Mark Joseph LeongNumber 5: Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (Xbox 360) (Kinect)
Namco’s next-gen instalment of the Ace Combat series of flight simulators makes this list for one simple reason: it’s much more fun to fly with your hands on the controller than with analog sticks, and few make better air combat simulators than Namco Bandai.
Motion control unlocks the full potential of what it means to have an “in-cockpit” experience, a feature most flight simulators pride themselves on but are sorely inhibited by controllers.
With motion control in Ace Combat 6, you can act as if you were in your plane’s cockpit. Every gesture you make would govern how you fly your plane in the heat of a dogfight, a tilt left would bank your plane left, and pulling upwards would actually pull your plane up. The immersion in the game using motion controls would be a far cry from a simple analog stick tilt on a standard controller.
Number 4: Ninja Gaiden 2 and Sigma 2 (Xbox 360/Playstation 3) (Kinect/Move)
Aside from Dead or Alive’s reality-defying breast physics, few associate Tecmo with the visceral re-imagining of the NES classic Ninja Gaiden, which turned a 2-D sidescrolling beat-em-up into an action gore-fest as ninja Ryu Hayabusa sliced his way across nations, demons and gods alike.
While some of the weapon combinations in the game would inhibit full use of a controller-less motion environment, Ninja Gaiden 2‘s insanely fast-paced action will keep wrists and twitchy fingers on edge with its split-second gameplay and omni-directional combo possibilities.
Number 3: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Playstation 3) (Move)
Men want to be Uncharted’s Nathan Drake, while women want to be with him. Nathan Drake is an intrepid explorer traveling to exotic locations unknown to foil the ubiquitous “heist of the century”, never short of the typical adventurer’s combination of mystery, women, and big explosions.
With the wonders of motion control, stepping into Nathan Drake’s shoes and living his life of scaling jagged cliffs, escaping falling buildings and dodging traps innumerable as an explorer extraordinaire has never sounded more tantalizing.
Whether offering seamless cover-to-cover transition while you’re being ambushed by groups of enemies, or capitalizing on the game’s aspect of scaling cliff faces to reach hidden areas with your own hands instead of button presses, motion control offers that much needed element of realism to put you in the shoes of a explorer on a quest to bag the find of the century.
Number 2: Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) (Kinect)
While PC purists will remember Epic Games for Unreal Tournament, Xbox 360 advocates will remember them for their hit Gears of War series, complete with Epic Games’ usual breathtaking graphics, grim atmosphere and penchant for rather gory innovation (etc meat physics).
To say Gears of War 2 pulls off third-person shooters with flair would probably be an understatement. The cover system and combat mechanics, while not an innovation by any shot, suits the “realistic” approach to urban combat that Epic tried and succeeded in pulling off.
That very same cover system, which Epic touts as giving one the ability to use near “anything” in game as cover, fits motion controllers to a tee. Imagine instead of using buttons to take cover, peek out, and attack, motion control would put you at the forefront of a real war where literally every move you make would decide whether you live or die.
Number 1: God of War 3 (Playstation 3) (Move)
Clawing its way to the number 1 spot is Sony Computer Entertainment’s very own God of War 3, the latest instalment in the epic god-slayer trilogy that slashed, cut and maimed its way across generations and sales records.
While very much a hack-n-slash affair like fellow list-makers Ninja Gaiden 2 and Devil May Cry 4, God of War 3 brings something else to the table that neither offers in as generous dollops as much as it does – sheer, unbridled violence.
As neanderthal as it may sound, few gaming experiences come close to cleaving apart entire armies and tearing the heads off fire-breathing demons and mythical gods with your own two arms
As 2010 draws to a close and the world of motion control opening up a veritable abundance of possibilities, one can’t help but wish that Sony and Microsoft would have climbed aboard the motion control bandwagon just a little earlier.