EyeToy Kinetic Combat is an innovative new physical exercise gaming title that Sony produced a year after EyeToy Kinetic. The game lets you get in shape with a challenging workout all in the comfort of your own home. EyeToy Kinetic Combat mixes the martial art Hung Gar Kung Fu with cardiovascular fitness.
It has been designed to help the player improve their fitness and health using a variety of exercise games, whatever that person’s fitness level is.
System: PS2
Genre: Sports, Fitness, Exercise Gaming
Release dates: November 17th 2006 (EURO), November 23rd 2006 (AUS)
Players: 1-4, Sony EyeToy camera for PS2 required
Save: 415KB minimum
Developer: SCE Studios London
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Origin: England
Sony’s EyeToy is a small digital camera that sits on top of your TV and plugs into your PS2. The motion sensitive camera films you as you stand in front of your TV, putting your image on screen in the middle of the action. Then you use your arms, legs, head, bottom… in fact any part of your body to play the games. Using this EyeToy camera is an entirely unique gaming control experience for people of all ages. Incorporating a unique USB camera that utilizes motion-tracking technology, gamers instantly become the main character in their own game. With no need for a controller, anyone can have fun with EyeToy, and no previous gaming experience is required. Watch as players jump, kick, and flail their arms to create entertaining action with EyeToy.
Embark on a 16 week Martial Arts inspired fitness program featuring over 25 hours of classes. New Martial Arts Personal Trainer uses Motion Matching Technology to monitor your technique, providing increased interaction and feedback. Improve your skills in 12 training games, then put your moves to the test against 4 sparring opponents.
Journey through four themed martial arts zones:
* Dragon: A gentle introduction to Kung Fu. Includes training for Accuracy, Motion, Dragon Shadow and Dragon Sparring.
* Tiger: Building strength through cardiovascular fitness. Includes training for Stamina, Evasion, Tiger Shadow and Tiger Sparring.
* Mantis: Focusing on agility and balance. Includes training for Agility, Coordination, Mantis Shadow and Mantis Sparring.
* Phoenix: Bringing all techniques together in fluid movements. Includes training for Speed, Reaction, Phoenix Shadow and Phoenix Sparring.
Watch the EyeToy Kinetic Combat intro video.
To achieve a better levels of interaction, Kinetic Combat uses cutting edge Motion Matching Technology. This sophisticated technology means it’s able to track the player’s moves on screen with improved precision. It can tell if a move is being performed correctly and gives personalised real-time feedback that is both encouraging and constructive.
Over 200 separate Hung Gar Kung Fu moves have been motion captured using a leading martial arts expert and players need to stay within the instructors outline on screen to complete exercises and learn new techniques.
As players’ journey through the four martial arts inspired zones they will face a number of challenges to test their new skills. In addition to a series of games, players need to bring all the moves together in an end of zone sparring match. In this ‘versus’ battle players will face a virtual opponent that they need to defeat to progress to the next zone.
To provide a structured training schedule, Kinetic Combat has a Personal Trainer Mode that takes players through a 16 week programme. This programme ensures players benefit from an holistic approach that targets all the body’s muscle groups whilst giving an comprehensive aerobic and anaerobic workout and thorough grounding in Hung Gar Kung Fu.
The Freestyle Mode lets players build their own workout programme under the watchful eye of the three personal trainers whereas the Quick Play Mode lets players choose a workout at random. This mode also contains a number of one-off games that you can play competitively against up to three friends and family.
The key features in EyeToy Kinetic Combat are:
* Personal trainers Matt and Anna return from the original Kinetic and are joined by Leon – a new martial arts specific trainer.
* Workout like Shaolin Monks have been for centuries – with Hung Gar Kung Fu.
* Undertake the unique and competitive Sparring mode.
* Brand new Motion Matching Technology gives the ultimate level of personalised feedback as it tracks a player’s moves with supreme precision on screen.
* Suitable for all fitness levels with tailored programmes and feedback.
* Workout in a variety of beautiful environments.
* An extensive soundtrack to suit your workout mood with more than 70 tracks covering the genres of breaks, house, hip hop and electro.
* A comprehensive 16 week martial arts based fitness program.
* Over 25 hours of fully interactive classes.
* Requires EyeToy USB Camera; Includes the EyeToy Full Vision Lens adaptor to allow for a full-interactive experience.
Lastly let’s add some pro training tips:
* Warm up and stretch before training.
