Kinect Rush: More than child's play

Asobo Studios is densely populated with masochists. It's the only explanation as to why it keeps setting itself the unenviable task of adapting the universally-adored and critically-celebrated films of Pixar into video games. Already it has brought the likes of Toy Story, Wall-E and Up to a variety of consoles but its latest game, Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure, is a different proposition. It doesn't stand in the shadow of a single Pixar movie. Instead, it attempts to recreate the magic of five films – Toy Story, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Cars and Up. Yet despite this pressure, there's strangely a greater sense of freedom about Kinect Rush. "We're trying to achieve the same thing with the audience [as Pixar]" says David Dedeine, Asobo's co-founder and chief creative officer. "They know how to lead a kid through a movie, even if they don't understand everything, and when the parents look at it they will see something else." Unlike a straight movie-to-game adaptation, Rush doesn't have to approximate the plot of a particular film; memorable sequences don't have to be stretched and strained into memorable levels. Rush is an extension of the Pixar Universe, and this is reflected rather charmingly in its presentation. Start the game and you're asked to undergo a full-body scan. Using the attentive eye of Kinect, key details are taken – the colour and style of your hair and clothes, the ratio between facial features. After a brief moment of contemplation, and regardless of your age, you are reborn as a child of Pixar. The look and movement of the avatars are sympathetic to the animation studio's distinctive style - in fact it provided constant feedback to ensure aesthetic continuity. The avatar is used to explore the Pixar Park – the game's hub, where other children interact and play. Walking around this area, you'll be able to enter one of the game's five worlds, but instead of banally opening a door, this is done rather charmingly by receiving an invitation from one of the other children who will invite you to play Toy Story 'pretend', for instance. Accept the friendly offer and you'll be plunged into the world of that movie. Entering the world, your shiny new avatar doesn't remain unaltered; using information from the initial body scan, a new avatar is fashioned, one that seamlessly fits into the world of that film. In most cases the physical resemblance to the player is lost, with only Up's avatar retaining the features of your initial avatar who is recast in the part of an intrepid adventure scout. But wade into the world of The Incredibles and you're suddenly a superhero with bulging biceps and bright spandex. For the remaining worlds of Ratatouille, Cars, and Toy Story, specific features are sacrificed. Only the colour of your clothing and gender influences the appearance of these characters – wear a red t-shirt and blue jeans and your car will have a red chassis with a blue racing strip.