Fruit Ninja Kinect is the first Kinect-based Arcade title to be released on Xbox Live, and it starts the show off with a challenging and responsive, if somewhat shallow, gameplay experience.
The game is a rehash of an iPhone title released in 2010, with the game modes and game experience remaining largely unchanged. The basic premise is to slice fruit using arm gestures in the most stylised way possible (and you can even use leg movements if you’re flexible enough!). You rank up more points for slicing fruit in a continuous motion. So lining up 3 or more fruit in a single swipe is essential if you want big score bonuses.
There are 3 game modes to play around with – Classic, Zen and Arcade. In Classic, players swipe and slash fruit, while trying to avoid bombs. If a player misses a fruit, or hits a bomb, they lose a life. Once all 3 lives are lost, you lose! Zen allows you to really focus on getting your swipes exact, with just you and the fruits present. Arcade plays similarly to Classic, except there are no lives to worry about; you simple lose points if you hit a bomb.
Fruit Ninja Kinect has a simple aesthetic feel to it. The various fruits that will be thrown in your direction are cartoony in appearance and suit the game’s style well. The environmental backgrounds are also fitting, for instance you start your fruit-slicing escapades in front of a dojo wall. And the player silhouette is subtle but clearly visible.
The game is arguably one of the most responsive Kinect titles out there. It never feels like effort to get the system to respond to your movement. It just ‘knows’ when you are attempting to strike, and when you are simply moving your arms in a position to get ready for the next wave of menacingly speedy fruits. Additionally, avoiding bombs requires exact positioning, and Kinect performs perfectly here. Whenever I hit a bomb (which was often) it was my fault, it was not Kinect reading my movements wrong.
Only occasionally did I come into problems that resulted in minor frustrations. The game would occasionally end my swipe before I had cut down all the fruit I had wanted to, causing me to lose out on some points. However this will no doubt be
The multiplayer component to the game is fun but requires plenty of room as you fight to swipe every fruit possible (injury may, and let’s be honest probably will, occur). You can even team up with a friend to get the highest score possible, or fight it out against each other.
The game is fairly repetitive, although replay value comes in the form of unlockable backgrounds, player silhouettes and blade colours. You unlock them as you play for completing various challenges, such as obtaining a high score in a certain mode, or slicing a certain amount of fruit. On the main menu there is also a friend leaderboard that updates as your friends get new high scores. I managed to beat a friend’s score by 1 in classic mode, and it lead to some friendly competition. The game facilitates this sort of competition well by making the score so visible right off the bat as you load up the title.
Kinect Fruit Ninja is a quintessential party game. Fun, and tiring, in short bursts, but after several rounds it becomes shallow.
7 / 10
