Fruit Ninja Kinect review: The joy of chopping

[Soldier 95B]

It is good to chop fruit with your hands.

That's likely to be my very dumbest thesis for the remainder of my games-reviewing career, but let's face it: Fruit Ninja Kinect is an astonishingly dumb game. Its unswerving singlemindedness sets a new standard for simplicity: The game oscillates between binary states of chopping fruit and waiting to chop more fruit, with little extraneous cruft to pad the two. There is fruit, and then you chop it, and then the fruit -- in a burst of citrus and points -- is gone!

Such a single-faceted premise would be a mark of death for any game, even a budget-priced downloadable title. Luckily for Halfbrick, it is good to chop fruit with your hands.
Fruit Ninja Kinect (6/7/11)

If you're familiar of the mobile version of the produce-hostile casual title, you already know everything there is to know about this winning formula. As fruit is launched upward by an unseen assailant, players must slash each foodstuff before it falls out of sight. Bonus points are earned for destroying multiple vittles in a single slash, requiring a certain level of quiet contemplation as you flail about like the world's worst ground air traffic controller.

Oh, the flailing you'll do. The substitution of swift flicks of your fingertips with decisive thrusts of your entire upper body easily justifies the ten-times-more-expensive price of the XBLA title over the app. There is a level of satisfaction one achieves when performing a rising uppercut on a cluster of tightly-grouped watermelons that cannot be matched -- or even approached -- by a game that only requires you to move half of one percent of your body.

You'll execute these precise cuts across a myriad of game modes, most of which were imported from the smartphone-based original. Classic Mode tasks you with scoring as many points as possible before you drop three fruit, or chop one of the frequently launched, game-ending bombs. Arcade is set to a timer, and throws special bonuses into the mix, like fruit-freezing and score-multiplying bananas. Zen mode offers a much more straightforward, 90-second free-for-all.

New to the assortment is a two-player mode, which can either be played competitively -- fruits are highlighted red or blue, and can only be chopped by the corresponding player -- or cooperatively. The Kinect hasn't provided too many moments of raw happiness more pure than when I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow fruit chopper, slicing through panic-inducing swarms of produce, all the while trying not to deliver a fatal hatchet blow directly to my companion's real-life face.

There's also a Challenge mode that shows up on the very front menu of the game, which allows you to immediately go after the higher score of one of your Xbox Live Friends. This was, invariably, the first thing I did every time I booted up Fruit Ninja Kinect -- to think that someone, somewhere, had bested my score on Classic mode was always an unacceptable truth, and one that required instant remedy.

There are some really great ideas in here for other Kinect developers to study: For instance, getting yourself into prime fruit-cutting position is a breeze by merit of the fact that your shadow is constantly displayed on screen. Also, if you walk too close or too far from the sensor, the game automatically calibrates within seconds, centering the game's field of view at the optimal slicing height. There is no reason why every game on the platform shouldn't do these two things.

The only bit of clunk which surfaces as a result of the new hands-free control scheme is the menu UI, which sees your every movement as an eager chop towards whatever menu option your hand is closest to. You can eventually learn to temper your movements to cut back on these false positives -- though attempting to swipe through the game's lengthy list of unlockable blades, backgrounds and shadows is an exercise in blinding frustration.

Perhaps it was unfair to call Fruit Ninja Kinect dumb. Its premise is as barbaric and unsophisticated as premises come, and yet its so chock-full of clever ideas and satisfyingly tight controls that it very nearly circles back around to pure genius. It doesn't just set a high bar for the flock of touch-based apps which will almost certainly follow in its footsteps to the Kinect platform -- it sets a pretty intimidating precedent for the platform altogether.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/08/fr...kinect-review/

4.5/5 Stars

I added this to my queue and will give it a spin.

[Sub-stance1]

I may have to give this a try. I didn't think it would turn out to be any good.

[LaOMaN]

i let all my nieces and nephews. they love it best game ever

[Soldier 95B]

Gave the demo a try. Not for me. It wasn't for me on mobile platform either.

[Yungstar 2006]

like most Kinect games, it gets tiring, but good fun in short bursts.

i'd swear the bombs are just there to stop me beating friends high scores.....

[Soldier 95B]

Fruit Ninja Kinect sells a million:

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/fr...oyride-update/

[Cuguy]

Fruit Ninja Kinect sells a million:

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/fr...oyride-update/

not bad for a casual game

[radgamer420]

Fruit Ninja Kinect sells a million: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/fr...oyride-update/

The casual market is a large and lucrative market. MS knows this and thats why they have shifted their focus.

