Disneyland Adventures for Kinect

As a travelogue, Disneyland Adventure ($49.99) for Kinect works brilliantly. Most of Walt Disney's orginal theme park is present in an almost 1:1 representation on your widescreen TV. Disneyland Adventure for Kinect lets you walk virtually through the park, taking in the ambiance. In this sandbox game for the family, you can choose to follow quests that Mickey Mouse and the rest of the Disney gang give you, which can include getting autographs, taking pictures of characters and landmarks, and finding items that relate to each character. Or you can simply walk around the park, taking in the architecture and the realistic representation of all the exteriors of the attractions.

Virtual Rides, No Lines
Some of the rides and attractions also work, too; notably rides like the completely accurate Dumbo ride (you go up, you go down, you go round and round). Other "attractions" are merely minigames, including fan favorites like Peter Pan's Flight and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. The minigames are moderately fun and easy to play, but it would've been more fun to actually "ride" these rides.

The rest of the game is essentially an Easter egg and item hunt, with a plethora of virtual Disney items to collect like different autograph books, pins, T-shirts for your virtual avatar, and other items. In this way, it's sort of like a real visit to Disneyland, though these items will only hurt your virtual wallet.

Another plus is the fact that you won't spend hours in line, like you would in Anaheim. Disney tried its best to avoid having the park look like an empty virtual world from Tron: there are plenty of background people populating the parks, and the audio sounds just like walking down Main Street USA in real life: the ambient sounds and background music add to the illusion. Also, the facades on the buildings and show pieces are spot on: for example you'd expect to see the Matterhorn in the distance from both Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, but it's hidden when you're walking through New Orleans Square. Again, the best thing is you won't be stuck behind a tour group at any point in your visit.

To navigate, you simply point your arm out in the direction you want to walk. It's simple, but it's also worth noting that your arm may get tired after an hour or two of virtually walking around. Thankfully, there is a voice-controlled menu to jump from location to location. Waving your arms or making a hugging motion with both hands lets you interact with the onscreen characters, and you can bring up a virtual camera with other set motions. The Kintect interface is somewhat intelligently mapped out, but there are times that you wish the controller could be used instead (particularly when navigating the park on a quest).

What's Missing
There are a few missing aspects to the true Disney Park experience: you won't be able to chow down on your favorite meals, virtually or not. There aren't many interiors to explore?the park is mostly what you can see from outside the rides. Also, a few attractions are missing, like Indiana Jones and Star Tours, as displaying those rides involve licensing rights with Lucasfilm.

Disneyland Adventures for Kinect is something you can knock out in a weekend, in the course of 10-20 hours or so. Microsoft and Frontier Dev, Ltd. couldn't make it too hard considering the potential audience of 3-93 year olds. That said, Disney Parks fans certainly would want to pick this up, if only to be able to visit the happiest place on Earth 24/7.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/_GgQxLpM6VE/0,2817,2400817,00.asp

land of the lost cleveland cavaliers cleveland cavaliers war horse k cups best buy we bought a zoo