In the second edition of our biweekly column on Kinect gaming OXM regular and industry veteran Andrew Hayward declares a Kinect game his favorite of 2011...

I knew it from the moment Ubisoft's E3 press conference began last year. Seeing Q Entertainment mastermind Tetsuya Mizuguchi using hand gestures to command Child of Eden's blinding array of lights – much like a conductor might lead an orchestra – left my jaw agape in the back of that Los Angeles theatre. It blew my mind, and getting a private demo of the game from the man the next day only confirmed to me that the Kinect had at least one astounding-looking experience on the horizon.

It was a necessary mental note to keep in mind as the first wave of Kinect releases hit stores last fall, and all but a few choice offerings fell short – with little else of note following in the months thereafter. Had Child of Eden launched alongside the sensor, I probably would've popped it in immediately, blasting futuristic robots and flying sea creatures with each pulsing thrust of my hand. But by the time it finally debuted in June of this year, malaise had taken over. I didn't want to fumble through menus or rearrange my office to play; I just wanted to sit on the couch and take in the lights and sounds.

Initially, that's all I did. My first couple playthroughs were experienced with a controller in hand, sitting in a dark room with earphones on to isolate my focus onto the dazzling light show in front of me. And it was glorious. Admittedly, Rez – Mizuguchi's obvious spiritual predecessor to Child of Eden – wasn't the game to sell me on his vision of synesthesia, an effort to merge the visual, audio, and play elements into one uniform and enthralling experience. It was Lumines, the sleek color-matching puzzler (available as Lumines Live on XBLA), wherein the tenor of the experience evolves as the colors and music shift every so often.

But Child of Eden is the most potent effort in that regard to date, as the dizzying displays and thumping original tunes work in concert with the arcade-like shooting to create an unexpectedly emotional reaction to the work. It wasn't always clear what sort of subtext the game was trying to convey, but whatever the intention, it struck me hard – and had me lightly trembling in awe at the creative vision at multiple points during the brief adventure. Even months later, I couldn't help but feel a chill at certain points. It's a gorgeous, visionary experience, and much as it's easy to knock for being brief and lacking diverse play elements, nothing else released in the last year hit me like that.

Eventually, though, I had to put down the controller, move the couch in my office, and see whether the Kinect side of the experience could live up to the expectations established a year back at E3. To my surprise, the Kinect controls surpassed the controller-based interface in one truly important manner: the feeling of playing the game. On the couch, isolated with my headphones and minimal movement, it's much easier for me to swoon over the visuals and audio, as each explosive action adds music and sound to this desolate world. It's like the trippiest, acid-tinged screen saver you've ever seen, albeit one you can manipulate with a controller.

But when upright and using my hands to aim the cursor and launch blistering shots at colorful foes and hazards, Child of Eden feels much more like a video game. It's amazing how one game can feel so remarkably different simply by swapping control schemes, but that's absolutely the case with Q Entertainment's first Kinect release. The game's a little more lenient with Kinect enabled, and smartly so, but the skillful motion controls give you the air of an all-powerful being. It's the only Kinect game I've played to date that finds me intensely shimmying in place and tapping my feet after a level, like the digital power I'd just wielded compelled me to move.

The "Better With Kinect Sensor" banner atop the boxes of controller-optional Kinect titles has become a catchphrase for Internet commenters taking pot shots at what they see as the dumbing-down of core play elements. But it's a suitable tag for Child of Eden, a game that's seriously enthralling on both your feet and the couch, but feels notably unique in each approach, with the Kinect option in particular emphasizing the pulsing sensation of shaping this virtual world.

I'm so pleased that both experiences exist, especially within the same package, where they can coexist as equal elements instead of one feeling like an afterthought. Even if Child of Eden doesn't spawn a sequel, I'll always have the hours spent tossing invisible light bursts at my television, all utterly captivated by the sights in front of me. And much of that is thanks to Kinect.