When Microsoft said their were 15 exclusive titles in development for the Xbox One, I immediately questioned how many would be for the dreaded Kinect. Thanks to an announcement from Disney Interactive and Harmonix today we now know at least one of them will be — and it's called Fantasia: Music Evolved.
I know the technology on the Xbox One version has supposedly seen improvement since the original Kinect for Xbox 360, but you can't blame me for my skepticism when it comes to games for the motion-based technology. I'm jaded from the amount of shovelware dished out on the Xbox 360.
Nevertheless, I'm strangely intrigued with what Harmonix has cooked up with its "breakthrough musical motion video game" inspired by Disney's classic animated film Fantasia. Maybe it's because I'm a biased Disney fan. Don't let the name fool you, though. It's not an overt adaptation of the film; it is only representative of the type of actions you'll be performing while playing the game: mixing and melding music and visuals in creative and artistic ways… by waving your arms around. With various arm swipes and motions, you'll have creative control over mixing some of today's popular songs, choosing between the original recording and new remixed versions. You'll even be able to add new layers of music via magical manipulators.
As much as I'm a skeptic, I'll admit Harmonix can work wonders with the Kinect and other motion-based games. Just look at Dance Central and Rock Band. Perhaps those are the reasons I'm not as negative when it comes to first impressions of Fantasia: Music Evolved. But if this is the route Microsoft decides to take with the majority of its other 14 remaining Xbox One games, you can bet I'll be pissed.
Fantasia: Music Evolved is set to release in 2014 for both Xbox One and Xbox 360.
