Fruit Ninja Kinect Review for Xbox 360

Chop, Chop, Chop… Squish

Fruit Ninja is truly a gem on the mobile platform. No matter whether you play the game on your phone, iPod, or tablet, the game’s simplistic premise and cheap price tag make it a fun exercise in time-wasting that millions have enjoyed. And like other mobile mega-hits (we’re looking at you, Angry Birds), Fruit Ninja is finally expanding beyond its mobile roots and is coming to consoles. Fruit Ninja Kinect does an excellent job of recreating (and to a certain extent, improving) the mobile experience on the Xbox 360. But I’m not sure this experience really belongs on a big console.

It’s not that Fruit Ninja Kinect isn’t fun. Believe me, it’s a blast. The concept is simple: slice through fruit and avoid bombs to win. This premise applies to several different modes. In Classic mode, your job is to slice through fruit as it pops up. Miss three fruit (or hit a bomb) and your time is up. Zen and Arcade modes are less intimidating, and allow you to rack up as many points as you can in a certain time period.

The format of the mobile game and the new Kinect version is almost indistinguishable, but, of course, the real change is the addition of motion controls. Instead of just sliding your finger across a touchscreen, you can use your arms to physically slice the fruit. Is this cool? You betcha! If slicing imaginary fruit through the air is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. In fact, Fruit Ninja may be the smartest use of Kinect yet. It doesn’t require precise movements, it’s simple to pick up and play, and it doesn’t require any serious time commitment. Fruit Ninja really is what gaming on the Kinect should be.

Unfortunately, there are a few things that might dissuade you from picking this title up. First off, you have to pay ten bucks for a game that is regularly 99 cents on mobile platforms. Is the extra cash worth the added experience? Maybe. As I’ve already stated, slicing through the air is extremely satisfying, and if you want to feel like a Fruit Ninja, that alone may be worth the entry price. However, there are some cool bonus modes as well.

The simplest of these is challenge mode, which gives you a specific task to perform within a time limit in one of the game’s main modes. This mode isn’t really all that exciting (especially since simply raising your high score in each mode is a challenge all by itself) but you can use challenge mode to also send challenges to friends. It’s a nifty feature if you are a competitive person.

The biggest new feature in Fruit Ninja Kinect, though, is the multiplayer. You can play both cooperatively and competitively, and the experience is nothing short of awesome, even though you might get a few elbows in the face. The competitive mode lets you play as either a blue ninja or a red ninja, and you’ll score points for chopping your own color fruit and lose points for chopping your neighbor’s fruit. Cooperative mode is a little more straightforward: You and your partner have to chop as much fruit and score as many combos as possible before time runs out. I found both of these modes to be extremely enjoyable, and if you’ve always wanted to play Fruit Ninja with a friend standing next to you, this mode alone makes the ten-dollar price tag worth the investment.

The only real problem I can see with Fruit Ninja Kinect is that it’s not one of those games that will hold your attention for long. One of the reasons why Fruit Ninja works so well on mobile devices is because you can pick it up for 90 seconds when you are in line at the grocery store and forget about it completely afterward. On the Xbox 360 version, you are tied to your home, and you can’t just pick the game up whenever you want to. Though I wouldn’t go as far as to say it is “work” to turn on your game console, it does seem like a fair bit of effort for a game that you won’t play for more than ten minutes at a time.

Fruit Ninja Kinect is an impressive game, not only because it plays well and looks great, but also because it shows what is possible when you actually port a mobile game well. A game like Angry Birds (which has dominated the mobile sales charts for more than a year) suffered when it came to home consoles, as it didn’t find a way to make the experience better for the bigger price. But Fruit Ninja Kinect has found a way to improve the game experience and make it well worth the $10 investment. If you are looking for a fun Kinect game that doesn’t require much in the way of a time commitment but is a blast to play with others, look no farther than Fruit Ninja Kinect.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
HD visuals look great, and fruit animations are banana peel-smooth. 4.5 Control
Motion controls are simple but work flawlessly. 3.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Music is inoffensive and sound effects work well. 3.8 Play Value
Though it doesn’t have the pick-up-and-play capability of its handheld predecessor, Fruit Ninja Kinect is fun in short bursts and at social gatherings. 3.8 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.