''Kinect Star Wars'' is a ''
Star Wars'' video game developed by
Terminal Reality
Terminal Reality is an American video game development and production company based in Lewisville, Texas. Founded in October 1994 by ex-Microsoft employee Mark Randel and former Mallard Software general manager Brett Combs, Terminal Reality dev ...
and published by
LucasArts
Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...
and
Microsoft Studios
Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...
for the
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
that uses the
Kinect motion
peripheral. The game features four game modes: "Jedi Destiny", the primary game mode;
podracing
The following is a list of fictional '' Star Wars'' terrestrial vehicles, including armoured fighting vehicles, military aircraft, and naval ships.
Vehicles appearing in the Original Trilogy
All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT)
The All ...
; Rancor Rampage; and Galactic Dance-off. In Jedi Destiny, players assume the role models of
Jedi Padawans as they wield their
lightsaber
A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout the '' Star Wars'' franchise. A typical lightsaber is depicted as a luminescent plasma blade about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the o ...
s and use
the Force
The Force is a metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the '' Star Wars'' fictional universe. "Force-sensitive" characters use the Force throughout the franchise. Heroes like the Jedi seek to "become one with the Force", matching their personal wil ...
to attack enemies mostly from the
prequel trilogy
The ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy, colloquially referred to as the prequels, is a series of epic space-opera films written and directed by George Lucas. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy was re ...
using gestures. Podracing is a race-based game mode, Rancor Rampage is a destruction-based game mode, and Galactic Dance-off is a dance-based game mode similar to the
''Dance Central'' series.
Microsoft Studios had planned to make a ''Star Wars'' game that utilizes the Kinect since the early development of the motion-sensing system. The game was formally announced at
E3 2011
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3 2011) was the 17th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 7, 2011, and ended on June 9, 2011, with 46,800 total attendees. E3 201 ...
and released worldwide on April 3, 2012. It was the last game to be published by LucasArts before
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
halted all internal development at said company a year later. Craig Derrick served as lead producer on the game.
''Kinect Star Wars'' received generally mixed reviews, with reviewers often praising the game's art and presentation but criticizing the perceived underdeveloped gameplay, weak writing, and inaccurate controls.
Gameplay
''Kinect Star Wars'' features four subgames. In its primary mode, known as Jedi Destiny: Dark Side Rising, players take control of one of multiple
Jedi Padawan
Jedi (), Jedi Knights, or collectively the Jedi Order are the main heroic protagonists of many works of the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Working symbiotically alongside the Galactic Republic, Old Galactic Republic, and later supporting the Rebel All ...
s. Using the Kinect, the player uses their hands to wield a
lightsaber
A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout the '' Star Wars'' franchise. A typical lightsaber is depicted as a luminescent plasma blade about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the o ...
in combat. Players also can lift and throw objects with
the Force
The Force is a metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the '' Star Wars'' fictional universe. "Force-sensitive" characters use the Force throughout the franchise. Heroes like the Jedi seek to "become one with the Force", matching their personal wil ...
using specific gestures. The story takes place during the
prequel trilogy
The ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy, colloquially referred to as the prequels, is a series of epic space-opera films written and directed by George Lucas. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy was re ...
timeline of the ''Star Wars'' universe, beginning shortly after ''
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' and concluding with the events of ''
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith''. Body movement to control vehicles in specific sections of this mode. A second Jedi-centric mode, Duels of Fate, allows players to experience one-on-one duels with characters from the Jedi Destiny campaign as well as famous ''Star Wars'' villains such as
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...
.
The game's
podracing
The following is a list of fictional '' Star Wars'' terrestrial vehicles, including armoured fighting vehicles, military aircraft, and naval ships.
Vehicles appearing in the Original Trilogy
All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT)
The All ...
utilizes the Kinect to simulate the dual throttle controls on podracers. Players extend arms fully to operate at full speed, and retract their arm to throttle back on one or both engines. Multiple courses are offered. Rancor Rampage, the game's third mode, allows players to control one of multiple species of rancor which are let loose in various ''Star Wars'' locales. Arm movements synchronize between the player and their rancor, and players can execute special attacks in this destruction-based game mode.
The final game mode in ''Kinect Star Wars'' is Galactic Dance-off. Here players control one of several famous ''Star Wars'' characters through the use of the Kinect. Gameplay is a combination of
''Dance Central'' series and
Just Dance in which players must dance in synchronization with the on-screen character. Cues to upcoming dance moves are shown to the player to ensure they can stay in synchronization with the character. The song selection consists of parodies with title and lyrics rewritten in a ''Star Wars'' theme. For example,
Gwen Stefani's "
Hollaback Girl
"Hollaback Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004). It is a hip-hop song that draws influence from 1980s hip-hop and dance music. The song was written ...
" is rewritten as "Hologram Girl", and
Village People
Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the releas ...
's "
Y.M.C.A." is rewritten as "Empire Today", while
Jason Derulo's "
Ridin' Solo
"Ridin' Solo" is the third single from Jason Derulo's self-titled debut album, produced by J.R. Rotem. The demo originally sampled "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by the Verve, but the sample was not cleared and was subsequently replaced with electroni ...
" is rewritten as "I'm Han Solo". Dance locales are themed to the character and a particular moment for them in the ''Star Wars'' saga story; for example,
Princess Leia's dance takes place in front of
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Jabba the Hutt, is a fictional character and minor antagonist in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Created by George Lucas, Jabba is voiced by Larry Ward with several puppeteers inside a one-ton puppet po ...
