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Who know videogames could give you such a workout? While some games, like the Dance Dance Revolution series, have certainly given gamers a workout for quite some time, no game has directly approached the matter as openly as EyeToy: Kinetic. In this EyeToy game, you’ll participate in a number of physical routines, condition training, and cardiovascular exercises, made possible by the EyeToy camera.
The game includes two main modes, one of which is a structured exercise while the other lets you make a custom routine. Both of them are a 12 week personal training program. At the beginning, the game asks you for some statistics including age, weight, height and how often you exercise. With this information, Kinetic adjusts the intensity of the workouts. It also includes a number of instructional videos that do a good job of introducing beginners to a new workout system. No stone is left unturned, since the game also includes stretching and warmup videos to make sure you’re ready for the actual workouts. The game keeps track at how you’re doing and grades you on your performance. The game lets you compare how you’re doing compared to the best you have done. If you’re improving, the game provides a sense of accomplishment since you’ll be able to see the results displayed onscreen.
The game includes a number of exercises. You’ll find a number of exercises in the game including the typical sit-ups and crunches, to more advanced ones like yoga, Tai Chi, and martial arts. The routines that it sets up are very smooth and feel natural to do, making it seem like less of a workout. At higher difficulty levels, you’ll definitely find yourself sweating and burning some calories. The game has you punching, kicking, touching, and dodging various onscreen items through the camera. The different sequences work well enough and feel like a minigames, adding a sense of enjoyment to the workouts.
The game’s visuals are about as good as you can expect from an EyeToy title. The menus are well designed, the videos are very helpful, and the 3D in the game is effective. The video that it captures looks good enough, though it is subject to the typical EyeToy constraints and limitations.
The game’s audio does about as well. It includes some workout music for you, but the most useful portion of the audio is the coach who gives you audio cues. We would have liked a most exhaustive list of comments but what is there works well enough.
EyeToy: Kinetic is a pretty impressive use of the EyeToy camera. If you intend to use the game as it was designed, you’ll probably be in better physical shape because of it. However, as with any workout program, you’ll only get as much out of it as you put in so don’t cheat the game! -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Nov 30, 2005
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