Kinect Joy Ride

_Kinect Joy Ride_ is one of the launch titles for Microsoft’s Kinect system, and a game for which a demo is included with your copy of _Kinect Adventures_ (free with the Kinect). A naïve description of the game would be “_Mario Kart_ for Kinect”, but really, it’s not that good.

Like all Kinect games “you are the controller” – you stick your arms out and pretend you are holding the steering wheel as you drive your car around various cartoony tracks. Pulling back then pushing forward gives you a boost, and thrusting your hips makes your vehicle drift. The controls are amusing, to say the least. Acceleration and braking, however, are handled for you, making the game less challenging than it otherwise might have been. This exposes one of the limitations of Kinect – there isn’t always a meaningful gesture for the action you want to perform. _Kinect Joy Ride_ handles this by controlling things for you: a quick browse on Youtube will bring up videos of people apparently playing the game by just sitting there and letting _Kinect Joy Ride_ take them all the way around the track to finish in third place at the end of the race. This is definitely no _Kinect Adventures_ – it hardly gets you to move at all, and you might even end up with stiff arms from the effort of holding them out in front of you for as long as you play (though this is not a game you will play for hours).

The tracks are fairly fun, and the game is definitely a good laugh for a few casual races; there’s no doubt that Kinect is a satisfying way to engage with a game. However, there is the distinct feeling that something is missing. This might come from the fact that _Joy Ride_ was originally intended to be a free Xbox Live Arcade game, and so was never planned as a full game.

Like other Kinect titles, _Kinect Joy Ride_ shines when it comes to multiplayer, providing a competitive situation in which both parties (since Kinect can only handle two players at once) can look stupid together. Racing against a friend is fun, but nowhere near as satisfying as with the obvious comparison. This is nowhere near _Mario Kart_, but maybe, with time, others will bring forward similar games for Kinect that will take the formula of _Kinect Joy Ride_ further, work around the limited control options and make for a more rounded experience.

Like most of the other Kinect games currently on offer, _Kinect Joy Ride_ will definitely appeal to small children, who will be entranced by the magic of being able to control their in-game vehicle simply by pretending to drive. However, older players, while likely to be initially impressed, will find no real lasting appeal here. _Kinect Joy Ride_ works fairly well as what it is – a good introduction to the technology – but is lacking the refinement and substance necessary to make it a real must buy.