Because we are dedicated to honest customer opinions EyeToy: Kinetic Combat - Solus (PS2) (Video Game), we have also included Amazon's customer reviews for this item (of which 2 are displayed below). Amazon customers have given EyeToy: Kinetic Combat - Solus (PS2) an average rating of 5.0/5.
Top Amazon Review
Improvement on the excellent original. I bought this game because I loved the original eyetoy kinetic!
I had high expectations and I was not disappointed
Like the first game the format of this game makes you want to exercise. The personal trainer mode is very encouraging and they offer tips and advice to motivate you to do better. When you do better they congratulate you.
In the first eyetoy kinetic game you built up to exercising 4 or 5 times a week and i did find it difficult to fit in with work and other commitments. With combat you only do two workouts a week which increase in difficulty and intensity as your ability improves. You can do the routines any time any day e.g. session one (mon - wed) session two (thurs - fri).
The camera seems to be a lot more sensitive and the way you enter your shape as well as weight/height/gender ect allows a virtual trainer to shadow you as well as an actual on-screen trainer to copy.
For the first few weeks you will probably get it wrong and feel frustrated but the tone and encouragement of the personal trainer does actually help. Its gentle encouragement rather than in your face loud "COME ON - GET YOUR TAIL IN GEAR" stuff that you might expect. Eventually you will be able to do the moves without looking at the screen so much (Which does cause you to lose balance a little) and you will soon be scoring high on the exercise routines.
You are also advised to warm up and cool down properly.
Having some martial art experience will definitely help you with stances and positioning as well as punching and kicking, but is not essential! They explain in detail exactly how to do it.
The best part of the whole experience is the in games having learned how to punch/kick guard ect you get to play the mini games. Such as punching floating objects or fighting onscreen virtual opponents (Who get better as you do). It's immensely satisfying when you improve and start to get the higher grades.
The camera still takes a little bit of effort to set up and its still a good idea to wear contrasting colours to your background and try to avoid mirrors and areas of possible movement or potential draughts behind you, e.g door windows.
I love these games, even though i don't think of it as a game more of a workout routine that's a lot cheaper than a gym membership with a lot more variety!
I hope they keep making more and will be interested to see next gen versions for the PS3....
Customer Review 1
Steep Learning Curve. This game certainly has a steeper learning curve than the previous Kinetic game. There are many improvements from the original game; there are about five different warm-ups and cool-down sessions allowing for variety. You no longer need to be miles away from your TV due to the addition of the full angle lens rather than the wide lens. I am no longer being told to step further back. When following the exercise plan, you only exercise twice a week but do so for an hour. This way you feel you are getting a decent workout, without doing five a week!?!
When you first set the game up you are able to put in information about your size and body shape. This is so that the trainer can appear as a shadow behind you - very clever! The exercise routine is made-up of a warm-up, two combat learning sessions, a game, another learning session and a completion game before the cool down.
Combat learning involves learning stance transitions, punching and kicking sequences. It took me the first four weeks to fully understand where I was supposed to be standing, but the key is to ensure that your body is mirrored within the combat trainer's shadow. He also appears fully on the right of the screen, with his shadow with you in front on the left. As you follow the moves, red and green lines will follow around your body indicating whether you are following correctly or not. Each session has a timeline along the bottom of the screen so you know how long there is to go, or if you are struggling how long the torture is going to last. This then converts to small coloured boxes above your head, each repetition set is shown by small boxes for the number of times the move will be repeated. Each box turns from red (bad), yellow (OK), green (good) to white (excellent) as you complete a move. This not only gives you an indication of how much longer you have to go but how well you are doing.
My only tip for those who do purchase is to try doing it with bare feet like the combat trainer. I have used trainers for the last four weeks and was slipping out of my stances, I have now tried no footwear and the difference was incredible. I guess that is because this is not high aerobic type exercise, but twisting, punching and turning.
I do think that if anyone were quite overweight or not particularly agile they might struggle with this game. Most of it is done from a crouching type position called horse stance, which I found quite straining at first. I know after four weeks I have rock hard shins so it has obviously done something! I have lost weight and my bodyshape is re-definining through this game.
I think it is excellent but you do need to give it a couple of weeks to get used to it and not despair initially, it will come.
