Kinect Sports Rivals features an all new setting and storyline. The world of Kinect Sports Rivals centers around an island paradise that players will explore during in-game events and can piece together to feel a real sense of immersiveness while playing through the game. Additionally, players will find three rival team on the island: Eagle Legion, Wolf Clan and the Viper Network. Each faction has there own skills and tactics and feature unique personalities from the dedicated sportsmanship of Blake and Carmen of the Eagle Legion to the underhanded and nasty attitudes of Max and Zara of the Viper Network. Players will all eventually choose which team to join while battling against the other two throughout the game's campaign, and there is definitely a lot more creativity and thought put into the storyline of Kinect Sports Rivals than in its predecessors.
Kinect Sports Rivals begins with players creating their own character referred to as a Champion. The Kinect sensor can be used to scan players and capture their image to use in the game, and its a fairly accurate feature, though we still wanted to make some changes to the character after it was created before making it final. The Champion also keeps track of other player data including experience points earned through in-game events to level up and gain new attributes. Once the character has been created, it's time to enter the game's tutorial and learn how to perform in each of the game's six sports and learn how to navigate the island setting in the world of Kinect Sports Rivals.
Kinect Sports Rivals uses the new technologies available for Xbox One to create an incredibly fun single player experience when playing with an Internet connection. The game uses data gathered with the Kinect and something known as Shadow technology to track players' movements and tendencies during events, and players avatars are then uploaded to the cloud and used in other players' games to create authentic and unique experiences each time out. The feature was previously seen in another Xbox One exclusive, Forza Motorsport 5, to make the game really fun to play offline in single player, and it works well in Kinect Sports Rivals as well.
There a six sports available to play in Kinect Sports Rivals, though only Bowling and Soccer return from the original release for the series. Tennis is possibly the most fun of the six events and is controlled just as you'd expect but with less running and no tennis racquet required. Wake Racing is another new sport in the game that is a lot of fun to play and allows players to ride jet skis around the island against other players in a race to the finish line. Other new sports for the game include Climbing, where players try to reach the top of a wall as fast as possible, and Target Shooting, which is as easy to play as aiming a finger at the screen and firing. Bowling and Soccer boast some minor improvements and are fun in their own right, but experienced players in the Kinect Sports series will be more excited to learn to play the new sport events first.
There are numerous powerups to grab in each sport that keeps the game feeling fun and fresh and less like a simulations of these sports. For example, players will find shields, speed boosts and mines to drop during Wake Racing that makes the game feel much more like a Mario Kart game on water rather than a realistic racing game. Players can upgrade powerups when gaining experience points and leveling during the game, and gain improvements such as more potent powerups or improved recharge rate. Kinect Sports Rivals also gives players additional challenges to strive for even after reaching the max level in a sport, since new promotions and outfits are always available to unlock and equip.
Kinect Sports Rivals is a flexible release that always gives players something to do. There are plenty of different in-game missions and monthly challenges that allow players to unlock some of the best prizes in the game. Players will also want to improve their play to make their Champion perform better during other players' games to earn more back. The game also boasts six different league difficulties from the Bronze League all the way up to the Master League to challenge players to perform their best. The best players will want to keep playing the game for a chance to compete in the Kinect Sports Rivals World Championship coming up later this year at San Diego Comic Con with thousands of dollars in prizes being rewarded to winners. Of course, Kinect Sports Rivals is always available to play in local multiplayer as well and makes a great party game distraction with so few local multiplayer games currently available for Xbox One.
Nearly everything in Kinect Sports Rivals is accessed from a central HUB where players can access their statistics, check progress on missions and monthly challenges. The game's menus are easy to navigate with Kinect, and the sensor works just as good outside of the game as it does during sports events, though players will need larger rooms to perform well in some of the sports that requires use of the full body such as Soccer and Climbing. The in-game graphics look good as well and are especially impressive during Wake Racing with splashes, explosions and other animation lighting up the screen in a colorful display. There is also a pretty good sound design in the game including some catchy themes for menus and during events.
Kinect Sports Rivals is a great release for the Xbox One and the best reason to use the console's Kinect in any game. The game is fun whether playing in solo play with other player's Champions or against other players locally. The game is constantly adding new content with monthly challenges, so there is always something to do in the game. The game has a lot of replay value with a lot of content packed into the new release. Kinect Sports Rivals may not convert the biggest of Kinect haters, but most players will want to dust off the sensor and pick up the new release now.
Kinect Sports Rivals is now available exclusively for Xbox One and can be purchased for the MSRP of $59.99. Kinect Sports Rivals is rated E by the ESRB for Mild Violence. For more information on the game, check out the official Kinect Sports Rivals website.
Game Features:
- Local Multiplayer 1-2
- Six Different Sports and New Seasons Coming Soon
- Online Leaderboards
- DLC Support
- Achievement Support
Game Information:
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Available exclusively for Xbox One (reviewed)
Release Date: April 8, 2014