, and Han Solo's dance takes place in the carbon-freezing chamber on
Bespin.
[
]
Development and release
Microsoft Studios had planned to develop a ''Star Wars'' game since early in the development of the Kinect system. Kudo Tsunoda, creative director for Kinect, said of this decision: "It's one of those things where you can see how the unique parts of Kinect can bring to life the fantasy of being a Jedi in a way no other game console or media can do." The release of the game was formally announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 6, 2011, where the first gameplay trailer and portions of the game were shown. A social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
application was released for iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
, Android, and Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...
mobile devices. It combined Twitter and Facebook feeds on the game in the style of the Star Wars opening crawl.
Craig Derrick was LucasArts' lead producer on ''Kinect Star Wars''. The visuals of the animation were augmented in such a way to make the Jedi fighting techniques appear realistic because according to Derrick "What we found early in development is that no one wants to look like ' Star Wars kid' in front of their friends." It was the last game to be published by LucasArts.
Five individual downloadable content pieces are available. The first, a podracer piloted by an adult Anakin Skywalker, is only available through a promotion with Brisk. Select bottles of iced tea feature a Microsoft M-Tag barcode which can be scanned by the Kinect to unlock the podracer. The remaining four consist of playable characters in different modes: a Snow Rancor, a Korriban Rancor, bounty hunter Aurra Sing
This incomplete list of characters from the ''Star Wars'' franchise contains only those which are considered part of the official ''Star Wars'' canon, as of the changes made by Lucasfilm in April 2014. Following its acquisition by The Walt Dis ...
and Jedi Master Kit Fisto
This incomplete list of characters from the ''Star Wars'' franchise contains only those which are considered part of the official ''Star Wars'' canon, as of the changes made by Lucasfilm in April 2014. Following its acquisition by The Walt Dis ...
. It was released worldwide on April 3, 2012. A limited-edition console bundle was launched alongside the game with the Xbox 360 S set designed to look like R2-D2
R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...
. The bundle included the console with a 320 GB hard drive, a white Kinect sensor and the gold controller modeled after C-3PO. The bundle was sold for a MRP of $449.99 in the United States and £349.99 in the United Kingdom and is the first custom Xbox 360 bundle to be released.
Reception
''Kinect Star Wars'' has received mixed reviews at aggregate website Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, with scores ranging from 30/100 to 80/100. Reviewers often praised the game's art and presentation, but had complaints about the perceived underdeveloped gameplay, weak writing and inaccurate controls. ''Kinect Star Wars'' debuted at number one on the UK All Formats Chart, making it the first Kinect-exclusive game to do so in the UK. It is also the first ''Star Wars'' game to top the charts since 2008. It also appeared on numerous lists of the worst ''Star Wars'' games ever developed.
Anthony Gallegos of IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
felt that the game was simply a collection of minigame
A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...
s instead of the larger "Jedi epic fans are dying for." Meanwhile, Liam Martin of Digital Spy maintained that there was a strong sense of effort from the developer, and to simply "call Kinect Star Wars a mini-game compilation would be to do it a disservice." Martin praised the games setting, which is narrated by R2-D2 and C-3PO
C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, was designed as a protocol droid intended to assis ...
. He did concede, however that certain elements of the game's controls were unresponsive at times, and that this could cause frustrations to players. Jonathan Deesing of G4 gave the game's Rancor Rampage and Galactic Dance-off modes high marks. He stated that some modes might feel tiresome to players, and noted that, during his time playing the podracing mode, he would sit in a chair to minimize fatigue and to feel further immersed. He, however, criticized the game's graphics for resembling that of a Wii game. In a more critical review Brad Shoemaker from Giant Bomb
''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by '' Time' ...
stated, "It doesn't matter who you claim ''Kinect Star Wars'' is for, it's a shoddy product on almost every level".
Lorenzo Veloria of '' GamesRadar'' praised the game for seldom having to repeat a move (e.g. a kick and a lightsaber slash) to make the action work and making one of the best uses of the Kinect in an action game.[ ]Justin McElroy
Justin Tyler McElroy ( , born November 8, 1980) is an American podcaster, comedian, and former video game journalist. He is known for his work on podcasts (such as ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'', '' The Adventure Zone'', and ''Sawbones'') an ...
of ''Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
'' criticized the Jedi Destiny mode for imprecise blocking controls, the repetitive combat formula, and limited strategy.[ Mark Walton of ]GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
praised the Galactic Dance-off mode for being "silly" and "comical fun", but criticized the lightsaber duels for being slow-paced and the storyline for being a derivative of the original trilogy
The original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, formerly marketed as the ''Star Wars'' Trilogy (and colloquially referred to as the 'original trilogy'), is the first set of three films produced in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, an American space opera cre ...
.[ The "I'm Han Solo" routine in the Galactic Dance-off mode was considered an absurd addition to the game.]
References
External links
*
''Kinect Star Wars'' at LucasArts.com
{{Authority control
2012 video games
Action video games
Kinect games
LucasArts games
Microsoft games
Pack-in video games
Star Wars video games
Video games developed in the United States
Xbox 360-only games
Xbox 360 games
Terminal Reality games
Multiplayer and single-player video games