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You eradicate viruses either using rapid-fire shots or a lock-on gun that allows you to select targets and then flick your wrist to fire. The lock-on gun allows you to highlight up to eight enemies at a time before shooting them down with rapid-fire mode. The game awards extra points for using the lock-on fire mode in time with the music and displays "good" and "perfect" messages when you succeed. You can activate euphoria to clear the screen of viruses when a stage gets too hectic.
This science fiction fantasy revolves around Project Lumi, an undertaking to reproduce a human personality -- a beautiful, young woman -- inside Eden, the archive of all human memories.
Our mission is to remove viruses that invaded Eden and save the project. You can argue the relative depth of the storyline here but the game seamlessly immerses you into a William Gibson world like those in Neuromancer and Idoru .
With each stage, you unlock more of Lumi's memories. One level has you orbiting the Earth as you clear away colored blocks and images of Lumi as a young girl flash across the screen. Another level is inside a deep, dark blue ocean that provides amazing contrast for the pink, red and orange jellyfish and sea snakes you encounter. (My oldest son told me that Lumi is locked in Atlantis.) Other levels take you to green fields, dazzling wormholes and intergalactic gardens.
Our sons (ages 8 and 7) enjoy Sonic Free Riders and Kinect Sports . Although the controls for Child of Eden are more responsive and natural than either of those games, it doesn't provide the same full-body workout. Your arms will still get quite a workout (check out the video we uploaded).
In summary, this is an excellent game for families with younger children. The tutorial was easy to understand; both of my sons were able to jump right in and begin play. Teenagers and adult gamers looking for a Halo-esque experience here might complain Child of Eden is either too short or too easy for the investment (we purchased our game during an Amazon sale, so we didn't pay full price either).
Child of Eden is the best Kinect game on the market today -- a joy to play and a pleasure to watch. Rating: Five stars.
BTW: We didn't own a PlayStation 2, so we missed out on game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi's previous efforts, Space Channel 5 and Rez . Hopefully, Microsoft will make these available again on a future compilation disc or through the arcade game service online.
