Carnival Games: Monkey See, Monkey Do for Xbox
A lot of fun, and a great way to get the whole family active.
While not a “fitness game” per se, there is so much attention to detail, fun, and replay value in Carnival Games for Xbox that you’ll want to pop the disc in over and over. Add hand weights and you have yourself a terrific exercise game.
Rating by steve: stars
Carnival Games: Monkey See Monkey Do
As with its Wii predecessor, Carnival Games takes a bunch of amusement park games which are familiar to all of us, from the ring toss to knocking milk bottles off a pedestal to skeeball. Unlike the Wii game where everything is controlled by the Wii remote, this game is incredibly realistic due to the Kinect allowing you to use natural movements as you would in the real game. I’m glad 2K put a lot of effort into the mechanics and the quality of the gameplay, because it shows.
Carnival Games has 20 minigames, organized into five different sections of the carnival:
COASTER CORNER
1) Gold Rush Mountain
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 2 of 5
In this came, you’re sitting in the front car of a roller coaster. Unlike in real roller coasters where they tell you to keep your hands in the car, here you’re encouraged to stick your hands out to catch gold coins (while avoiding red stars). The game thrillingly moves as fast as a real roller coaster, so you need to play a couple times to memorize the patterns (before they change!). You need to be precise in your reaction and in the timing and angle of your arms to catch as many yellow coins as you can. As you collect coins, you can earn tickets to use to play other games and redeem for prizes. This is a great test of reflexes, a lot of fun, and even provides exercise quality.
2) Hot Air Balloon Race
fun: 4 of 5
exercise:2 of 5
This is a deceptively simple game. You compete against another player by making a pumping movement (like pumping a bicycle pump). I found quickly that it’s not about pumping as fast as you can, but rather making long extended pumps that blow your balloon up. But watch out for the tornado, vulture, thunderbolt, and a goat, all of which will push you backwards.
3) Wheel of Chance
fun: 5 of 5
exercise: 1 of 5
If, like me, your lifelong dream has been to spin the wheel on The Price is Right in the comfort of your own home, you’re in luck. This is a very close replica of that wheel. You have to spend 25 tickets (which you earn in other games) to spin the wheel. There’s an element of strategy and chance, as you need to decide whether to risk what you have and keep spinning or keep your tickets and go. No exercise value here, but a lot of fun.
4) Funnel Cake Falls
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 3 of 5
In this game, you carry a plate and try to catch pancakes as they fall down at you. You have a unique perspective as the cakes are falling down at you while you’re looking up. You get some pretty good exercise on this one, as you literally have to run from side to side to try to catch the pancakes in the right spots.
LAUNCHPAD LANE
5) Rocket to Mars
fun: 3 of 5
exercise: 2 of 5
Jump to launch your ship, and then lean side to side to steer your ship around obstacles. Interesting concept, and not too challenging once you get the hang of it. I wouldn’t say it’s a huge workout, but certainly a good test of your dexterity and balance.
6) Crash Test Dummy
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 3 of 5
Here a game where you’ll see a series of pictures made of yellow dots and black dots. You need to quickly position your body to cover as many of the yellow dots without touching the black dots. Your score will depend on how well you cover it. Not quite sure what the name has to do with the game, but it’s pretty fun, especially in a group. You’ll get a little bit of a workout by scrambling to contort your body to fit the on-screen images. Not sure what the name of the game has to do with the game (a better name would have been “Strike a Pose” or something), but it’s fun nonetheless.
7) Alley Ball
fun: 6 of 5 🙂
exercise: 1 of 5
Next to my lifelong dream of having a Price is Right wheel in my home, i’ve always dreamed of being able to play skee-ball. This is the best skee-ball simulator I’ve seen yet for a video game system. Like the real thing, you can move side-to-side, and the force and angle of your throw will dictate where your ball goes.
I do wish the game would do a better job of helping you visualize the angle that you’ll be throwing the ball in. For example, you don’t see the ball in your hand as you throw nor the angle you’re throwing it at before you toss it. (As a result, ricochet shots off the bumper–my specialty in “real life”–are nearly impossible here). But after practice you’ll be able to finesse your straight throws pretty well.
8) Pop Darts
fun: 3 of 5
exercise: 1 of 5
This is a fun mini game where you have to pop sets of balloons on a wall. Pop a tiny moving target within each set, and every balloon will pop for you. This one takes a bit of getting used to, as it’s a bit of a challenge to coordinate both your arm and your body to get the aim right, and your arm movement needs to be very precise for the Kinect to realize you’ve thrown the dart.
CAROUSEL JUNCTION
9) Ring Fling
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 1 of 5
This is a traditional carnival ring toss game. You grab a ring and toss it onto pegs to get points. Fun, but the only annoyance I have with the same is the same as with Alley Ball, you don’t see the ring in your hand nor your hand motions on the screen before you throw it.
10) Amazing Wodin
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: n/a
10 tickets are needed to play this. There’s an animated wizard who’ll let you choose whether to get told a joke, a riddle, a name game, or a fotrune. It uses Kinect voice rec0gnition, which is executed pretty well. You don’t get points for a right answer, but the AI here is certainly a step above the real wizard machines you find on the boardwalk.
