Live out your dreams of being a guitarist for a rock band, or an air guitarist in Air Guitar Warrior! Fight your way through enemies after enemies in 50 waves in this shooter for Xbox One.
General Gameplay
The general gameplay is very simple with you strumming your guitar and shooting enemies on the screen. Depending on the strum it can be different types of projectiles that are shot at your enemies. After a finishing a album, you have a boss battle in which you have to finish to progress. In essence, the game is a shooter – with a twist.
Audio
In-game audio is rock rifts as the game is all about playing the air guitar. The game’s soundtrack fits well for the game as the rock rifts match well for the levels that you are playing on. The developer did a great job to make you feel that you are in a rock concert with the soundtrack for the game. The developer brought in a band to do the recordings of the songs in the levels, and this was a nice touch to make the game more enjoyable. As the game does not have any spoken dialogue, there is nothing that would be offensive for any family members. The game is not in 5.1 surround sound but the game sounds fine through stereo speakers. The gamepad edition can be played with a headset, but for the Kinect edition it is best to play the game with the SMART TV speakers.
Visuals
Air Guitar Warrior’s graphics are very simple and clean. There are different backgrounds to the levels that match the levels’ settings and that both enemies and the main player are designed to be easily seen by the gamer. The game has its share of ghouls, monsters, and other character types but nothing that would be too scary or offensive to any gamer in your family. Everything in the game is well done and easy to see. As the game does not support a colorblind mode, it is not needed because the colors, shapes and other assets are very easy to see on screen. As we tested the Gamepad edition of the game, it is recommended to play on a larger screen for the Kinect version of the game.
Controls
Depending on which version of the game that you get (Kinect or Gamepad Edition) the game is very easy to pick up and play, or get on screen to play. With the controller setup it is one thumb stick to move and just two buttons to shoot; with the Kinect edition it is all about your body movement in the game. In our playtesting we did not see any issues with the controls of the game in either case. The game’s controls are very responsive and, based on the room lighting conditions of the area that you are playing in, the Kinect worked really well without any issues. Other than using a Kinect, there is no need of a special controller to play the game.
“If you ever wanted to live out your dreams of being a guitarist for a band, while fighting off enemies on mythical creatures, then you will be right at home with Air Guitar Warrior”
Delivery
This is where it becomes interesting. For those that still have their Kinect, this is a fun game, not too much depth to it but still a fun party game to play. For the controller version of the game it is a simple but still fun shooter, however, do not expect much depth into the game other than shooting waves of enemies and then a boss battle. For the price of the game it is a great addition to any digital library, but for Kinect owners this is a great game to have. For more hardcore shooter fans this may be too simplistic for most and, if anything, the game is more for casual gamers.
Family Friendly
Air Guitar Warrior is a family friendly game; how much fun that you will have depends on if you get the Kinect version of the game or the controller edition. If you have a Kinect for your Xbox One then this is a great party game for you to have, or even a fun parent/child game to play as this is a great way to play an easy game that both can enjoy. The controller edition is a great stress breaker for you to play as it is not a hard game but more of a relaxing game to play. The game is not too difficult but do not expect more from it other than what the initial game offers. As a added challenge you can go back to levels that you have already passed and see if you can get a perfect score but after the game ends there is not much to do here. If anything we can recommend this game as a add on game for your digital library as it is a fun game for younger children and older adults to play via Kinect and for pre teen gamers to play via the controller. More seasoned gamers in your gaming family may pass this up because of the ease of the game, but still under the hood of this game is a fun game for all to have. Also, having people flinging their hands in the air is a fun activity to see and we here had a blast playing the game; our only complaint was that we wish that there were more modes and maybe a vs. mode for two players to play against each other. We’re hoping that the developer will add this to their next game.
Closing
Air Guitar Warrior is a casual fun game to play with friends with the Kinect and a great add to your digital library for the controller edition, but after beating the game don’t expect much more to do in it.
Be sure to listen to our podcast about our real thoughts on Air Guitar Warrior!
