Review by: Danielle Riendeau

While it’s close to impossible to look like a normal, socially well-adjusted human being playing any Kinect game (unless you are a real pro at Dance Central), Fruit Ninja Kinect takes the strawberry-topped cake. Playing this game requires you to karate-chop shadowbox with your full body, spazzing out before a screen of rainbow-hued graphics, juice, and magical sparkles. If you live on a first floor apartment, you may need to close your blinds when you play.

The good news is that it’s as fun as it is crazy looking. The core idea is incredibly simple – you stand before a 2D screen in which various types of fruit is tossed up, and it’s your job to slice every sweet thing you see. You need to avoid point-deducting bombs, and slicing multiple fruits with one swift strike earns you combo bonuses.

While there are multiple modes – including a “zen” mode, a raucous two-player party mode, and a delectable challenge series (with typical tasks like “get x number of points” and timed events), that’s about it. You are standing in front of your TV, Karate chopping at virtual fruit, and if you’re like me, giggling like an idiot the entire time.

Part of the enjoyment comes from the pitch-perfect sound effects and little visual touches. Your cuts are accompanied by a satisfying “swoosh” and successful hits connect with such wonderful, juicy sounds that onomatopoeia simply cannot do them justice. It feels visceral and fun, and the accuracy in all of the main game modes is excellent, once you get the hang of the timing. Helpfully, a shadow outline of your body and arms appears at all times in the background, allowing you to line everything up perfectly (and collision detection is generous).

There is a wee bit of depth – avoiding bombs takes a bit of skill; so kamikaze cutters will never make it through the challenge mode. There are also various unlockables to earn, like new blades and backgrounds, though the impact on gameplay is minimal. Basically, this is a very fun, very polished minigame on steroids. It won’t fill hours and hours of your time, but it is a wacky, light alternative to the more in-depth releases that the Summer of Arcade promotion has brought this year.