I've got the blues in my heart, and the devil in my fingers.
Every time I get a game to review that uses Kinect as it's main peripheral I tend to go off on a rant. Kinect is dead or nobody uses Kinect as a gaming controller anymore but not this time. This time I've decide to give Virtual Air Guitar Company a clear shot at finally nailing a good Kinect gaming experience.
I'm a rocker so the name Virtual Air Guitar Warrior instantly grabbed my interest. As the name suggests you play the game by holding a virtual guitar and by performing various actions you unleash different types of shot which you use to take down the incoming waves of enemies and if you think that's bizarre you won't get any arguments off me. As bizarre as this all sounds it actually works extremely well. Your shot selection is controlled by how close or far apart your hands are from each other whilst doing your best guitar shredding impression to the music. This doesn't mean you can just stand there and strum until you beat the level though. Each shot only has a finite colour and when it's exhausted it will need to recharge. This forces you to switch your shots constantly so you can adapt to the ever looming onslaught. As if pretending to rock out while shredding your guitar waste enough Virtual Air Guitar Company also allow you to ride on the backs of mythical beasts as you shred your way through your enemies. If you've ever fancied riding a giant eagle or mounting a mecha Godzilla while shredding your virtual guitar as if your life depended upon it then you're gonna be like a pig in shit here. Thankfully with everything that going on around you all you have to do to move each adapt is till your guitar up or down it's that simple. 
Each world is absolutely bloody ridiculous and I mean that as a compliment. It's been a long time since I've seen a game really go to town with its premise. Every level here is unique and nothing looks the same from one level to the next and there aren't many games you can pay that about. How many games can you think of that have you riding an asteroid one minute, a shark the next, a unicorn and then flying through Egypt while shooting UFO’s and skulls. Nothing I can think of anyway. But that's part of the fun here because nothing is meant to be taken seriously. 
If you find yourself getting bored with the guitar you have you'll have the ability to unlock a huge amount of various guitars as you progress through the game's campaign. Each guitar has its own distinct shots and abilities for you to lay waste to everyone and everything. Each guitar allows you to pull one a specific pose which unleashes a special attack and finding out what pose unleashes what kind of new hell is half the fun. These unlockable guitars aren't just there for the sake of it though. Replaying old stages with your new axe let's you compete against your old score. If your the type of gamer that must complete every single objective in a game Virtual Air Guitar Warrior will have you coming back again and again. The campaign is huge and achievement whores will keep coming back to it. Another fun feature is the snapshots that get taken after you have completed a set of stages. You get asked to strike a pose and that picture is used as an album cover for that section's levels.
That's not to say the game doesn't have its faults though. For a game titled Virtual Air Guitar Warrior the soundtrack is lacking in rock or metal. It should have been one of the most important aspects of a game like this but it's just weak. The ability to use your own soundtrack would have been awesome but that's not an option. The game is bloody tiring after a while and most Kinect games suffer the same fate although my kids didn't seem affected by it. Fatigue soon sets in the monotony of pretending to play air guitar soon begins to grind away all the fun. The boss fights are extremely challenging with absolutely no instructions or warnings of any kind to help you learn how to avoid an incoming cutback. Not knowing how to avoid an attack because there is no way of knowing what each movement each boss makes is very annoying and it becomes a game of trial and error.
I never thought I'd say it but I really enjoyed myself playing Virtual Air Guitar Warrior albeit in short bursts. Minor gripes aside it the most fun I've ever had with a Kinect game and as usual my kids loved it. If you can take your time and play it in short bursts it's a game you won't tire of quickly. So grab those shades, comb your mullet and rock on.
Developer: Virtual Air Guitar Company
Publisher: Virtual Air Guitar Company
Website: Air Guitar Warrior for Kinect
Twitter: @VirtualAirGtr / @AirGtrWarrior
Review code supplied by Virtual Air Guitar Company