11) Shark Tank
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 1 of 5
This is the classic dunk tank game. You get three chances to dunk a Kinect character into the tank. What makes it a little easier to control is that instead of aiming for the target blindly, you’ll see two crosshairs floating on the screen, and then when they converge on the target you throw. You have to make the throw in a controlled fashion, but as long as your timing is right you’ll get the dunk.
12) Pig Race
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 4 of 5
This is one of those Kinect games that will have your family or friends will be in stitches as they watch you play. In it, you ride a pig. To steer the pig around obstacles, you lean from side. To make the pig go faster, well, you slap the pig (which to all other bystanders looks like you’re slapping your own butt). By the end, your arm will be sore, and depending on how excited you get, your butt just may be sore too.
WHIRLYGIG WAY
13) Monkey See Monkey Do
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 4 of 5
This game is a lot like “Crash Test Dummies”. In it, you watch a monkey dancing to a song like “Cotten Eye Joe”. He’ll pause at certain parts of his dance, during which time you have to strike the same pose with your arms, body, and feet. The system is excellent at identifying how accurately you’re holding the pose. Not a bad workout if you try to dance along with the monkey (which will get you extra points).
14) Down the Stretch
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 3 of 5
A fun game like you’ve seen in amusement parks where you roll balls into holes to make a horse move. As in the real game, you need to roll your ball with finesse and you’ll move your body from side to side to cover all the holes. It takes a while to master flicking your wrists in a way the Kinect recognizes, but once you get it it’s pretty simple. Not an exhausting workout in itself, but a game so fun any kids in the room will want to play over and over, which will have you exhausted.
15) Strength Test
fun: 5 of 5
exercise: 3 of 5
This is the “test of strength” hammer game where you need to hit a pad with a hammer to ring a bell. Of course they can’t test your real strength on the Kinect, so they’ve done the next best thing–put your arms in the air and hammer them down when a timing bar hits the exact right spot. Get the timing right and you’ll hit the bell. Another one of these games you’ll be trying over and over again.
16) Knockout Punch
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 5 of 5
In this game, you follow instructions to punch left, punch right, or duck as you fight against a boxing machine (who swings back at you!). The challenge is not just to get the punch sequences right, but also to get through as many rounds as possible (not as easy as it sounds!) This one is probably the best workout in the bunch, and a lot funner than traditional boxing games.
TEA CUP COURT
17) Court King
fun: 4 of 5
exercise: 4 of 5
This is a pretty good simulation of the hoop arcade games. As with the real game, you shoot with a certain amount of force, and after repeated tries you remember how much force you used to make a basket and what angle to move your hands. This one is probably the most realistic basketball shooting video game, thanks to the use of the Kinect to detect your hand motions.
18) Granny Shot
fun: 2 of 5
exercise: 2 of 5
In this game you do underhanded tosses of different balls of varying weight, from Golf Balls to Coconuts to Bowling Balls to Medicine Balls to Planet Earth. For each you need to exert a different amount of force to hit the basket right. This one was better in concept than execution, as try as I might the Kinect couldn’t seem to figure out the force of my motions (I suppose it probably takes a lot of practice to get just the right amount of finesse).
19) Golden Arm
fun: 5 of 5
exercise: 3 of 5
This is the classic “knock things over with a baseball” game. As with Shark Tank, you do have crosshairs zipping through the picture so you can time your throw to simulate “aiming”. The force with which you throw the baseball is important too. Nice thing about this one is that you can make a throwing motion just like a real ball.
20) Hitting Streak
fun: 5 of 5
exercise: 5 of 5
This is literally a batting cage simulator, where you literally stand facing the batter and swing your arms like you were swinging a baseball bat. You have different pitches thrown to you, some realistic (the 100 MPH fastball is really like facing a Major League Pitcher) to silly pitches like 10 mile per hour pitches and twirling pitches. This one is incredibly realistic, much more so than attempts on the Wii such as The Cages. It’s shows the great potential of the Kinect for realistic baseball games.
Overall, I’d rate Carnival Games a 4 out of 5. The quality of the games and their simulation of the real thing are fantastic, the menu controls are pretty simple, and the games are just plain fun, especially when playing with family or friends. Little details like the ability to collect tickets and use them to play other games or earn prizes just adds to the playability of the game.
As I said, there’s not much workout value in any of the games, but when played over and over again, it’s much better for you than sitting the couch exercising your thumbs. It’s a great first offering by 2K for the Kinect, and I look forward to many more.
One thing I found annoying is that there’s an intro to each game that you can’t skip past, with a very, very annoying monkey. It’s only about 10-15 seconds, but it adds up. On controller-based games you can just press “X”–I wish they’d invent a motion for the Kinect that does the same thing.
Here’s some advice for those looking for fitness–to turn this game into an incredible fitness game that rivals Your Shape or the Biggest Loser, just add Hand Weights
