could have ever imagined.

Kinect's technology is surprisingly good. It's not perfect, but it works. My biggest concern is the fact that you can't sit down without C-3PO thinking you've abandoned him. There's a Podracing minigame that you control with your arms, which is great, but if you try and sit down (which would be more realistic), the game goes haywire and the controls get all wonky.

The main storyline lets you choose from a list of new Jedi that never say a word. I vowed to not take the game seriously because I wanted to have as much fun as possible, so I chose an alien called "Cho Zeh'Bra" since his face looks like a... well... do I have to say it?

This is Cho Zeh'Bra.

I genuinely can't look at this character without laughing. I never laughed this hard watching the same-looking guys during the cantina scene in "A New Hope", but seeing him as a jedi is so far-fetched, I just can't help it. He apparently has a sense of purpose, and it's so much funnier to think that he has aspirations to help others than to imagine him as a struggling musician.

My favorite part of the game is probably the dance-offs. This consists of you dancing to modern pop as Han Solo, burlesque Leia, etc. I like this minigame because it's ridiculous and would never happen in that universe, but I'm sure it fulfills someone's long-awaited fantasies. Heck, I got a kick out of it.

There's another minigame called "Rancor Rampage" in which you're a giant beast, the one that tried to eat Luke in "Return of the Jedi", terrorizing towns and eating people. I had a blast playing it the first time, but eventually, it just became busy work. That's probably the best way to describe every mode in Kinect Star Wars. It's all fun at first, but when you need to reach a point quota, it's almost torturous.

My advice to you is this: If you can find a way to play Kinect Star Wars, go for it. It's even more fun with friends, if they're open to having their perception of Star Wars further skewed.

May the choice be with you,

-Philip