Kinect adventure games are still rare enough that every one of them is worth talking about, especially considering the glut of exercise or dance “games”. This week we’ve got Haunt. The player here is tasked with exploring a haunted house, using only their body as controller. Basic exploration is done my holding out one’s hand as if with a flashlight, and illuminating the corners of the creepy mansion, lifting one’s feet to walk. Frequently, the ghosts and traps encountered require the player to react quickly in some physical way: ducking, jumping, leaning, covering eyes, etc. The game looks pretty goofy, and I’m not sure I would want to spend a bunch of time being startled by cartoony ghosts, but it’s another baby-step closer to fully immersive gaming.
Gaia’s Moon is interesting for its lack of firepower. The protagonist is flying through the skies of Gaia, dealing with dangerous clouds, jumping sharks, a treacherous moon, and other obstacles—but it’s not a bullet-hose game. The character has no weapon. He survives only by dodging all the obstacles in his path, a la simple ‘helicopter’ games. Stylus control makes the game more fluid than using a keyboard, but I don’t think I would last very long—even though the trailer makes it look pretty easy.
The Icrontic Spotlight penetrates the dustcloud of Dustforce. This is a clever 2D ninja-platformer, in which the player takes on the role of a janitorial staff member tasked with cleaning up a variety of environs. Players will need to react quickly to leap from surface to surface, while wall-walking and dirt-pounding. The dirt in each level serves as a sort of clue as to where the player character needs to run and jump and fly. Expect ‘Nintendo hard’ level design, and lots of replays, so the easily frustrated should beware. There is also a multiplayer mode in which one player plays a cleaner while the other is a mess-maker—creating a territory-claiming match in which a ‘hill’ is frequently changing, and keeping that hill clean or dirty scores the points. With Steam integration, it would make for a fun quick multi-player match-up.
Following is a full list of announced North American releases:
Windows
- Dustforce
- I Shall Remain
- Steel Armor – Blaze of War
Wii
- Stonekeep: Bones of the Ancestors
DS
- Anne’s Doll Studio: Gothic Collection
- Gaia’s Moon
Xbox360
- Haunt
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