Featuring ten animals (five bears and five large cats), this interactive animal sim lets you explore an island with a realistic looking pet. After you choose your pet, you can give it a name using the Kinect’s voice recognition abilities (you don’t actually hear your recorded voice, but your pet runs over when you say it’s name). Other voice commands include “jump,” “roll over” and “play dead,” plus you can give the Kinect general yes and no commands, which speeds things along. The story varies with each pet. If you choose a cat, you’ll solve a mystery on the island of Lemuria; bears undertake Fiddler’s Quest on the island of Mira. On both islands, you’ll be able to unlock items and personalize the gameplay experience. These items include special toys that can be unlocked by buying one of the $12 plush toys, that include a special tag. The items can be unlocked by holding a tag up to the “scan stone” at the start of the game. Microsoft now has a deal with select Build-A-Bear Workshop stores, which also use the Microsoft Tag technology. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This second version of Kinect Sports contains six sports: tennis, golf, American football, baseball, skiing and darts. Each game has three difficulty levels, with the starting level (rookie) designed to make sure that a child can succeed. Sharing is possible either online (an XBox Gold membership is required, sold extra) or with as many as four other players in your living room. Noteworthy features include in-game voice commands and much better motion tracking than last year. Also new is Challenge Play for Xbox Live, which lets you send a challenge to a friend for later when they log on. You can also log onto KinectShare.com and download photos and videos capture in-game and share with friends and family, and for the first time, post these directly to your Facebook wall. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Mission US is a free (grant funded) adventure game that teaches US history. In Mission 1: For Crown or Colony? you help Nat Wheeler, a 14-year-old printer’s apprentice in 1770 Boston. Nat must complete tasks, meeting with merchants, soldiers, sailors and poets. The site is currently in beta form, and is open for free registration. Content includes reading primary historical documents, collecting period artifacts, and clicking on “Smartwords” (vocabulary) embedded in the dialog. Nat’s fate rests in players’ hands: Should he complete his apprenticeship and support the Patriots’ cause, remain loyal to the crown, or leave Boston, taking a new job at sea? No matter what path Nat chooses, he witnesses the events of the Boston Massacre and, ultimately, must decide where his allegiance lies. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.