One of the things I loved most about Fantasia: Music Evolved is that it truly is about the music. From watching trailers and gameplay you may think the concentration is on dancing, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, I'd argue you don't dance at all. A music game that requires Kinect but isn't a dancing game? It's true. And it's pretty fun too.
During the co-op demo at E3 we got to chose our own song and how that song would be remixed. We went with "Feel Good Inc." by The Gorillaz and chose a variety of remix options, none of which I completely understood, but there were picture of a drum so I said "Yep, gonna need those." These remixes assure that you're not stuck playing the same song over and over again, and the version of "Feel Good Inc." we played was a version I had never heard before.
![[E3 2014] - Hands (and Arms) on with Fantasia: Music Evolved](http://www.co-optimus.com/images/upload/image/Fantasia-MixChoice.jpg)
During play, there are various motions you must perform that go along with the music. Depending on the cues on screen, you'll be punching the air in front of you, pushing colorful shapes to a specific area, or tracing lines at a given speed - all to the beat and tempo of the music. I'll admit, at first it seemed like I was just waving my arms around, but halfway through the song I began to understand the motions, and it seems like something anyone can get better at the more they play. By the end of the song I was smiling and laughing, and to me that spells fun.
I have no clue how Nick, my co-op partner, was doing. At one point it seemed like he was doing way better than I, but I didn't have time to concentrate on his cues else I miss mine. The co-op is designed so that two players can play levels together, but fear not if you're playing with someone who has no moves - they won't bring you all the way down. It's still possible to get through a level, even if you both don't end up on top.
I was impressed with the tracking on Xbox One's Kinect. My silhouette was displayed at the bottom of the screen and at no time did I notice a disconnect between my movements and the on screen responses. I'll admit that in the past I've never enjoyed music games, yet after finishing the short demo I found myself wanting more. This might be the music game that changes my mind. Harmonix has built it's reputation on music games, and Fantasia: Music Evolved will be a welcome addition when it launches on October 21 for Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
I was able to interview Chris Nicholls, Executive Producer on Fantasia: Music Evolved to get more details on the game such as how scoring works, the different levels we can expect to play in, and how if you play the game with your mom you can still complete a level. Be sure to check it out: