Sega is one of the first third party publishers to create an Xbox 360 Kinect based video game with Sonic Free Riders. Sonic seemed like the most logical choice as the classical hedgehog and his lovable friends are a great fit for the casual market which is the current target for Kinect games. Free Riders is a racer. The game has players standing on a virtual hover board or bike while taking on other racers or complete challenges on various tracks.
As mentioned before, Free Riders is part of the first batch of Kinect games which has just launched on November 4th with aspirations of becoming a new platform and way of playing video games. In Free Riders players will not need a controller while playing, at all. Let me get the basic structure out of the way first so I can address the actual gameplay.
Sonic Free Riders is structured in a very simple way which almost seemed a little too bare bones for a full retail release but with it being a ‘casual’ game I can certainly give that a pass. The most important thing is that the menus are simple and will have players go into the action right away. There are a few offline modes in Free Riders including Free, Tag and Relay Race. Players can hop into Free Race, team up in Tag Race or take turns in Relay Race.
There are six unlocked stages in the beginning which can be extended to 10 once players unlock them. The main mode however is World Grand Prix, which takes Sonic and other characters around all the different tracks while completing challenges and races. In this mode players will unlock customizable gear, boards and bikes for each character. In between events Sonic and his foes will be interviewed and talk trash to tell a bit of a story which will appeal to the Saturday morning cartoon audience.
The first thing Free Riders will do is put players through a tutorial which will get across the basics of how to play the game. To Sega’s credit, Free Riders does a great job of explaining how to play the game and it only took a few minutes to understand and get down the mechanics. The controls are also very easy to use and work well for the most part. The riders will always keep a certain speed and players do not have to hold a gas pedal. In order to go faster players can lean toward the sensor or boost by pushing forward similar to skateboarding. In order to boost though, the power meter needs to be filled up which is accomplished by collecting rings and performing trick jumps. Turning is also simple and done by leaning. When playing Free Riders, players need to position themselves facing sideways with one foot forward, again as if they were riding a skateboard. Leaning forward, to the right of the sensor, will turn one way, while leaning backwards has the board turning the opposite direction. Players can also change stance by doing a 180 degree jump when they choose to. Slowing down or stopping completely is done by facing the Kinect horizontally. There are lots of jumps and bankings in the game which can be used to jump while doing a trick which will be rated by how players twist and turn in the air. There are also loads of turns and grind sections on the different stages which can be mastered to save valuable time.
All of the controls work well with the exception of turning which can be temperamental at times and will require some over-exaggerated motions to work properly – that can become a bit painful when leaning backwards for a few races in a row. I had simply switched my stance in order to lean forward into the turns which makes this issue less of a problem. As I said, with the exception of the caveat of turning and sometimes jumping the game works as advertised and can be a lot of fun. You will get tired though. This game had me sweating a bit and my abs got a nice workout as well.
Along the track players will find power ups such as bowling balls which can know opponents off the track in front of you, soda cans which become rockets after you shake them up and squids that ink up the camera for followers.
Sonic Free Riders is Sega’s first attempt at creating a motion controlled Kinect game and a good one at that. Free Riders does a decent job of teaching players the controls and then have them jump into the action which is good fun at times with some exceptions regarding turning recognition. The game is obviously geared towards kids and families but even I had loads of fun with it. Even though Sonic Free Riders does not have a massivly robust single player or career mode, it is a must have game for anyone that owns an Xbox 360 Kinect this holiday.
Score: 7 / 10
Sonic Free Riders was developed and published by Sega for the Xbox 360 on November 4th. A copy of the game was provided to us by Sega for reviewing purposes. The game requires a Kinect sensor.
