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Child of Eden
Child of Eden is not only one of the best
Kinect games available but it's also a worthy successor to Rez
(PlayStation 2) that flawlessly combines cordless controls with a visually
stunning and addictive game. With a beautiful cinematic opening, Child
of Eden takes place in the distant future where mankind has finally left
Earth and the internet, now known as Eden has become an integral part of
all the memories of mankind. Unfortunately Eden is at
threat and more specifically Lumi, the first child born in space whose
memories are contained within this huge expanse. Your job is to remove
the digital parasites that not only threaten Eden but also Lumi in this
psychedelic game that uses shapes, colours and music.
However unlike Rez, Child of Eden supports FULL HD and looks beautiful
as is the gameplay. The only downside to Child of Eden is that it is
relatively quite short and most gamers could knock this game over in a
few hours, even though you do play of the same levels again in order to
collect stars. By collecting a set number of stars, you can then proceed
to the next level and there are five chapters to this game. By playing
the levels again, you also unlock a variety of bonuses from concept art
to music videos and items that can be used in Lumi's garden which are just a
few of the unlockable content included in this game. There are also
specific tasks that can be performed as well in order to unlock more
stars for your progress.
The gameplay of Child of Eden is truly one of the most original games on
the XBox 360 at present and is a combination of a shooter meets music
based rhythm game. Your goal is easy but an element of skill is
involved as you shoot the enemies with your hands but the key is to
shoot the enemies in rhythm with the music. That is the basics of the
game but there is quite a bit of strategy involved as you use the oct-lock
to target eight enemies at a time and then destroy them with additional
points being awarded to your timing.
By waving your hand over an enemy, it will lock them onto your target
and by moving your hand forward, it will cause you to fire on the
enemies. Another fun mode of destroying enemies is with euphoria and by
raising your arms in the air, this will basically destroy all enemies on
screen at once like a smart bomb. With that said, the Kinect controls
work quite well and reminds me a little of Tom Cruise from the minority
report as you use your hands and arms to interact with the gaming world.
It should be noted that a standard 360 controller works just as well,
however it's far more accurate to use the Kinect and is actually more
fun.
The downside of the Kinect is that after an hour or more of play, your
arms do get tired and when you use euphoria and move your arms in the
air, it will cause the camera to move but in the grand scheme of things,
it's only a small issue. The biggest challenge in the game apart from
collecting stars is fighting the bosses at the end of each level which
do you give a challenge, especially the bosses that morph into different
creatures. The trick with the bosses is to find the correct weapon to
destroy them. In terms of multiplayer, it is absent and I really hope
that a sequel will involve more than one player because co-op would have
been brilliant. There are however online leaderboards.
Graphically, Child of Eden is an amazing looking game on the XBox 360
that contains some beautiful virtual worlds that you engage from
space-like levels to more earthy endeavours that contains lakes and
butterflies. It's quite surreal. Apart from the surreal graphics, Child
of Eden has a very cool electronic soundtrack that is like a living
entity when used in conjunction with the graphics. The soundtrack,
although not any mainstream band is easily one of the best video game
soundtracks of the year, thanks to Genki Rockets who created the score
for this game. This title has the gameplay, graphics and the music!
Verdict?
Once again Tetsuya Mizuguchi has created an amazing game, just like he
did with Rez those so many years ago. Child of Eden however is far
superior thanks to the FULL HD graphics, a beautiful soundtrack and almost flawless
Kinect controls that work perfectly with the gameplay. You may be able to knock the game over in a few hours
but it offers a considerable amount of replay value that will keep you
coming back for more and more. Child of Eden is definitely a must have
title for your collection and can be played by both the casual or
hardcore gamer. Highly Recommended! |
