Read Here For Kinect Impressions – Day 1

A Review for Our Second Day

I played Kinect Adventures with my son today–the game that is always packaged along with the Kinect sensor bar.

Despite watching my company going nuts over the game on Christmas Day, I didn’t realize how compelling the game would actually be until I finally tried it out for myself. Not only is Kinect Adventures fun, it also really gets the heart rate up! By the end of the first game, I felt like I had gone for a quick jog around the house. By the end of the second game, I had to take a couple of minutes break to get my breath back. By the end of the third game, I felt like I needed to stop for the night because my muscles were no longer allowing me to move quickly enough to avoid the obstacles in the game.

To clarify my current physical condition: I used to be in pretty decent shape a couple of years ago, and walked an hour a day pretty regularly. Unfortunately, I have been exercising less and less–mainly because the other responsibilities in my life seem to have been becoming increasingly more insistent. So I’m not in the best of shape right now–at least, not compared to where I was a couple of years ago. Thus, when I get used to taking part is these activities (which I don’t expect to take too long), I’ll doubtless have a lot more stamina. But for the time being, it’s going to make for a nice workout.

Even my son’s heart rate goes up quite quite a bit when he plays Kinect Adventures–and he’s in good shape. I think this bodes well for the Kinect as an afterschool activity that I could get on board with, even though I normally don’t allow any video game play during the week. My “final” decision on this will be subject to change depending on whether the game continues to provide a reasonable cardio-like workout. Once it becomes insufficient, we’ll have to move on to other things.

One thing to keep in mind–you can alter your exertion level and still get good results during Kinect gameplay. It’s kind of like when you’re on an elliptical machine–or any piece of gym equipment, for that matter–and you find little ways to “cheat” so that you can complete a movement while not putting forth as much effort. As with any physical activity, you can really go at it, or just try to make it through to say you’ve done it. And like other forms of physical exercise, you’ll get a lot more out of the Kinect, exercise-wise, if you give it your all.

I’ll keep you updated!