Kinect Star Wars

Kinect Star Wars is a video game for the Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral. It was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 14, 2010. The game was developed by LucasArts, Terminal Reality and Microsoft Game Studios. The brief gameplay trailer showed the player controlling a lightsaber-wielding Jedi, fighting stormtroopers and Vulture droids, before being challenged by Darth Vader. The events of the game begin shortly after Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and conclude during Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The game was released on April 3, 2012.

Story mode - Jedi Destiny
The main mode of the game, the campaign story, set in the prequel trilogy of Star Wars movies.

Lessons on Kashyyyk
On a Republic Consular-class cruiser on route to Kashyyyk, Mavra Zane escorts a group of Padawan learners to be taught under Grand Master Yoda and finish their training at a Jedi outpost. Zane instructs the Padawans on how to wield a lightsaber, to deflect blaster bolts and duel an opponent. After their training on the ship, the group lands on Kashyyyk and are greeted by Master Yoda, Master Mace Windu and Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (as a hologram). Master Yoda greets the Padawans and instructs them to rest for their lessons. The next day, Master Yoda instructs two Padawans on how to use the Force on the training course that the Wookiees train in for millennia. The two progressed through the course speeding, destroying dummies, jumping and ducking obstacles with the guidance of Yoda, and continued their training. They learned to use the Force to destroy training dummies, lift, throw and catch rocks and lift a Jedi Starfighter. After finishing these tests, their training was over and they have mastered their control of The Force.

Battle on Kashyyyk
After finishing their training, the two Padawans and Yoda found Trandoshan transports invading the planet with Battle Droids and Trandoshan warriors. After dispatching some battle droids, Yoda and two Padawans flew two speeders across the jungle and the lake to reach the Wookiee village. After reaching the village, Yoda left the Padawans to fight the Trandoshans and battle droids on his own. After dispatching some B1's, B2's, Droidekas and Trandoshans, the Padawans were reunited with Mavra and made their way to the beach to take out a Trandoshan base. After dispatching many Trandoshans, droids, and missiles, the three made it to the base. Zane went inside to blow up the main reactor while the Padawans fought more Trandoshans and droids, and even facing two Trandoshan sword-wielding sport-hunters, Zane set the thermal detonator and they only had a few seconds until the base's utter destruction and the Trandoshans retreated.

Trandoshan Counter-attack
After the first battle's end, debris and bodies from both factions were everywhere. Mavra Zane, Master Yoda and Chewbacca discussed what the Trandoshans were doing. Chewbacca tossed an Accelerated Charged Particle Repeater Gun to her to show her what it was. It was obvious to her: it was no hunting party, it was a full scale army. Yoda left Kashyyyk to inform the Jedi Council of the battle. After Yoda left Kashyyyk, Mavra Zane and Chewbacca saw incoming Trandoshan dropships mounting a counter-attack. This time, the Wookiees and Jedi barely stood any chance against the Trandoshans. All of the Wookiees and Padawans tried to make it to a Raddaugh Gnasp fluttercraft to escape. Before they could get on, a chunk of platform fell in front of Zane and the two Padawans. Before the platform fell, the three made it to a zip-line on the far end and mounted it. After dispatching more droids and Trandoshans, the Jedi made it to some more fluttercraft. But Trandoshans already blew them up with their hover pods. They fight through more invaders and destroy an Ubrikkian floating fortress. Then Master Zane instructed the two Padawans and Chewbacca to escape Kashyyyk and warn the Jedi council of the Trandoshan counter-attack. Then she left to engage more Trandoshans. After making their way past droids and Trandoshans, the two Padawans and Chewbacca made it to a landspeeder and used it to get to the Star Runner.

Escape from Kashyyyk
The Padawans and Chewbacca reach the Star Runner, where they are greeted by an adventurous but naïve protocol droid named TC-38, who assigns the two Padawans to the ship's defense systems and shoot down a group of vulture droids along the way. After jumping into hyperspace, the ship's occupants are contacted by Windu and Yoda, who inform them that Zane and the other Padawans are being held captive aboard a Providence-class destroyer called the Nihilist above Felucia.

Nihilist
After escaping Kashyyyk they travel to Felucia where they break through the fleet and board the flagship. They free the Padawans and destroy the main reactor, leading to a chain reaction.

Felucia
They crash the Star Runner on Felucia and have to fight through more Trandoshans. They meet Mak Pra, leader of the resistance. The next day they launch an attack on Shu Mai's fortress. They are captured inside, but escape the Sarlaac. They then head back into orbit to meet with reinforcements from Master Yoda. They destroy a Droid Control Ship and then go to intercept the Trihexalon fleet.

Coruscant
They revert in the middle of a massive fleet battle over Coruscant. The Padawans fly into the Subjugator and destroy its main reactor, ending the threat. They are then promoted to Jedi Knight in a ceremony at the Temple.

