Kinectimals

This game is so engaging that my 40+ self and my seven year old daughter still love playing it a year after we got it last Christmas (12/2010).There are many layers to the game which keep it engaging and quite honestly, lovable. There's an entire island of regions to map out and explore, challenges to meet, achievements to earn and no end of fun to have. My daughter takes great pride in having explored the whole island and mapped it out. I take pride in scoring high achievements. Meanwhile, my daughter really loves just grooming and dressing up her pets (she has many cats to play with now), and I get a kick out of playing with some of the cool toys with my cat. We both have fun spending the coins we've earned to pimp out our houses and cats.Kinectimals is a feature rich game, and it's just adorable. After a year of playing with my daughter, though -- and after playing many games made for Kinect over this year -- I really have to say that I think it's hands down the best game built for Kinect yet. It's graphics are like a CGI movie almost, it's sensitivity to the player's movements and intuitive use of the full-body sensor interface are excellent, and it's sheer "personality" is a work of gaming art -- you really do feel like you are fully engaged with the gaming environment.Kinectimals has set the bar so high on how to create a rich gaming experience using the Kinect sensor that we've been rather disappointed with all of the other XBox Kinect games we've payed over the past year. If you want to experience the magic of truly just jumping into the game, then jump into this game. You'll love it.TINY PRINT: Side effects may include adults experiencing pure child-like joy.

If you have a little boy or girl, you can't go wrong with this game. It's probably the best Kinect game next to Dance Central. The game is easy for anyone to jump into. My 7yo learned everything it had to offer in about an hours time. She has never been so addicted to a game before. It gets them off the couch, and is a very active game. Lots of kicking, rolling, running and jumping. Considering it's a launch game, I was very impressed how in depth and how much the player was able to do. Besides the kinect motions itself, what really impressed me was how great this game looks. It's obviously the best looking pet game in existence and kids will fall in love with these furry funny felines as soon as the game starts. It's a good mesh of taking care of your pet and setting off a big adventure with your pet on this tropical island. I myself find myself playing it a little bit and I was amazed how much I enjoyed it.The only down side with the game is that the controls can be frustrating for little ones and patience is the key. The kicking of the ball and throwing balls and toys at targets can be challenging. But it takes some patience and adjusting to the controls to get it down. The game also has voice recognition for your pet and sometimes it doesn't seem to always respond to your orders or tricks when called out. But overall, it seemed pretty consistent.This is a must have game if you have the Kinect, and if you have children, it's a no brainer. Just make sure your kids do their homework before they play this one, because they won't want to quit!

We purchased this game for our 11 year old who LOVES animals. She has a BLAST with this game and can play for hours without getting bored if we let her! The animals are adorable and the game has a lot of options such as grooming, teaching tricks, exploring, etc. The scenery is very pretty and the activity selection is great. The best part about this game is that it gets kids up and moving. We have a lot of fun watching her jump and make arm motions at her cats to make them do tricks, and kicking soccer balls back and forth with them, etc. By the end of play time, she has really worked up a sweat! Perfect for bad weather days when the kids are restless.This game is VERY responsive and works GREAT. Our daughter has no trouble at all navigating her way through all the options and making everything work without getting frustrated or having the game misinterpret her moves. We definitely recommend this game! We look forward to downloading the Bear Island portion soon!

My petite 4 your old loves this game. She gets a little excited and moves around in the living room a little too much. We ended up bringing out a mat and told her to stay within the confines of that and it worked out great.The mini games are great and doesn't require you to do well at them to move on saving a lot of frustration for kids. Some examples of the mini games are; throwing a ball to knock down "skittles", driving a remote control car through a track, guiding your Kinectamal through and obstacle course, hitting a beach ball back and forth as many times as possible, kicking a soccer ball to pop bubbles, etc. They are fun for kids but are juvinile and hold little value for adults.Also our four year old can't read so while the helper talks to you while you're learing new things it doesn't when your in the middle of some of the challenges. At these times it relies on text and our daughter doesn't know what to do.The Good:Very enjoyable for little kids. I'm going to estimate age ranging from 4 - 13. Cute. Large variety of activities.The bad:There are several felines to choose from but there seems to be really very little difference other then aesthetics. It sometimes has difficulty reading her movments especially when throwing items but has no problem when I do it. May have to do with her short stature and short arms. Limited value for adults (but it's not really targeted to us is it?).Also unlike some of the other Kinect offerings you will not be getting a workout from this game unless you are SEVERELY out of shape.Overall the kids will love it and the adults will enjoy watching the kids play it.