Kinect Sports Season 2 Review

As a casual sports fan, I really got a kick out of the original. I was really looking forward to this title and I wasn’t disappointed. Rare is back is in full form with Kinect Sports Season 2. Not only does it have six new sports to play, but the motion and voice control is really well done and even better than their first time out.

Like the original, the game is designed to be more of a casual party favorite than a serious simulation. In other words, you aren’t going to get the true dynamics of Tiger Woods in the golf game. Instead, the target is more for fun than for boosting your stroke potential on a real course. In each event, your avatar plays on the screen in a third person type scenario, while you position him or her accordingly using the Kinect. To help you along, there is a tutorial for each sport that goes over the rules, in case you don’t know them, and how to use your body motions to control your player. So it’s easy for anyone to just step up, learn how to play real quick, and go for it. Of course, starting out is one thing, but mastery is another and the game is challenging enough to really get the competitive juices flowing while playing, especially when playing against live opponents like your friends or on Xbox Live.


But where this game really excels is Rare’s excellent use of the motion device and tracking accuracy. Control is fun, completely natural and highly responsive making Season 2 one of the best games out there in terms of the Kinect. In golf, you actually swing the “club” to hit the ball and putting your hand over your eyes as if you are shielding them from the sun actually brings up the course layout. In football, you run in place to make your way down the field and pass the ball as you would if you were really on the field. Darts lets you lunge the projectile at the board, while tennis lets you make some awesome moves in order to lob that ball back. Baseball puts you on the diamond where you can take a swing or use your best pitching style to get your opponent out. And skiing will make you feel like you are really on the slopes. But Rare didn’t stop there. The voice commands allow you to select clubs, go through menus, call plays in football and other things with pretty good accuracy for a recognition system. Even those with accents can generally use it with little error, although some commands might have to be repeated. Fortunately, there is not really a place where using your voice is time critical.


In all the events, the Kinect does well, but it’s not perfect and I think that Rare considered this and put in some degree of tolerance. But then your hand isn’t always that steady either. Darts is probably the most frustrating in this respect of all the games. The aim doesn’t quite work as it would if you were in the tavern playing for real, because the Kinect has a bit of variance when actually throwing the dart that tends to mess up your aim. The solution is to basically relearn your throw so that your arm and mind take that into consideration and compensate. It takes practice, as does all the events, but you can get it down eventually.


Replayability is great in this game. There are mini events to keep you coming back and achievements for you to reach. The only part we were disappointed in was the football. It seemed kind of boring to just throw the ball or run in place and they should have spent a little more time making this one more of a game and less of what seemed like an afterthought. But other than that, each game is a lot of fun whether you are playing by yourself against the usually competent but not overly difficult AI or having a go with someone at 3am on Xbox Live. And of course, this all makes great party fodder for your friends as well.


Bottom line is we really liked this one a lot and it has become one of the most playable in our office. And so, we give it a 9/10 and highly recommend it for the Xbox 360/Kinect. Kinect Sports Season 2 is out now.