|
|
Adrenalin Misfits
|
|
|
|
|
|
Graphics & Sound:
With the introduction of new gaming technology comes innovation and retrofitting. Any games being made to take advantage of the new Kinect Sensor for XBox 360 are in some ways innovative by default, but we'll have to start asking whether they are innovative because they harness the power of Kinect, or because they do things that would only be possible with Kinect. It may seem like a fine line, but it really isn't. Snowboarding games have been around for a long time and Adrenalin Misfits features solid graphics and a presentation that would be compelling enough without the body-motion control elements. One of the things we're going to talk more about in the days to come is cluttering the display with that Kinect indicator. For some games it won't add much value, but here it ends up being pretty important. Most of the controls in Adrenalin Misfits depend on your lean, so looking at the screen and knowing how the system is tracking you comes in handy. It can be a distraction from what's happening on the slope, but it's there by design to let you know when you're not in the right position relative to the Kinect camera. The characters are a mix of real and fantasy figures, plus you can play with your avatar right out of the box, which we liked. It's a shame your avatar isn't as interactive as the default characters, though. The window dressing around the action in Adrenalin Misfits is a blend of realistic sound effects and visuals, plus less realistic environments as you slide down mountains or waterscapes. Fantasy boarding is a cool idea, and gives Adrenalin Misfits a bit more mileage than if it had only attempted to be a good snowboarding game.
|
|
|
Gameplay:
Again we see that there's nothing really new here from a gameplay standpoint, just new ways of interacting with the game. Racing solo is initially just a series of courses you'll use to learn the basic controls and unlock a few extras like custom boards. The attributes of each board vary slightly, biased toward speed, agility, or air-time. Characters have a similar set of abilities, allowing you to tailor your experience course-by-course, or in keeping with exactly how you want to play the game. The progression in career does a nice job of mixing the basic competitive modes with special challenges. "Balloon Buster" is one of the latter, combining the precision of slalom racing with some balloon-popping fun. This is mostly just window dressing. At heart, across all seven of its mini-modes, Adrenalin Misfits performs much like every other snowboard game we've seen in the past. This extends to split-screen Multi-Play, where you line up with a friend to compete, and can unleash special power-ups to keep your opponent from beating you to the finish line.
You control the board with your body, and like any Kinect game out there, your mileage may vary. We found the addition of body controls in this style of game to be appropriate, but there are times when one wants the excitement of racing without having to break a sweat. By the same token, if you've planted your tush on hard, cold ice enough times, living-room snowboarding starts to sound pretty good. We were impressed with how much impact simple leaning has as a control method, and is very true to the sport, but then there's jumping and turning. These are more trick-focused actions, which you need, but they tend to be mostly symbolic. Adrenalin Misfits works reasonably well as a combat racing game, plus you get to trigger the power-ups by stomping your foot, which is fun. There's no question that kids will enjoy the game as a great way to release energy, but Adrenalin Misfits trades off realism for flash and glam. In other words, a decade of pushing for more realism in snow sports games isn't reflected here. It's like comparing Wip3Out to a Formula 1 game...this is the fun, no-holds-barred version of games that tried to recreate the feel of being on the actual mountain. |
|
|
Difficulty:
Measuring difficulty two ways, Adrenalin Misfits is a mixed bag. From a gameplay standpoint, it's incredibly simple: Reach the bottom of the course with more points than the other guy or gal, earned by tricks, accuracy, and speed. Certain courses and modes, like Stadium Games, have a bias toward tricks. Once you realize that some characters and boards are better equipped to handle tricks, you'll do fine. It's not as if every player has to master every type of course, but if you're looking for 100% completion, you'll need to find your way through the speed/agility/power equation with reasonably strong performances. You can always retry courses that you don't score well on, and your incremental point score is always increasing. You'll need to accomplish a certain amount to unlock various aspects of the game, like boards and characters and courses. Setting the difficulty level is one thing, but mastering the physicality of Adrenalin Misfits is another. As they say in the intro disclaimers, it really does help to warm up with some stretching before you go whole hog on Adrenalin Misfits. Especially when it comes to jumping, you can't really cheat the system. Harder courses are more varied and give your opponents a much greater competitive edge. Once you're bought-into the overall experience, mastering all this will come with the territory, but we wished for a stronger career progression that supported true replay value.
|
|
|
Game Mechanics:
You have to give it to Microsoft in the sense that they've followed Nintendo's lead and built on it, to create a control system that tends to be incredibly simple. We're all in the process of being weaned off our controllers, and I expect this goes double for developers. Not having shoulder buttons or any buttons to press leaves developers with some hard choices to make. Sure, leaning back and forth to control the angle your board is sliding is intuitive. The same is true for your stance, with the body-facing-screen as slow/stop, and the body-turned-sideways as your signal to start moving. Jumping to jump makes sense, and then things get a little less intuitive. Moving your arms and even your head while jumping is supposed to trigger special actions. With the arms, we found this to be true, but the head not so much. The ceilings in our room are a bit low, so maybe we weren't aggressive enough? The need to complete tricks while midair is resolved by letting you turn and twist your body after landing, to prompt your character to perform cool moves. Some moves are dictated, so that you get points and boost power upon completing them. Other courses are more free-form and let you try out different sequences of tricks in the interest of racking up point scores. Stomping a foot to trigger a power-up sounds good in theory, but it tends to blow your acceleration and lean unless used at the perfect moment. In the final analysis, the need for spot-on timing is in line with any other sports games out there, so the friction is probably coming from having to adapt old conventions to new controls. What seemed most lacking in Adrenalin Misfits was a persuasive multiplayer or career mode, but it shows off the Kinect technology very capably. What it lacks in depth, it more than makes up for with superficial fun.
|
|
|
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
