Kinect: Star Wars

Cert 12 Microsoft Xbox ***

Perhaps expectations for Kinect: Star Wars were too high. From the time it was announced, fans everywhere were getting excited at the thought of lightsaber battles with Darth Vader and using the force to fling heavy objects at opponents.

On the surface, Kinect Star Wars has all the necessary elements - podracing, lightsabers, Yoda.

Its campaign mode is Jedi Destiny, which mines the Jedi archives and puts you in the role of a young padawan who must fight against the Trade Federation and its droids. Its a crash course in battle techniques, and you get to try out all your best Jedi moves.

But thats not all you have on offer. You can take on some pod racing, or go for some out and out destruction, with Rancour Rampage , where you destroy everything in your path.

Other modes include duels of fate, which eventually pits you against Darth Vader in a light saber battle; and galactic dance off, which mimics games like Dance Central, with Star Wars themed versions of modern songs. The biggest problem is that Kinect: Star Wars suffers from some laggy controls, which means that while you may be slicing that lightsaber around at breakneck speed in front of the controller, you aren’t exactly being replicated on screen. Understandably, this gets frustrating. It’s a fun game, but just falls short of expectations.

CIARA OBRIEN