Reviews// Kinect Disneyland Adventures

I was never much of a Disney fan when I was a kid, much preferring the slapstick and chaos of Warner Brothers' cartoons to the overly saccharine shorts and movies that Uncle Walt's studio churned out. As I've got older, I'm still not a massive fan of Disney's work – there's a few films I like and then there's the amazing Pixar catalogue - but there's one thing that I still want to do. I still want to go to Disneyland.

I've been close! I've been to California! But no, I've never set foot inside the gates of any of the parks and I'm still a bit annoyed at myself for not doing so. Thankfully though, thanks to some sterling work by industry legend David Braben and his Frontier studio - who really should be getting on with that long-promised Elite follow-up (I discount Frontier: Elite 2) - I can visit Disneyland without leaving my living room. Now I have Kinect Disneyland Adventures!

I admit, I had worries. This is a title that's been built for kids and we all know what that means, don't we? Shovelware crap, mostly, but remember that for every hundred awful licensed games that are the equivalent of digital pish, there's a gem that should be played – and Disneyland Kinect is to be added to the pile of Good Things.

Pop the disc in and you're immediately dropped into a beautifully rendered version of the Anaheim park, ready to create your own avatar that will explore the whole thing. Character creation is simple (like everything in this game) – a few swipes of your hand will get you set up and ready for action. With the assistance of a mildy annoying golden floaty thing, you pop into existence and start to wander about.

More People than GTA IV
The first thing you'll notice is how busy the virtual park is, packed out with more people than you'll ever see in something like GTA IV. Everywhere you turn there's folks walking about who will happily get out of your way should you bump into them – no "Hey! I'm walkin' here!" in The Happiest Place On Earth, oh no.

It's not the people we want to see though – we're here for the legends and Disneyland Kinect is packed out with them. Of course, the first one you come across (assuming you follow the rather useful golden line leading to your next target) is Mickey Mouse who starts your adventure in the park by giving you a few simple tasks that also happen to introduce other characters like Donald Duck and Goofy.

Every character you meet (and there are 40 in total) has favours to ask of you, generally pretty simple fetch and return quests that will gain you bonus items and pin badges like those you can get for real in the actual parks. While some of the characters will ask you to go visit someone to take a photo or just say hello, other tasks are a little more involved. Not difficult – nothing in Disneyland Kinect is ever difficult – but they'll just mean you need to get on some rides.

This is how you to experience the range of minigames that are on offer. Rather than just converting the rides that the real parks have into Rollercoaster Tycoon-style videos, many of the areas in the game have been transformed into interactive experiences.

For example, head to the Matterhorn and you'll be skiing or driving a bobsled down the side of the mountain and hurling snowballs at wave after wave of yetis. A lot of imagination has been thrown into the games which is fantastic to see – this is no lazy cash-in. Games are entertaining and – dare I say it – fun even for grown ups.

Good Kinect Fun
It's possible to ignore the relatively simple story and just go off wandering yourself, but by following trails you'll get to try out the park in a more organic way, taking in the sights as you walk about, checking out the incredible level of detail that Frontier has managed to put into the game.