Fruit Ninja is a popular iPhone and Android app that has you wildly swiping away at your touchscreen and slicing and dicing at fruits of all shapes and sizes. The latest version makes the transition from smartphones to the controller-free motion gaming on the Xbox 360. The transition to Kinect is quite a graceful one. Gameplay is responsive and more or less accurate, and while the core concept is as basic as before, it can be a whole lot of fun. The two-player modes in particular are great party games, where you and a friend can either decimate some fruit together or in a race to see who scores the most points. There are instances when the Kinect does show its inadequacies, such as the lack of accuracy when you have to avoid certain objects, but otherwise, this is a fine port from touchscreen to living room gaming. The biggest problem though is the price. At 800 Microsoft Points, the Kinect version costs ten times more than the iOS version; a premium it simply does not justify.
Volume 1 Issue 4
