This Summer of Arcade was home to only one Kinect game this year, Wreckateer, or as I like to call it, Medieval Angry Birds. The Kinect has been best known for it’s target to casual audiences, but it feels like most games catering to the casual audience are all the same. Wreckateer set out to cater to both casual and hardcore audiences by providing an easy to learn experience, but also allowing the more hardcore of players to explore different ways to complete each level. However, at the end of the day it’s more for casual audiences.
You are the newest Wreckateer and your two mentors are showing you the ropes, one who’s all about brute force, the other whom takes a more technical approach. Your goal is to travel to the different lands and destroy each castle that has been over run by goblins, you’re basically an exterminator of destruction. In order to destroy the castle, you must step forward to the enormous crossbow and pull back to launch (what seems to be flying rocks). There are several different types of rocks, such as magic rocks which can expand into four, exploding rocks, wing expanding rocks, lifting rocks, bullet rocks, and just plain old rocks. You control each rock using your Wrecking gauntlets, which make you swing your arms in which ever direction you want to guide the rock. Controlling the rocks is actually pretty fun, but the wing rock is an absolute train wreck and it led me to flailing my body around my living room.
There are several worlds to go through in Wreckateer, with each world consisting of about 4 levels and a challenge level. In order to progress each level you must accomplish certain tasks, or destroy enough of the of the castle to get at least a bronze rating. The more points you get, the higher your rating. The more you destroy, the higher your multiplier. There’s a decent amount of content to go through, except every level feels exactly the same. Sure you can go back and destroy a castle in different ways, but it all really ends up feeling the same. A huge downside is the fact that not even in my own living room did I have enough space to play. The Kinect tracking is nearly non-existent when loading up your shot, and it took me about 40 seconds each time to grab the crossbow.
Wreckateer wanted to cater to both spectrums of the gaming community, but it did not deliver. The rocks are fun to control (except the wing) and the first hour or so is fun as you destroy castle upon castle. In the end though, every level feels the same and delivers an overall forgettable and lackluster experience. If Wreckateer proves anything it’s that Kinect developers still have plenty of kinks to work out. The Kinect tracking works fine when controlling the rocks (once again, except the wing), but when trying to load up shots it becomes an enormous hassle. Wreckateer is a miss, unless you’re trying to have fun with the kiddies.
- Fun to control rocks
- Decent amount of content
- Wing Rock is terrible to control
- Kinect tracking is mostly shotty
- Not very fun after the first hour
Score: 2/5
