Visual splendor! Simple, fun, unique and family-orientated. Not without flaws, of course.
The premise for Child of Eden is quite simple, it's a on-the-rail 1st person shooter designed to play with the Kinect but can also be played with a controller. Child of Eden a nice change from the typical blood and gore release titles on the Xbox 360. It offers up mild thrills but once you get going, the game cuts you off as there are only 5 stages that will take you no more than 3 hours.
Genre
This is a rail-shooter doing what it does best. They added the ability to play with a controller if you're not into the whole using your arms to fire and shoot. I opted for the controller as I am more familiar with it and it made the game play more enjoyable for me. Being an on-the-rail must mean you are going to be shooting stuff, right? Well, yes and no, you shoot geometric patterns and creatures. No blood and no gore (though it can be conveyed as violence). The game was designed to give you a unique experience in a world filled with art and design.
Story
The story was meant to get the game going, not to over-complicate things. This is great for those who just want to sit down and enjoy a game without the hassle of understanding what is going on.
Humans populate space and the first girl born in space is called Lumi who dreamed of one day returning to Earth. Many years pass and some scientist try to recreate her on the internet, or Eden as it's referred to due to it's vast database of knowledge. However, problems arise and endanger her completion and your role materializes. Your goal: save Lumi from a virus that threatens to destroy her.
Gameplay and Controls
The gameplay is very straight-forward. You follow a track and shoot anything that is red/pink/orange and turn it blue. Stages usually have a boss at the end and will launch barrages of attacks at you. Stages are pretty long and have no check point system, so if you lose you have to start the stage again. If losing is not your thing, then you can reduce the difficulty to just for fun difficulty where you can't die/lose. For the gamer who likes to be challenged, there is a hard mode available that adds a little life to this already short game. Most of the replay will come from playing the stage over, learning enemy patterns, earning achievements and competing on leader boards.
The game is actually quite fun and the soundtrack syncs up quite nicely with the rest of the game. Once you finish the game, you can head over to the extras and watch a few music videos or check out the art gallery. Though, it is confusing what exactly they are promoting with the music videos as they have no tie-in purpose with the game.
Cons:
First, the game is short and I mean really short. It will take you no more than 3 hours to complete on normal difficulty. Hard mode doesn't offer no more than it's title except that the stages can become hard(er).
Secondly, Lumi's actress just doesn't seem to fit and pops up at the most awkward moments. As it has always been and will always be, using real-life images in a synthetic world detracts from the game and mixes as well as sandpaper on glass. It is more a lazy design characteristic than anything else.
Thirdly, there are no multi-player options, none, zilch, nadda. How can you deny the player the right to play this beautiful KINECT game without a friend/family member/significant other? Adding multi-player could have given this game lots of re-playability but there is none so the re-playability remains minimal. Unless you enjoy achievement hunting and leaderboards, this game will be over for you quickly.
Finally, get rid of the game over screen, it's just weird and outright creepy at times. For example, "An ugly end but without the grotesque, there can be no beauty." erm...okay, if you say so...
Graphics and sound
The most stellar part of this game is the graphics and sound, extremely detailed and greatly choreographed music instantly make this game enjoyable. no complaints here, this is a great welcome change from typical shoot-em-ups and rail-shooters. It would be nice if they let you use the artwork as a background image for your 360, but that is nothing major.
Conclusion
Although a stunning visual and musical experience, it's hard to look past how short this game is. With the lack of multi-player this game is hard to recommend for anyone but those who love achievement hunting and leaderboards (and I mean LOVE leaderboards) as the experience will be over before the money is subtracted from your wallet, which is quite disappointing. If you are looking for a xbox360 title that does not offend, lets you delve into leader-boards and offers up some stunning visual and audio experience without all the blood and gore, then this is the way to go. If you care not about leader-boards or achievement hunting, then this is a rent at worse being an experience all should try out, but is way too short to purchase for non-leaderboard competitors.
7.5/10 - A good title with beautiful visuals, music and a basic storyline. Lacking in depth, length and re-playability.