Majesco E3 2011 Round-Up

At the Majesco booth, I got some hands-on time with various upcoming games, most of which were heavily Kinect-focused.

Bloodrayne: Betrayal

The first game on the docket was the extremely stylish downloadable title Bloodrayne: Betrayal. This time Bloodrayne ditches her 3D perspective and goes 2D. I was told that the game is not flash animated but rather completely hand-drawn. It is also much less “sexed,” concentrating more on action. Controlling Bloodrayne felt great and responsive as she leaped around her enemies, slicing their heads off and sucking their blood to regain health. If she doesn’t finish drinking from her enemies, they become walking bombs that she can detonate at any time. The game will largely focus on score attacks and will feature online leaderboards that competitive players will adore. The game will constantly push players to dispose of their enemies in more unique ways. Look out for Bloodrayne: Betrayal this August for XBLA and PSN.

Hulk Hogan’s Main Event

Aimed primarily at kids, Hulk Hogan’s Main Event forgoes standard wrestling matches and instead focuses more on Hulk Hogan’s campy personality and his role as your mentor. Not only will you get to learn all his signature moves, but as you show improvement, you also advance to bigger venues. Though the game doesn’t feature full-on wrestling matches, it does section them off into “stunts.” Starting from your character’s entrance, to dodging your opponents’ chair hits and then retaliating, each of these sections are essentially mini-games that use the Kinect to perform certain gestures. What’s even better is that they are all very responsive and don’t have the lag associated with many Kinect titles. You can seek Hulk Hogan’s guidance this fall.

Take Shape

The more obscure Kinect game to engage your entire body is Take Shape. The premise is simple: a shape appears on-screen, and you must fill it using your entire body, much like the game show “Hole in the Wall.” It’s a silly concept that makes for an entertaining party game. Once a second player joins in, the game gets even more humorous as both work together to complete a picture of, say, an elephant or a heart. Take Shape will also be available this fall.

Mind ‘n Motion

The last Kinect game we were shown promises to train both the left and right sides of your brain. Mind ‘n Motion offers 12 different activities with 10 levels of difficulty. We got to see two activities. The first one consisted of steering a robot with two hands–one hand moving him left and right, and the other going forward and back and navigating through obstacles. The other activity had the player juggle a ball using different parts of his body that were highlighted on screen. The harder the difficulty, the more balls that have to be juggled at once.