Project Natal is the revolutionary new controller-free gaming platform for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
Rather than having a physical controller in your hand, you become the controller as your movements are captured by camera in front of or on top of your TV and translated into on screen action. Hecklerspray was fortunate enough to be given a go on the demo game Ricochet.
The future of videogames? Meh, it was OK.
Don't get me wrong, Project Natal is by no means bad.
In fact, it's very addictive, disturbingly immersive, a great workout and quite a lot of fun, but the demo game, Ricochet, needs a lot of tweaking. So what is the game about? Well, basically it sees you at one end of what is effectively an extended squash court. You hit and volleyballs towards boxes in order to score points. It all seems very Freudian.
While playing Ricochet, you need to flail your arms and legs very quickly in a somewhat dangerous fashion in order to reach the balls, which makes you wonder how it would look to those watching you play. My guess is like a bell-end.
This is confirmed when, after completing three rounds, you are rewarded with a seemingly random points total and pictures of yourself in action that Natal has taken. The pictures come complete with captions that say “reach for the stars?, and bizarrely “grab the carpet?. You get the idea. In every single one of these pictures, I appeared to be doing a bizarre impression of a meerkat.
So if your idea of a good time is dancing around the room like a loon, this could be just the thing.
Of course, as with any new-fangled things that ?yoofs? like, there will soon be the scare stories. Old ladies will be selling their grandkids just for one last go, not to mention the wave of violence as somehow people find it hard to tell the difference between the game and reality. Starved of things to hit, people walking along the street will resort to trying to punch random strangers into pre-ordained targets.
I’ve often asked myself what a wave of violence would look like. Is it fists raining down from the sky? That would be pretty cool, but I would say that because I’m a gamer. It would also be pretty likely if you were standing too close to a tall person who was playing Ricochet.
The Natal unit itself is a sleek white rectangle that looks like it was created by Apple. But there are still a lot of glitches to be sorted out before it is launched this Christmas (so expect it in time for spring 2012).
Natal?s sensors couldn't quite work out some of the moves people were making and there generally seemed to be a problem with perceiving where objects are in a three dimensional space when they're rendered on a two dimensional screen.
The demo of Ricochet also fails to live up to the hype created by the demonstration of Lionhead Studios’ Milo and Kate, in which you could interact with the world's creepiest non-playable characters.
They would speak to you, read your emotions from your facial expression and tone of voice, as well as recognise drawings you have done. Your reflection was even visible in bodies of water and would distort realistically if you touched it. Milo and Kate made you fear Microsoft were planning some sort of Skynet-like AI system using children with the cold dead eyes of Zac Effron. Ricochet makes you wonder if Natal is just going to turn into the Wii mark 2.
But maybe I'm just bitter because I didn't get to see the fabled Milo in action, which would have opened up a whole world of Red Ring of Death jokes.
(By Kris Wood)
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Shaun says
Hmmmm… interesting article. I found the article to contradict the general theme of articles that have been published regarding the use of the latest prototype of Natal. Most indicate how well the device detects motion. Kinda seems like at one stage you are saying how much fun and awesome the device is…. but still kinda have your doubts about the product.
“(so expect it in time for spring 2012)”, I’m assuming this was a joke… and you don’t seriously think that this is gonna be the release date for Natal.
Were you using the single player or multi-player Ricochet? There is considerable more process power needed to track multiple players over single player, which causes increased lag.
It seems that you’re more frustrated with the game rather than the device. Maybe you’re sick of the breakout style game and was hoping for something more. E3 will bring more games.
Overall it was a good article with some interesting points.
Kris says
Hi Shaun,
Thanks for your comments, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I liked the potential of what I saw on display at the Natal demo. However I felt the software didn’t best showcase it, yes it was fun and addictive, but so was the Wii. My main problem was that after a few weeks the Wii felt like just a gimmick. Playing Ricochet gave me a sense of Deja Vu when it came to the whole motion-control party game gimmick.
Milo and Kate is what really intrigues me about Natal. The capacity to completely change the face of gaming and how humans interact with their consoles and games was shown on the video demonstration of Milo and Kate. I just want Natal to keep giving me the jaw dropping sense of awe and immersion that I felt when I first saw Milo in action.
I’m aware that when all the final little tweaks are made Ricochet will be a fantastic game, but I’m not interested in Natal being used as a party game add on. I really want to see how Microsoft intend to take gaming to the next level, a level all gamers have dreamed about for many years. This is the main reason I’m still not sure about it.
Natal is a fantastic premise, it’s just up to Microsoft and the games developers to deliver.
Thank you for comments,
Kris
P.S. I was joking about the release date, I’m looking forward to seeing if this is the, “must have,” for Christmas this year.