Sway your hips, fertilize the world. Wait a minute...Built around the ideas of relaxation and well-being, Leela is unlike anything else on the Xbox 360 — or elsewhere, for that matter. This Kinect release serves up pleasant mini-games on one end while teaching meditation and breathing exercises on the other.
Without the spiritual context, most of these brief games — each based around one of the seven Chakras on the human body — could pass for very simple Live Arcade titles. The more alluring activities include swaying your hips to rotate a planet to help plant and grow seeds, as well as waving your hand to cause chain reactions between floating energy icons. But elsewhere, shooting fireballs at space rocks seemed weirdly out-of-place, and rocking our heads side to side to spin around tunnels made us a bit nauseated.
The meditative options are well-presented, offering guided narration or hushed soundscapes in which you can ease your mind and body, but aside from a visual breathing indicator — a fun trick — Leela doesn’t make strong use of the Kinect in these segments. And though we liked some of the games, others are too sluggish or simplistic to really take off, and two of them suffer from frequent pauses that disrupt the flow of play.
Leela’s disparate components don’t perfectly align, but for meditative newcomers and casual gamers, it’s an interesting collection of breezy play sequences. That said, if you’re seeking a more engaging Zen experience via Kinect, we recommend the trippy sights and sounds of Child of Eden instead.
Head-tilting controls induce nausea in this tunnel trek.PUBLISHER: THQ • DEVELOPER: N-Fusion Interactive • ESRB: Everyone • MULTIPLAYER: None • ACHIEVEMENTS: Simple • COST: $50
+ Simple and attractive Kinect games for all ages.
+ Serves as a nice introduction to meditative exercises.
- Games don’t last long, and a couple are non-starters.
? How did those obvious pauses pass QA?
