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"[GAME] Fighters Uncaged (Kinect)"

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This thread has been linked to the game 'Fighters Uncaged'.
Tue 18/01/11 at 15:48
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Uncontrolled Anger, fear and mistrust. All of these things will be experienced when you play Fighters Unleashed.

Unfortunately, all of the above will come from the ineptitude of the game itself rather than the gameplay, because Fighters Uncaged is an example of how not to make a Kinect game.

Simon Says
It starts off well, punching the screen to start gives you the impression that the game really knows what it is doing. That stays with you right until you get to the clumsy menu systems ten seconds later, when you try to choose an option (Training, if you’re starting this for the first time).

You play as Simon, earning money by illegal street fighting to help his ill dad. Of course, none of this is actually explained in the game, you have to read the manual to get any sense of why you're going around beating up random people.

Left, Right, Punch
I was quite hopeful that my prior Martial Arts training had left me with enough knowledge to pull off a kick or two, so I skipped training and went straight for the game. I shouldn’t have bothered. The first thing the game asks you to do is complete the training you should have started before playing.

Cue the tedious routine of learning how to punch, kick and knee opponents. Either the game uses this to calibrate itself to your body movements or Ubisoft assume you couldn’t punch yourself out of a paper bag. I’m assuming it’s the latter by the patronising tone of the trainer.

Village People
After the lengthy process is over you finally make it to a screen full of caricatured fighters, all ready to knock seven bells out of you. Every stereotype on the checklist is ticked; biker, latino, quick moving skinny guy, they’re all here. It's like a rougher version of the Village People line-up.

To give the game its dues, they do seem to fight differently. I say ‘seem’, because it’s very hard to tell how your opponent is fighting when you’re flailing around trying to get Kinect to recognise that your leg is not your arm and that, yes, you’ve actually raised your knee right up to your stomach, so would it please do the same.

Don't Move
This is where the anger comes in. If Fighters Uncaged acted like the other Kinect games I’ve seen then it would be far more successful at being a decent fighting game. But it doesn’t. You raise your leg and sometimes, if you’re lucky, the fighter on the screen will do the same. More often than not, though, he’ll do something else like punch, block or go make a sandwich (ok, the last one is a lie).

Random flailing around and looking like you’ve just stepped on to the top deck of the Titanic, only to find yourself sinking in icy cold water, is the only way to beat your opponent. Even when a punch is recognised, the lag means that it will take just that second too long to connect with your opponent. It’s like being on the wrong end of Bullet time. Luckily, they don’t put up that much of a fight in the first few games.

By the time I got far enough in for a real challenge, I’d all but given up on going for a strategic approach. Instead I just moved random limbs and came up with a routine that the ministry of silly walks would be proud of. It worked too.

Looking Rough
Graphics come from the ‘we’ll making it gritty by taking all the colour out of the fighters and setting it in a static back street or park’ stable. Yes, some of the fighters look pretty good and the backgrounds are all nicely rendered, but they look odd against these static scenes, almost like they’re fighting against a movie blue screen and the backgrounds are added later and where are all the spectators?

Lights Out
Fighters Uncaged is not just the worst game for Kinect, it’s also the worst fighting game I’ve played, ever. Don’t even consider getting it for the Achievements, you need to win 30 fights just to get one single basic bunch of gamerpoints. In short, keep away!

2/10
Tue 18/01/11 at 20:56
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Sonic Chris wrote:
Sound awful. I trust this is an exception to the Kinect system, as I've heard most games on it are quite good?

As with any other system, it has a fair share of good and bad games. I've been playing Sonic Free Riders and Crossboarder 7 this week as well and neither of them is great but both are far better than this.

However, Kinect Sports is arguably better than Wii Sports (or Resort), Kinectimals is great and makes your heart melt and Dance Central is the best dance game on any system (think Guitar Hero Dance), so there's hope for it yet. Early days, though and we really need some more software out there.
Tue 18/01/11 at 16:03
Regular
"How Ironic"
Posts: 4,312
Sound awful. I trust this is an exception to the Kinect system, as I've heard most games on it are quite good?
Tue 18/01/11 at 15:48
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Uncontrolled Anger, fear and mistrust. All of these things will be experienced when you play Fighters Unleashed.

Unfortunately, all of the above will come from the ineptitude of the game itself rather than the gameplay, because Fighters Uncaged is an example of how not to make a Kinect game.

Simon Says
It starts off well, punching the screen to start gives you the impression that the game really knows what it is doing. That stays with you right until you get to the clumsy menu systems ten seconds later, when you try to choose an option (Training, if you’re starting this for the first time).

You play as Simon, earning money by illegal street fighting to help his ill dad. Of course, none of this is actually explained in the game, you have to read the manual to get any sense of why you're going around beating up random people.

Left, Right, Punch
I was quite hopeful that my prior Martial Arts training had left me with enough knowledge to pull off a kick or two, so I skipped training and went straight for the game. I shouldn’t have bothered. The first thing the game asks you to do is complete the training you should have started before playing.

Cue the tedious routine of learning how to punch, kick and knee opponents. Either the game uses this to calibrate itself to your body movements or Ubisoft assume you couldn’t punch yourself out of a paper bag. I’m assuming it’s the latter by the patronising tone of the trainer.

Village People
After the lengthy process is over you finally make it to a screen full of caricatured fighters, all ready to knock seven bells out of you. Every stereotype on the checklist is ticked; biker, latino, quick moving skinny guy, they’re all here. It's like a rougher version of the Village People line-up.

To give the game its dues, they do seem to fight differently. I say ‘seem’, because it’s very hard to tell how your opponent is fighting when you’re flailing around trying to get Kinect to recognise that your leg is not your arm and that, yes, you’ve actually raised your knee right up to your stomach, so would it please do the same.

Don't Move
This is where the anger comes in. If Fighters Uncaged acted like the other Kinect games I’ve seen then it would be far more successful at being a decent fighting game. But it doesn’t. You raise your leg and sometimes, if you’re lucky, the fighter on the screen will do the same. More often than not, though, he’ll do something else like punch, block or go make a sandwich (ok, the last one is a lie).

Random flailing around and looking like you’ve just stepped on to the top deck of the Titanic, only to find yourself sinking in icy cold water, is the only way to beat your opponent. Even when a punch is recognised, the lag means that it will take just that second too long to connect with your opponent. It’s like being on the wrong end of Bullet time. Luckily, they don’t put up that much of a fight in the first few games.

By the time I got far enough in for a real challenge, I’d all but given up on going for a strategic approach. Instead I just moved random limbs and came up with a routine that the ministry of silly walks would be proud of. It worked too.

Looking Rough
Graphics come from the ‘we’ll making it gritty by taking all the colour out of the fighters and setting it in a static back street or park’ stable. Yes, some of the fighters look pretty good and the backgrounds are all nicely rendered, but they look odd against these static scenes, almost like they’re fighting against a movie blue screen and the backgrounds are added later and where are all the spectators?

Lights Out
Fighters Uncaged is not just the worst game for Kinect, it’s also the worst fighting game I’ve played, ever. Don’t even consider getting it for the Achievements, you need to win 30 fights just to get one single basic bunch of gamerpoints. In short, keep away!

2/10

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