Millions of us are out there right now with over 5 years of ninja training under our belts ready to take on the world… or at least able to slice up fruit for smoothies after all those hours of Fruit Ninja. It was a smash hit for the Kinect and smart devices with its simplistic interface and quick pick up and playability. Now Microsoft has launched the next gen Kinect, but nothing other than some basic voice commands, fitness games and facial recognition have given anyone anything to get excited about. Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 has released and hopes to build upon what its predecessor has established and give gamers something new to toy with their almost redundant Kinect.
Obviously Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 has you slicing and dicing your way through a virtual fruit salad again using nothing other than your arms and if you’re nimble enough legs. Kinect offers more solid controls than in its previous version and is able to track movements so you can rack up those multiple sliced fruit combos. Right from the start-up the screen is bursting with color and action as you’re once again pulled into that fun and addictive gameplay that was offered in the original Fruit Ninja. Classic, Zen and Arcade modes are back with numerous variants that keep things fresh and ever changing to keep you on your toes. There are also four new special modes that offer up new challenges like avoiding throwing stars while carving away at the flying fruit or slicing seeds before they hit the ground to grow into screen obstructing bamboo. While these new modes add a new layer to the core gameplay, they really don’t keep you coming back for more after you’ve experienced them except when playing a little multiplayer. Fruit Ninja has always been better on Xbox with a friend to challenge, and now that motion tracking is upgraded you’ll love playing with 2 teams of 2 people jumping in and out of action. Party and Battle mode will keep the family and friends active and having a blast for game night.
Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 adds in a levelling system where players can unlock new features by completing certain challenges that are presented. At times these can be frustrating because power-ups are generated at random and when a certain challenge requires you hit 2 power-ups in one level it is dependent on luck more than skill. Levelling up gets you all sorts of new toys to play with to keep things fresh and entertaining like fire blades and shaders for your shadow. Players hooked on leaderboard dominance can also get their fix in Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 and maintain their alpha dog superiority over friends.
Overall Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 successfully expands upon the original without adding a whole lot, but still packaging it in a way to have players come back for a visit every now and again. While this game isn’t something people will play day in and day out, it is a great way to waste 20-30 minutes or load up for some laugh with family and friends. Heck you even get a little cardio workout as you slice, dice and avoid various obstacles while levelling up to become a master ninja.
Score 7/10
Review code supplied by Team Xbox.
