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John Nava's review of Kinect Sports
Date last edited: 05-30-2024 at 09:57PM
Rating: Everyone 10+
Review: 1. Title: Kinect Sports 2. Developer/Publisher: Rare 3. Genre: Sports, Action, Fitness, Simulation 4. ESRB rating: E 10+ 5. Personal Rating: 4.5 6. Primary audience: Families 7. Year of release: 2010 8. Platform: Xbox 9. Version: 1 Kinect Sports is a single-player, and multiplayer simulation sports game released in 2010 and created by Robin Beanland and David Clynick. This game features various different sporting activities that can reflect the movements made by the user onto the screen using a sensor. Kinect Sports is similar to the Wii in the sense that it helps people get active and is built for a more interactive experience. While Kinect Sports does not have any outright Catholic views whatsoever, the purpose of the game is to be active in a fun environment that draws a family together in one activity. The First Media Key: Balance Understanding the context of Kinect Sports is, essentially, the most important key for the game. The purpose of the game is to be active, and it does not stray from this point at all. There are various sports users can choose to play and they range from less active sports like bowling to much more active sports like track and field. When playing the game you can either choose to do activities competitively against the computer or against your family and friends who play alongside you. You can also choose to simply practice a sport in-game simply for fun. I believe that Kinect Sports portrays the first media key extremely well because it simply stays in the context of an active family game. The Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness Sports are activities that people have been doing for thousands of years. It is a huge part of our culture and brings many people together. So, finding right and wrong in the video game is hard to do because the game is so innocent. Even when players lose, there is upbeat music and pictures that were taken during the course of your game that show the user how innocent and simple the game is. Kinect Sports is a great example of a video game that can be physically and mentally healthy. The game may not make people think extremely deeply about whether or not they are practicing true freedom, but the context of the game does not aim at this purpose. The Third Media Key: Human Person There are many sporting events that can be twisted to objectify people in different ways and there are many video games that can take animation too far. One way is that people are used strictly for entertainment and nothing else. The other way is that the clothes that people wear during sporting events or in games can be rather revealing for both men and women. Kinect Sports has no such controversy. The games that are mainly played are soccer, table tennis, boxing, track and field, bowling, volleyball, darts, golf, and baseball. In none of these sports do the characters wear revealing or enticing clothing and the games reflect a healthy sporting environment extremely well with skill-based matches ranging from beginner to champion. The Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled Something that is lacking in many video games is a gateway to something higher than ourselves. Truth in video games is hard to come by other than bits and pieces here and there. Since Kinect Sports is an active game, there is no storyline to tell. This lack of storytelling makes it difficult for the publisher to put scripture or tradition into the gameplay. However, the game shows how enjoyable being active can be and emphasizes a family-friendly environment which can serve to bring people together. And, while it never explicitly describes any Catholic traditions, the context of the game points it toward something good nonetheless. The Fifth Media Key: Inspiring Following the way that the game can bring families and friends together, Kinect Sports’ goal seems to be to inspire people to be active and engage with one another. Games should point us toward something higher and outside of ourselves. Usually, video games are used strictly for leisure and not for enlightenment. Kinect Sports is still a leisurely game, but the physical activity that it employs serves as a vehicle for a healthy physical and mental experience. Unfortunately, however, Kinect Sports does not take the extra step to work God into sports. This is often the case with real-life sporting events as well. So, while Kinect Sports leads people to have healthy experiences, it does not necessarily take the extra step to lead people to God. The Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed In many video games, there is a problem of addiction and anger that can come with them. Kinect Sports understands its audience well and caters to them perfectly. It is very difficult to become addicted to the game because it does not prey on the dopamine addictions that so many video games do. The purpose of many games is to keep the user playing it until the company comes out with another game so that the cycle can repeat itself. Because Kinect Sports is aimed at reaching its audience in a fun and wholesome environment, there is no need for parents to worry about their children playing this game. Thus, the game stays true to its developed purpose. The Seventh Media Key: Motivated by and Relevant to Experience As someone who has played Kinect Sports many times, the experience of playing the game is almost always a good one. The game helps children especially, form healthy competitive habits and brings video games back to a strictly fun atmosphere. The Kinect as a whole is a great way to bring video games from a darker and more addictive setting to an innocent and healthy form of media. An Xbox contains so many video games that go against our natural way as humans and Kinect Sports is a simple video game that connects with its users in a playful way. So many video games can alienate and ostracize people from their families because people get caught up in achievements or addictive gameplay. Kinect Sports reaches its audience in a way that promotes healthy habits and healthy gameplay through sports. When parents allow their children to play video games they should always be aware of what the purpose of each game is. There are some that are well-developed yet have attributes that are less than desirable for mental and physical health. Then, there are others that are poorly developed and whose sole goal is to get its users to play the game more and more. Kinect Sports is very different from these two examples. The game is made in a way that it is well-developed and enforces good habits like family activities and healthy competition. And, the game is directed with the goal of getting people off their couches and having fun. The game is non-addictive and is innocent and fun. Any parent should allow their child to play Kinect Sports.