* Cool Down after training. The game also helps you check your heart rate after training.
* Relax.
* Wear comfortable clothes and footwear which do not restrict movement.
* Breathe naturally, avoid forcing the breath.
* Drink plenty of water, especially during a heavy workout.
* Avoid drinking cold water while training.
* After workout or in between when taking breaks avoid sitting down while still buffing heavily or if the heart is beating fast, walk or move around gently until the breathing and heart rate return to normal.
* To get the maximum benefit, be consistent and train regularly.
* Listen to your body, don’t over train and push yourself too hard at the beginning stages. Progress gradually.
* Eat right, get enough sleep and plenty of rest.
* The best time to do a workout is early in the morning.
* Avoid having a big meal before workout and don’t eat just before a workout, eat at least two hours before training and allow at least one hour after a workout.
As a conclusion let’s rate this game on its fun-basis.
FUN FACTOR – 7.0
Get in shape with an engaging and challenging workout all in the comfort of your own home. The PlayStation 2-exclusive EyeToy Kinetic Combat is a unique and innovative health product that acts as an in-home personal trainer and sparring partner for a fully personalized one-on-one training session. Utilizing the revolutionary EyeToy technology for motion-controls, EyeToy Kinetic Combat offers players an all-in-one fitness program, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll learn Kung Fu or other martial arts combat through this program, because that’s not the case.
As long as you keep up with the 16-week training program that’ll require you to exercise regularly, you’ll find the program can add a lot to your existing exercise routine(s). The exercises in the original EyeToy Kinetic felt more like varied and fun exercise routines that just happened to improve your health, and while Combat is more straight-up training it will definitely keep you fit as well. If you got the first one, you might as well get this second one too.
Graphics – 7.0
All the training environments are very clean looking and will help you get through each exercise without any hassle. All your progress will be tracked on simple graphs. The overall visual presentation is very goal-oriented and easy to follow.
Audio – 7.5
The music is ok and adds to the martial arts zones with its selection of over 70 songs. The sound effects are simple. Before each exercise starts one of the two trainers you chose will introduce you to the game and it’s shown how to play it. The voiceovers are fantastic coaches, obviously real coaches or live classes will be better at correcting you, but the virtual trainer’s guidance consists out of lots of helpful tips and encouragements. At the very least it’s a major improvement over those workout videos.
Ingenuity – 8.0
The most important things to keep in mind with EyeToy games is that they require:
1. Plenty of room around you, an arm/leg’s length at least, so you don’t accidentally kick and punch your room into a big mess. Clear as much space around you as possible.
2. A well-lighted area to fully detect the player’s body is needed most of all, and not just that, you need to look at the background that’s being played against so your cloths colors don’t accidentally blend in with the background (or change your cloths so you stand out from the background). Then you need to stand back 3 to 4 steps from the TV (with the camera on top of it) and set the camera’s focus and sensitivity.
All of those are important notes, because otherwise the game will have trouble picking up your body movements. Once the EyeToy camera picks up your movements, it’s really fun as the game does a decent job translating your movements into on-screen action, essentially making you become part of the program. The variety of exercise games will give plenty to do for those of you willing to go all out and achieve every highscore and at the same time improve your fitness level. Without the need for a PS2 controller, you flail your arms to go through the menus making selections by waving your hand, you can even pause the game instantly by covering the camera lens with your hand. The ease of use for this motion controlled game is fantastic and it’s all very well explained at the startup for people new to the PlayStation 2 console itself, who wouldn’t normally know how to setup a game.
To create a more interactive and robust workout experience, the innovative EyeToy technology measures the force and direction of the players’ movements, analyzes them and provides real-time performance evaluations. It’ll be a while before you’ve done all of Combat’s moves, because there are over 200 Kung Fu moves to complete and learn if you don’t cheat the outlines given on-screen. Sadly when training the collision detection leaves something to be desired as once every few punches it won’t detect your motion properly. Still, whether players are fitness fanatics or looking to add to their workout routine, EyeToy Kinetic Combat provides the workout tools to try it out at home, on your own schedule.
Replay Value – 7.5
While you can play random exercise games for the fun of it. If you bought this game, you’ll want a real challenge by doing the 16-week training program to see your highscores (and thus your health) improve on each zone. If you can make the time, and want to do some serious hard hitting at home workout, then you’re set to try EyeToy Kinetic Combat for the four months it takes to finish the training program.