Menu Screen Storyline
The menu screens seen in between modes have their own storyline. R2-D2 and C-3PO are sent by Luke Skywalker to retrieve files from the Jedi Archives on Coruscant. In the temple, they meet the "Commander", who "supervises" their mission. The player is the commander and each mode appears as a separate file from the archives.

Rancor Rampage
In this mode, a Rancor wreaks havoc on different planets,with the player controlling the Rancor. The goal is to destroy everything in their path, the players arm movements control the Rancor's arm movements. The Rancor can also jump and charge.

Galactic Dance Off
In this mode, very similar to Dance Central, the player copies dance movements the characters on screen perform. Several famous songs are used in the game, such as "Ridin' Solo," but given slight re-writes, such as "I'm Han Solo", to fit the Star Wars universe.

These songs were featured in the Galactic Dance Off mode, and are included here along with their real-world counterparts in parentheses:
 * "Aerodynamic" (Daft Punk – "Aerodynamic")
 * "Blasterproof" (La Roux – "Bulletproof")
 * "Celebration" (Kool & the Gang – "Celebration")
 * "Demons" (South Central – "Demons (Reset! Remix)")
 * "Empire Today" (Village People – "YMCA")
 * "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" (deadmau5 – "Ghosts 'n' Stuff")
 * "Hologram Girl" (Gwen Stefani – "Hollaback Girl")
 * "I'm Han Solo" (Jason DeRülo – "Ridin' Solo")
 * "Just the Way You Are" (Bruno Mars – "Just the Way You Are")
 * "Kashyyyk" (Jamiroquai – "Canned Heat")
 * "Little White Doves" (Dirty Vegas – "Little White Doves")
 * "Naturally" (Selena Gomez & the Scene – "Naturally")
 * "Princess in a Battle" (Christina Aguilera – "Genie in a Bottle")
 * "Stronger" (Britney Spears – "Stronger")
 * "We No Speak Huttese" (Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP – "We No Speak Americano")

The following is a list of dance moves used in the game:
 * The 3-Pointer
 * The Speeder
 * Double Blaster
 * Tusken Raider
 * Lasso
 * Hyperdrive
 * Not a Scratch
 * Freezing Point Pose
 * Trash Compactor
 * It's a Snap
 * Falcon in Flight
 * Solo Pose
 * Chewie Hug
 * Kamino Wave
 * Punch It
 * Raise it Up
 * Force Throw
 * Bantha Rider
 * Vader Pose
 * Push Off
 * Jar Jar Rock
 * Ooh-La-La
 * Mind Trick
 * Evacuation
 * There is No Try
 * Force Push
 * Duel of Fates
 * The Force Pose
 * Feel the Power
 * Wingman
 * Slice Pose
 * Mynock
 * Lando Fever
 * Sorceous Ways
 * Jetpack
 * Scout Trooper
 * Jetpack Pose
 * The Windu
 * Push It
 * Cloud City Slide
 * Fly
 * Take Off
 * Open Up

Podracing
The player controls a podracer and makes their way to the finish line, using their hands to control the podracer. You can choose from the following characters' pods:
 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Elan Mak
 * Teemto Pagalies
 * Ody Mandrell
 * Wan Sandage
 * Ebe E. Endocott
 * Mars Guo
 * Mawhonic
 * Gasgano
 * Ben Quadinaros
 * Ark Roose
 * Aldar Beedo
 * Dud Bolt
 * Clegg Holdfast
 * Boles Roor
 * Sebulba

Duels of Fate
In this mode, the player controls a Jedi, and have lightsaber duels with Sith or other sword wielding opponents.

Gameplay
The game is controlled entirely by the Kinect periphery sensor. The vehicle portions are on-rail, and the players control their chosen character through hand gestures and body movements.

Development
It was announced in June 2011.

It was released exclusively for the Xbox 360 platform on April 3, 2012.

Reception
"Why can’t we wield Dark Side powers? Force Choke and Force Lightning would’ve been sweet!"

- Official Xbox Magazine's standard question at the end of the review

As of February 12th 2013, Kinect Star Wars was the most popular true Kinect game on the Xbox 360 console. It is, however, the eighth most popular when including games that are only enhanced with Kinect. Despite the game getting less than stellar reviews from many game reviewers, Conan O'Brien did a review of the game on his late night talk show and enjoyed playing it.

Kinect Star Wars received mixed reviews, with reviewers citing the underdeveloped gameplay, weak writing and inaccurate controls. It received an aggregated score of 53.53% on GameRankings and 55/100 on Metacritic.

The Official Xbox Magazine rated the game at 4.5 of 10. The reviewer cited control issues with the Kinect motion sensor, comparing it to a lumbering sandcrawler. For the Force powers, the reviewer compared it to The Force Unleashed, although noted that it was slower here without the use of a controller. The review team also cited issues with the other game modes.

The reviewer did notice the respectable graphics during the Dark Side Rising campaign, and the review team enjoyed Galactic Dance Off.

When first released Kinect Star Wars' was the number one sold game in the United States and the United Kingdom (where it was the first Kinect game to reach that milestone). .