The ride of your life!
Kinect Joy Ride is a racing video game developed by Xbox Game Studios and released as a launch title for the Xbox 360 Kinect. In the game the player sits and holds their arms out as if they are holding onto an actual automobile steering wheel and turns their arms back and forth as if to steer. The player can also push their hips forward to drift and pulling their arms forward followed by pushing them back delivers a boost. The game features standard races as well as stunt races where the player must simply spend time performing tricks.On May 23, 2012 the game received a sequel Joy Ride Turbo which released on Xbox Live Arcade and did not feature Kinect support. The game added powerups as well as tracks with branching paths.
Tropes featured in the game:
- Artistic License – Physics: There is no way that a car could possibly fly through the air and perform acrobatic tricks before making a safe landing and continuing to drive at full speed.
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Breather Level: The stunt races are this if they appear during the standard Race Mode since the player is simply tasked with performing stunts until the timer runs out. - Character Customization: Along with the ability to use an avatar, the player can also customize their car with different colors and accessories.
- Land of Dragons: The Great Dragon Road track has a Chinese feel with the track lined with small pagodas and the centralized feature being a super large serpentine area of the track that is set along a bridge that is styled like a dragon.
- Product Placement: DLC packs added stylized in-game versions of several Chevrolet vehicles including the Camaro, Cruze, Corvette, and Volt.
- Shifting Sand Land: The game has a very arid setting with most of its tracks being set in desert areas.
- Skate Heaven Is a Place on Earth: Two of the game's tracks are stunt tracks with the player simply tasked with performing stunts until the game's timer expires. They are also accessed if the player should select to play the Stunt Race or Trick Race mode.
- South of the Border: The Lighthouse Loop track has a Mexican feel with the tyle of houses and the fact it is set in a desert.
- Tech-Demo Game: As one of the Kinect launch titles, the game shows how the sensor can be used to realistically mimic real-life actions, in this case, driving.
