PixlBit

I'm not really sure how they did it. Very rarely are sequels to launch games worse off than the original, but Kinect Sports: Season Two manages to be even less compelling than its simplistic predecessor. Not only have half of the sports been done better by Wii Sports, but the other half are so shallow in their implementation, they won't garner any of your attention or time.

This time it's a collection of six sports, Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Skiing, Darts, and Football, each with a greater focus on emulating the whole sport rather than a small part of it. The various challenges found in the last game have been reduced to a scant few, decreasing the overall replayability of the experience for a single player, but bringing a greater focus to the main sports and the multiplayer aspects of the title.

It's sad to say, but Wii Sports really throws a wrench in everything Kinect Sports: Season Two is going for. For starters, Tennis, Baseball, and Golf are all included here - but I think it's safe to say that most people got their fill of these sports roughly five years ago when the Wii launched. Golf is a bit simpler here than what's featured in Wii Sports Resort, but more reliable than what is in Wii Sports. This proves to be a good thing, as it's just complicated enough to hold your interest, but not frustratingly so that it demands perfection.

In the case of Tennis and Baseball, the Wii Remote proves to be a better tool to accomplish the given tasks demanded by the sport. Both are slightly deeper in Season Two, allowing you to field in Baseball and have greater control of your character in Tennis, but in neither case is the gameplay made better by these additions. Even worse, gesture recognition in Baseball isn't quite up to snuff, resulting in a number of instances where you swing prematurely or not at all.

These recognition issues can be overlooked for the most part; what can't be ignored is just how monotonous the whole thing is. You get up to bat and swing away. Chances are you're going to hit a little pop into the outfield, which requires you to perform the best motion in the game – running in place. With such hits you have to beat the throw to first, so once you drop the bat you'll be sprinting to nowhere like a mad man. Eventually you'll lose the will to do it and just take the out because the effort isn't even close to being worth it.

Football suffers from a similar problem. When you aren't playing quarterback and choosing plays and throwing the ball, you'll be a receiver, running in place until you're tackled. All depth has been excised from the experience. You can't dodge incoming defenders, no stiff arms, jukes, jumps, or anything that could make running the ball a treat. Just running. In place. Over and over and over.

Even controlling the quarterback is mundane. Decide whether you plan to throw to the left, center, or right when a receiver becomes open (which is prompted with a green icon on screen) and make the throw. They always seem to catch it and are almost always open at the same distance down the field, so it just comes down to throwing it to the first receiver that becomes open.

Skiing doesn't suffer from the exact same problems, but it's equally as boring as Football. Whether you are navigating your on screen avatar between flags by tilting or avoiding obstacles, it's all a cinch. A few runs down the mountain and you'll wish an avalanche would wipe out the course – at least that would be interesting.

And then we have darts. I'm not really sure what they were going for with this one, but it's clear that Kinect is not the right peripheral to use to simulate the sport (activity?). This is apparent when you go to throw your first dart. It's nothing like the actual game. You can't feel the weight of the dart, nor can you vary the trajectory or truly aim. The game makes you line up your shot, pull back to lock it in and then send it careening forward. It probably should've been changed into Archery, but at that point, it would've further encroached on Nintendo's Wii Sports titles. Once you understand the mechanics you can have a bit of fun with it, but calling it darts seems disingenuous.

There's no doubt that players can safely sit this one out. Sure, you're likely to have at least a little bit of fun for a little while, but it won't take long before the tedium of it all sets in. And don't forget about the running in place. That's totally fun.