PlayStation 2

EyeToy: Kinetic

When it comes to the Eye Toy peripheral Eye Toy: Kinetic easily makes the best use of the camera to date. Sure, it's not a game but as a fitness tool this program is unrivaled. Even my gym junkie friends who had a shot at this program made them question the need to attend their gyms any more. It's that good. Overall Eye Toy Kinetic is sheer brilliance and an essential purchase for anyone looking to tone up or lose some of that flab before summer? Superb.

What better way to keep your New Year's resolution to lose those unwanted pounds than to do it playing videogames. It sounds too good to be true, like watching educational programs on TV instead of going to school.

Cancel your gym membership and fire your personal trainer. All you need is your TV, PlayStation 2, and adequate floor space in your living room. Developed in association with the Nike Mindworks professional sports research lab, Sony's EyeToy: Kinetic helps you get in shape with a series of routines that make your Billy Blanks' Tae-Bo DVDs seem so, well, 20th century.

Do you get a bit misty, even inspired, whenever you flip on NBC and watch an episode of The Biggest Loser, or perhaps VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club? Well then, has Sony got a deal for you! EyeToy Kinetic offers the videogame equivalent of your own virtual Bob and Jillian, driving you to perform everything from yoga to Pilates in an effort to either stay in shape or shed those pounds, depending on what your current health and weight goals may be. It’s an interesting use of Sony’s EyeToy camera peripheral, and a more exacting and demanding challenge than any sort of workout offered by a dance-mat game; with EyeToy: Kinetic, you have to move your whole body.

Do you work too much to workout? Are you tired of hearing about Tae-Bo? Do you wish you looked like a sexy supermodel, but fear you have more in common with Snorlax than Cindy Crawford? We all live busy lives of boredom. Adding a workout program to our list of duties is just crazy.

It's still a bitter negative, and there are others (don't start a workout just before midnight to avoid a nasty crash bug), but they don't nearly justify labelling this a failed experiment. Any shortcomings as a solid piece of game design fall out of relevance in view of its amiable subversion of that very concept, to the extent where the label "videogame" calls for some scrutiny. Between the fun I had playing it, the fitness boost I've gained from it (body fat now 13% and dropping if you want numbers), the awareness and discipline it's taught me and the sheer enthusiasm it's reawakened in me to turn on my PS2 for an hour almost every night, EyeToy: Kinetic distinguishes itself until it is, almost, virtually unassailable.

Eyetoy Kinetic is one of the best uses for the Eyetoy yet and one of the most enjoyable exercise games you're likely to find. The fact it also has a personal trainer and comes up with a regime for you if you want it just makes it all that much better and we'd be surprised if anyone who took it seriously did not lose some weight of the period regime. We give this a big thumbs up, and to be honest we didn't think we would. Sony has surprised us all.

Kinetic will easily make most gamers sweat, and the fitness routine incorporates everything from yoga to boxing. I had some trouble aligning the camera to work best for some routines, but Kinetic is still easily the best way to fight the physical inactivity we gamers are prone to.

Eyetoy Kinetic is one of the best uses for the Eyetoy yet and one of the most enjoyable exercise games you're likely to find. The fact it also has a personal trainer and comes up with a regime for you if you want it just makes it all that much better and we'd be surprised if anyone who took it seriously did not lose some weight of the period regime. We give this a big thumbs up, and to be honest we didn't think we would. Sony has surprised us all.

Every so often, there falls into the lap of a games reviewer something which makes you pause, double take with a slightly feeble 'huh?' before wondering whether what you have in front of you can be reviewed.

Here at GamerDad, we love the Eye Toy and we're all about fitness games. Products like Eye Toy Grooveand Dance Dance Revolution are terrific ways to get the kids off the couch and on their feet. The potential for video games, especially Eye Toy, to actually offer a decent, bona-fide, workout is indisputable. That's what makes Eye Toy: Kinetic so interesting.

Sony's EyeToy has done a great job of offering gamers new ways with which to interact with their PlayStation 2, allowing them to make use of their arms, bodies and whatever else to actually participate in the onscreen action rather than just pressing simple buttons to do so. With all of the full-body interaction that's possible with the EyeToy, implementing it into a full fitness routine was a natural, and seemingly obvious, course of action. EyeToy: Kinetic offers up a full series of cardiovascular exercises, condition training and a number of other routines to help you get, or remain, in shape.

here is something for both fitness enthusiasts and beginners wishing to incorporate an interactive, customisable and entertaining exercise regime into their lives; proof positive that PlayStation 2 can be good for you. Even affirmed couch potatoes may find themselves pleasantly surprised. The next time some well-meaning friends or relatives make a disparaging comment about video games and poor health, simply whip out EyeToy: Kinetic and make 'em eat their words!

That being said, Kinetic is a great attempt at utilizing the EyeToy camera and the games themselves are quite fun to play regardless of whether or not you’re a couch potato. Depending on whether or not players have plenty of space around the TV (a backyard with your PS2 hooked up outside is ideal), EyeToy: Kinetic may be one of the best titles of its kind.

Despite the potential flaws of the setup, EyeToy: Kinetic is a nice and logical next step for the camera peripheral. Having a virtual personal trainer at home will never be as useful as having a live one to accurately gauge and correct your movements, but Kinetic is the next best thing, and at a fraction of the cost. The games are entertaining, but not really enough of a diversion to make you forget that you're exercising. If you're motivated enough, then that won't really matter, but there are certainly other, more fun alternatives to a home workout--fun being the operative word. EyeToy: Kinetic is an exercise program first and a game second, and it does a very good job at that. If you are looking for a way to shed a few pounds or just increase your personal fitness, then Kinetic is a solid and well-put-together workout experience.

Faisons simple, Kinetic n'est pas un jeu. On peut rire un peu au début, mais ça n'en reste pas moins un soft de sport assisté. Difficile alors d'en juger l'intérêt. A vous de voir si vous avez envie de vous entraîner comme ça ou si vous préférez sortir de chez vous. Moi ce que je peux vous dire, c'est qu'il y a 4 fois 6 exercices assez variés mais que la plupart des gens qui achètent des méthodes sportives ne les suivent pas. Voilà, je vous laisse vous débrouiller avec ça.

If you've gotten to the point that you're going to try a videogame to get you in shape, the chances of you having enough motivation to clear space (assuming you even have it), move lights, and change into clothes that the EyeToy can see, are pretty slim. It's a shame that the "game" essentially doesn't work, because it's a neat idea, and one that we'll certainly see again in the future when the technology exists to pull it off properly.