Microsoft Kinect Kinectimals - Ever heard of the game called Black and White? In this game you not only get to play God but what you do on this fictitious planet or world of yours is committed by a pet. Now this kinect game is called Kinectimals and seriously reminds me of this Black and White game that I used to play on the computer. Not only do you get your own pet to play with, you get to take care of it and stroke it. Of course you do not get to play God in Kinectimals and you need not take over another God’s territory or followers, and there are much more things you can do to your pet in Kinectimals too. You can cuddle, kiss and choose from a wide variety of pets including the lion, tiger, leopard, panther or cheetah.
So if you are in need of a pet but maybe your parents are not keen, because either they think you are too young and thus not mature enough to take care and be responsible for a pet, or if they are scared the pet would leave hair or fur all over the place or maybe chew up your furniture, then the Kinectimals is the perfect game for you. There is of course another possibility that you have this fantasy to rear pets that can only be kept in a zoo like the tiger or lion so obviously that is not possible and you can only do that in a virtual environment.
Once you have chosen a pet, you can choose to play with them with games such as a simple fetch. Using the kinect x360 motion sensor, your hand movements will be detected and these will be interpreted as throwing an object or cuddling and stroking. To give you more background info, the animals from Kinectimals live on a remote island and have not seen a human for a long period of time. But now they have absolutely fallen with the first human being they have seen in years, which of course is you!
You start of first by choosing a cub. You get to play mini-quests and of course play with your pet cub. As you progress you will unlock new areas to explore and even get more pets. It is your pet who would lead you to these areas. You can also teach your pets tricks such as teaching them how to jump, spin around, do star jumps or even play dead. If they like you, they will even lick you and smile.
There are obstacle courses to challenge, remote controlled cars to play with, rubber chickens to throw and balls and Frisbees to fetch. As you complete games and tasks, you also get some gold coins which are the currency in the game. You use this to buy stuff for your pets, including balls, toy bones, collars and even a furbrush. You can also decorate your virtual house and change any of the furniture or items inside it.
My only grouse about this game is that there seems to be some sensor accuracy issues. But this does not matter because the target audience is children who would just like to have a virtual pet and play with them. Of course like all microsoft kinect games, they do not come cheap and the price for this game is definitely not justified. Of course like I said if your kids want a virtual pet and they are pestering you to get the Kinectimals then I guess you have no other choice but to buy this game! You should buy this game if and only if you like everything cute and of course if your kids are begging you to get a pet but you will never give in, unless it is a virtual one that is. You can even get Kinectimals in Limited Edition bundles featuring the plushes of the animals, such as the King Cheetah or the Maltese Tiger. Of course you can always buy these plush toys separately.
Do remember that Kinectimals would require the kinect for the xbox 360. The kinect date of release was end 2010 so it is already in the market and you do not even need to pre-order it. I have previously reviewed other kinect games such as Your Shape Fitness Evolved and Dance Central but these are more for adults and those who want to keep fit and lose weight. I have also earlier provided a page where you can buy the xbox and kinect bundle. Check out that page on the Kinect for xbox 360 here.
The 360 kinect bundle is considered cheap if you ask me because it includes a game. The kinect xbox price is currently at $150 but if you get the xbox 360 bundle with kinect it costs $300 for the 4GB console so it really is cheap if you buy the xbox together with the kinect and that is of course when you do not already have an xbox. So the price of kinect is quite low but I guess the games still cost quite high. But if you are like me, somebody who loves Microsoft products and like motion sensing games by the Xbox 360 Kinect, then it is really worth your money to get this and just have fun fun fun!
Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect Games Review - Microsoft Kinect Kinectimals