[Cuguy]

The casual market is a large and lucrative market. MS knows this and thats why they have shifted their focus.

you say shift focus, I say the focus is the same with the added casual market. Their focus is to provide gaming at all levels while maximizing profit

[radgamer420]

you say shift focus, I say the focus is the same with the added casual market. Their focus is to provide gaming at all levels while maximizing profit

I disagree. I really dont know how you can honestly say that their focus is the same (even the industry has acknowledged the change) but you and I have already been through all this more than once so I'll just leave it at that.

[Cuguy]

My point is just this Rad...

say Coke comes out with Diet Cherry Coke.. are they now focusing on SOLEY that product and will let Coke slip down and not advertise it, support it? Are they now focusing on the diet crowd and forsaking the people who like coke?

No.



Same thing with this, which is why i take issue with the derogatory way in which people say "shift in focus".. they didn't shift focus, they added a new branch to their product line.

Nothing is being taken away from the old, only the new business for the Kinect is being done. We are going to get the games that would have come out if Kinect hadn't come to light.

But you're right, it has been gone over before, so I will just drop it.

[Soldier 95B]

[Sub-stance1]

Fruit Ninja Kinect sells a million:

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/05/fr...oyride-update/

Good numbers for a game like that.

[F34R]

I don't see the issue with you discussing it CUGY, especially if it KEEPS getting brought up.

I happen to agree that they've shifted more focus towards casual gaming of late, and allowed their 3rd party lineup to add that core experience to the few titles they MGS will release.

[Soldier 95B]

Over the past couple days I have posted new threads that continue to debunk that myth. If people think the 360 shifted focus to casual, we might as well say the PS has as well. Both statements, IMO, are ludicrous.

[radgamer420]

My point is just this Rad... say Coke comes out with Diet Cherry Coke.. are they now focusing on SOLEY that product and will let Coke slip down and not advertise it, support it? Are they now focusing on the diet crowd and forsaking the people who like coke? No. Same thing with this, which is why i take issue with the derogatory way in which people say "shift in focus".. they didn't shift focus, they added a new branch to their product line. Nothing is being taken away from the old, only the new business for the Kinect is being done. We are going to get the games that would have come out if Kinect hadn't come to light. But you're right, it has been gone over before, so I will just drop it.

Well MS closed down alot of what core studios they did have and replaced them with Kinect studios. We keep seeing the same 3 first party core ips recycled over and over again while seeing more Kinect and kiddie XBLA games. Compared to what what MS was doing back in 06 and 07 it has definitely changed. I'm not saying 360 has no core games I'm just saying first party focus is more on casual gaming while relying on mostly 3rd party multiplatform games to provide the bulk of the core games. I realize MS new strategy is working for them but I miss the old MS.

[radgamer420]

Over the past couple days I have posted new threads that continue to debunk that myth. If people think the 360 shifted focus to casual, we might as well say the PS has as well. Both statements, IMO, are ludicrous.

Why are you dragging PS3 into this? We are talking about the 360.

[Sub-stance1]

Over the past couple days I have posted new threads that continue to debunk that myth. If people think the 360 shifted focus to casual, we might as well say the PS has as well. Both statements, IMO, are ludicrous.

Indeed...the way I see it is they are just reaching out to a larger audience. They haven't lost a step when it comes to delivering content.



IronRanger6 Tapatalk

[Soldier 95B]

Why are you dragging PS3 into this? We are talking about the 360.

I was using an example. I will change the example. People are saying that Chevrolet has lost focus on their performance vehicles by introducing new compact cars, hybrids like the Volt and reducing engine sizes in order to reach government mandated MPG. What they are REALLY doing is adding those vehicles and lesser powerful engines to what they already had. In fact they are increasing their core performance vehicles and horse power. They have made the Corvette ZR1 most recently as the most powerful American made car. The new Chevrolet ZL1 Camaro is the most powerful Camaro ever made. The Chevrolet Silverado is also now the most powerful Chevrolet truck ever made. All while they have introduced reduced engine sizes in addition to the more powerful. They have not lost focus or alienated their performance core fans. They have ADDED to their consumer base by appealing to both.

MS has done the same. If you don't agree in your opinion, it's not a big deal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD