Of all the Kinect launch titles revealed at E3, Kinectimals was probably the one that raised the most eyebrows. When it was shown, all we were given was a brief stint where a girl played with her virtual cub named Skittles. That’s little to go on, but it was fairly indicative of just what Kinectimals is all about.

It’s worth mentioning that Kinectimals isn’t much more than a collection of mini-games wedged between an adventure story. While you can change it up and do things like pet, feed, or wash your cub, there’s not really a lot of things to do outside of the offered games. In order to progress, you must throw frisbees and balls, perform in races, kick soccer balls, and other similar activities. As you do this, you accumulate experience that enables you to go to more and more places in the game. Sans the races, just about all of the games feel roughly the same. You’re generally throwing or kicking objects and aiming for targets, which can make playing through the entire game ultimately feel like a chore after a while.

To be fair, I am not the intended audience for this game. This is a kid’s game through and through, but it’s a pretty damn good one at that. I wasn’t a fan of the repetitious mini-games, but that isn’t something that would take away too much from the experience for kids. That being said, this is not a game for anyone looking for a challenge. While the game definitely increases in difficulty as it progresses, there’s no point where it could be considered difficult. It’s a breezy experience, but what’s offered is still good fun for those willing to overcome the stigma of playing with virtual animals.

If only they acted this way when they grew up

In a sea of sports titles that necessitate at least a slight semblance of accurate motion detection, Kinectimals somehow reigns supreme. It’s surprising just how well this game can read your movements, and it actually lacked problems that I previously thought were inherent in all Kinect titles. Most of the time when you walk out of the range of the camera while playing a Kinect game, it will warn you of this, wait for you to get back to the proper place, and take a moment to scan you in. With Kinectimals, though, I was able to leave the room for a few minutes and return to the game as though I’d never left.

I rarely experienced any spazzes or failures to recognize what I was doing throughout the course of the game. There were a few moments when throwing items or trying to teach my cub tricks that the game failed to register just where I was and where I was aiming, but this was a rare occurrence. It’s a good thing it was so infrequent, too, because you will be doing a lot of things that need proper motion detection. While it’s far from perfect, Kinectimals definitely does an excellent job of keeping proper tabs on your actions.