Leedmees is a intriguing new Kinect title from Konami. The object of the game is simple, you have to transport the leedmees to a exit portal all while trying to have your leedmees pick up bonus stars along the way. The way you do this is where the games unique play style comes in.
Obviously with this game being on Kinect, you know you will use your body in some form or manner. This time, if you can imagine making your body a moving bridge, this is how you must move your Leedmees from the portal they enter from to the exit portal. The thing is, Leedmees are very fragile. Too much moving or moving too fast may result in you destroying one and of course you can only destroy a couple before the game decides you have failed the level. This is all a wonderful idea, but due to some tracking issues that the game happens to have while playing, this becomes much easier said than done. Sometimes as you may be lifting a Leedmee, the tracking may lag and cause your arm to jump and due to the Leedmees being so fragile, you will cause them to die. Or, if you reach your hand down for one to jump up and grab you, you may find that when the Leedmee jumps get situated on your hand it may die because of a delay in the game recognizing what it’s doing. This leads to frustration and lots of rage quitting.
The sound of the game is simply serene. Think of ilomilo type soundtrack that is very soft and mellow. Everything has a very mystical sound to it. Even when the Leedmees explode you find that the sound fits right in with the mellow tons of the game. Your on screen self is nothing more than a glorified stick figure, but some how all of this blends with the tons of the overall game. The general feel of the game is that it’s a puzzle game. Whether it be and obstacle blocking a Leedmee from reaching it’s goal or you having to move around and object with your body so the Leedmee can survive, the puzzle element is there and the further you make it in the game the more you get the overall feel of the puzzle game aspect. The tone and soundtrack generally fit right in with the typical puzzle themes and environments.
One of the big complaints I have with most any Kinect title is that the UI in the game is always a complete nightmare. That is one of the more positives in this game. The menu and just setting up the games you may play in general, seem to really just be simple. The Kinect’s tracking at the menus is as precise as you could want it to be, it’s just a shamed that that precise tracking dos not carry over to the main game.
Overall, Leedmees seems to be an attempt at a puzzle game for the Kinect, but due to less than par tracking it just fails to deliver on a fun gaming experience. The idea and tone of the game are wonderful. Even the general idea of using your body as a transporting device seems to really be a fun idea that would deliver better if the Kinect done what it was supposed to do. At the price of 800 MS points Leedmees is not that great a of a deal and would better suited for a buy as a deal of the week item. If you own a Kinect and are looking for something new to try it’s worth checking out just for innovation alone, but be sure to check out the demo first as you may find yourself in the same position I was, quitting every 15 minutes and then trying again. As an early entry into the Arcade Kinect collection it suceeds, but as a quality Kinect title it just falls a little short.
