Original Release Date: 11/15/2011
Developer: Frontier Developments Ltd.
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Genre: Family, Kinect
Rating:
E10 (Everyone 10+)
Mild Cartoon Violence
Description:
Experience Disneyland magic like never before! Fly, dance and dive into iconic attractions, share special moments with beloved Disney characters and take on challenging quests with the controller-free magic of Kinect for Xbox 360 – and a touch of pixie dust. Kinect™: Disneyland® Adventures is your ticket to explore the timeless lands of Disneyland® park right in your living room.
Our Thoughts:
I haven’t been to Disneyland for a really, really long time (as in 30 years!), but based on what I know about Disney World, I can only imagine that the set up of Disneyland is very similar. Kinect Disneyland Adventure allows the players to choose people to represent them, pick the clothes they wear, and then begin the game by meeting none other than Mickey Mouse himself. There are a fantastic variety of faces, skin tones, hair colors and styles and a ton of outfits to choose from, so you can really you’re your avatar personalized to represent who you are (or whomever you’d like to be!).
Greetings from Mickey Mouse! Photo Courtesy of Disney
The game begins right on Main Street, where you meet Mickey Mouse and he sends you off on missions to take pictures with characters or fill autograph books, then report back to him. You can dance, high five, hug and even take pictures with the characters you meet, and the interactions are beyond fantastic! For instance, just hold out your arms when you want a hug, and the characters instantly know that you’re looking for a little love, and they always oblige – the best part is that there’s never a line. While you visit the park, you can go on twelve different rides, all of which have different levels to play, and being a regular on the Disney ride circuit, they are absolutely authentic to park details. The Matterhorn has you coasting through the mountain on a bobsled, and having snowball fights with a Yeti. In Peter Pan’s Adventure, you can fly, and you have to swordfight with none other than Captain Hook himself! My kids loved riding on Dumbo, and I loved that they chose to ride it, because at the park, they insist that they’re too old for it. You can raise and Dumbo, riding it as if you’re really there at the park. Dumbo isn’t one of the rides that has any sort of mission to go along with it, it’s just the traditional, plain, old, beloved ride that has a never ending line when you visit the real parks. Even while the game is being played, it allows players to jump in and out, so it was easy to have a group of kids playing together, although we did have a hard time trying to figure out how to change the appearance of the characters as new ones jumped in. The girls who were playing weren’t all too pleased when their character suddenly showed up as a boy! I’m sure that if the kids who were playing actually took a few minutes to read through any tutorials, they would have figured it all out fairly easily.
Take a ride with Goofy on the Matterhorn. Photo courtesy of Disney.
Testing out Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Maneuvering around the park was another part that everyone spent some time getting used to. Just like when you visit with kids, the way you make your way around is by pointing in the direction you want your character to move. With practice, it was definitely a smooth trip and it was easy to find your way around the park. The game itself says it’s for players 10+, but I’d say that once younger kids got the hang of making their way around the park and how to follow the requests Mickey Mouse was making, there’s no reason to think that kids 7+ wouldn’t have a ball playing the game as well. As with any new game, the major con is just getting used to playing something you aren’t familiar with. All in all, the graphics are amazing and you truly get a feeling of being at Disneyland, but you can hit every ride and meet every character without the hassle of the lines! I’m sure once the kids (and grown-ups) have the hang of playing this, we’ll be visiting Disneyland even more often than we are at Disney World!
Find out more about Kinect Disneyland Adventure here. Available online at major retailers such as Amazon or Best Buy for $49.99.
~Erin
* We did not receive monetary compensation for this review. That’s IT Mommy received Kinect Disneyland Adventure from XB360/PR free of charge to facilitate this review. Giveaway item will be provided by sponsor. Sponsor has the right to refuse filling prize for duplicate winners from other blogs. This will in no way sway our opinion of the product or service. The review is in our own words and is our opinion. Your results and opinions may differ.
