Can Sonic’s first appearance on Kinect put you in a spin?
Format: Xbox 360 Dev: Sonic Team Pub: Sega Out: 10/11/10 Players: 1-4, 2-8 online
We all know and love Sonic, that crazy little blue hedgehog, who we used to see whizzing around chasing rings and beating bad guys. He is, in many ways, a symbol of our youth. Sonic was there when video games started to really become big, back in the early nineties – when HD gaming didn’t exist or Xbox Live. It was just a Mega Drive with a controller consisting of a D-pad and a half dozen buttons.
As time has passed and as Sega consoles have become retro things of the past, Sonic has struggled to move with the times. His latest appearance, in Sonic Free Riders is somewhat different to the Sonic games of old. The 2D graphics are gone, and so is that old left-right control system. Now, Sonic is all about Kinect.
In Sonic Free Riders, the third in the airboarding spin-off series, you play as Sonic in a way you never would have before. You become Sonic through the Kinect sensor. To get Sonic to do what’s required, you have to physically do it yourself. No longer is it just the crazy little blue hedgehog chasing those golden rings, you are too.
You play the game in a sort of surfing or snowboard stance, side onto the screen to control your on-screen player. To move, you lean forward or back, bending your legs to change direction in the desired way, while also producing trick moves via kicks and other body movements. It is not the kind of game you can jump straight into however, and use of the tutorial is recommended, as it takes a while to get the moves down perfectly, so that you can use them within the game effectively.
I also found that Free Riders seemed to be a little temperamental at times, especially when the player is changed. It seemed to struggle when the player was switched using Kinects walk in/walk out features, particularly if the new player in question was very different in appearance to the player before, in terms of height for example.
Gameplay is enjoyable, if not a little frustrating at times if you can’t get those moves right and is boosted by a strong, fun and simple story mode which is both challenging and entertaining. Here, we see the dreaded Dr Eggman, an old villain from the Sonic series who many of us will be familiar with. Along the way, we come across all the old characters we know and love, such as Tails and Knuckles, as well as some new additions.
There are also time attack and free race modes and also a host of multiplayer games, which are fun also, but lacking in depth and real challenge. Free Riders is enjoyable in multiplayer, being competitive and fun to play, like most Kinect titles seem to be, but basic tendencies tend to let them down somewhat.
Despite the small flaws in the game, Sonic Free Riders is one of the most enjoyable titles available on Kinect at the moment. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a game that is fun for all ages. It appears that Sonic lives on, and lives on strong.
Ian Davies
