Microsoft's Kinect lets you become the controller, but can a racing game really work with just your arms and no controller? What about boost, what about turning. And are you just going to end up holding a plate instead? We go hands-on at this year's E3 games conference in LA to find out.

Name

Kinect Joy Ride

What platform is it on?

Xbox 360

When's it due out?

November 2011

What other game is it like?

Crazy taxi, Mario Kart,

Does it use any new tech like 3D, PlayStation Move, or Kinect for Xbox 360?

Yep, this is a Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 game so get used to using your arms as the controller.

The pitch

“Kinect Joy Ride” reinvents driving and kart racing by adding massive jumps and full-body stunts to the classic kart racing action. With a host of cool features and game modes you can find your inner Andretti by going solo, pick up a co-pilot, or team up with your friends and family to take on the world.

“Kinect Joy Ride” takes the thrilling driving experience off the track into your living room as you bend, twist and move your body to hug the curves, jump through obstacles and show off your acrobatic skills - when you get your whole body into it, you are the car!

The storyline

There isn't one, just driving fun.

Video

Microsoft demoed the new game at its press conference, yes you really will look that silly in front of your TV. Our recommendation would be to make sure the curtains are drawn.

Our first impressions

As the pitch from Microsoft suggests, Kinect Joy Ride is all about driving, but at the same time not in a serious way. It's basically kart racing with jumps and stunts.

To control the action on screen you have to stand in front of your television holding your hands as if you were holding a steering wheel. To steer you move the pretend steering wheel and amazingly, and we mean amazingly, your car changes direction based on your movements - in our play it really did work. If you want to drift you lean in that direction, while a full step left or right will force a rather big turn on the screen.

When it comes to stunts you can either lean to the side, forward, or backwards, and the latter isn't probably advisable if you've got a bad back. 

There is turbo boost as well, and this involves bringing both hands to your body and the pushing out as if you were firing a fireball. Not something you find yourself doing that often but you know what we mean.

Joy Ride was our first experience of the new world of gaming and we settled in very quickly, although we found that we had to be slow and purposeful to get it to respond, especially with the speed boost elements. Panic and react to quickly and the game will ignore you.

Please note

The E3 games convention is a fantastic chance to see the latest games due out over the coming year, as well as, letting us get a glimpse into what is going to be the big titles and the ones to avoid like the plague.

The big problem however is that for most of the titles that glimpse is, well, just that. At the show you'll get to play a level here or a multiplayer map there.

So with that in mind we present you with our Quick Play.

What we've done is broken down the key facts you need to know and then given you our first impressions based on around 15 minutes of gaming. For us that 15 minutes isn't enough to do a First Look review. How can you rate a game that offers over 30 hours of gaming on just 15 minutes of play? However it should hopefully give you an idea, a feeling, a notion, of what to expect come launch day.