You might watch this trailer for Michael Phelps: Push the Limit on Kinect and wince. At the awful acting, the uncomfortable hand gestures, at the sight of a man in speedos bending over more than once.
You might then, and this is entirely reasonable, decide never to watch it again. But then youâd be missing out.
The gameâs developers, Blitz Games (Fuzion Frenzy) didnât want to make a game like this. They make the game their studio tells them to make, because like the rest of us they need to eat, and pay the rent, and buy sneakers.
Bearing that in mind, look at the small details where theyâve said âfuck it, letâs try and make the most of thisâ. Like those enormous stadiums, the fireworks, the fancy visual effects spinning around the swimmers as they stand on the block. The way they captured footage of Phelps looking equal parts bemused and disinterested, and used the footage anyway, because itâs awesome.
Basically, theyâve tried to make the uncoolest game on Kinect slightly cool, and I think theyâve succeeded.
Shame they couldnât do anything about the fact the game looks both awful and tiring, but hey, whaddyagonnado.
You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
