This week's new games

Kinect, Xbox 360 Since the Nintendo's Wii's decision to forego the joypad in favour of waving around what looks like a stunted TV remote, the other two console manufactures have been scrambling to produce something as revolutionary. Sony released Move, which is effectively a technically superior Wii remote with some games that are very hard to love. Microsoft has gone several stages further by abandoning controllers altogether: playing Kinect games involves simply moving your body. The hardware itself looks and feels sophisticated, gliding up and down on tiny electric motors as it scans you and your room, as well as responding to voice commands, which control certain Xbox functions with inspiring consistency. You'll need plenty of space, with the optimum playing area eight to 10 feet from your TV, as well as plenty of energy, since sitting down isn't an option. Although regularly flaky, the first time Kinect recognises you simply by seeing your face, or you pause a film with a voice command, there's a distinct frisson of inhabiting the future. Microsoft, £130 Kinect Games Roundup Kinect Adventures is a compilation of one- and two-player mini-games ranging from involving whitewater raft-'em-up River Rush to highly physical 3D block smashing game Rallyball. It's a better introduction than the lacklustre Kinect Joy Ride , which has you holding an imaginary steering wheel to fumble your way around simple tracks while your Xbox brakes and accelerates. Even worse is Fighters Uncaged , a tragically terrible, mechanically broken fighting game that simply doesn't work as advertised. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is brilliant at projecting your form on to the screen, as well as knowing when you're even slightly cheating at its exercises, but fails to do much more than count calories to give you any sense of progression. Kinect Sports ' lineup ranges from a slightly-too-easy bowling game to the sweat-inducing track and field, all of which beg to be played competitively. But star of the show so faris Kinectimals , a beautifully rendered and unutterably cute set of interactive animal cubs and a thoroughly well-rounded game. Fable III, PC & Xbox 360 You're a prince or princess who, along with the rest of Albion, is subject to the brutal rule of your older brother, whom you must overthrow to return the kingdom to peace and harmony. Your job, along with the usual quests, battles, treasure seeking and strange romantic entanglements, is to start a revolution by engaging with various potentially helpful factions; to secure their assistance you promise each to return the favour when you become king. Sadly it's this freshly invented portion of the game that proves weakest, presenting you with a series of facile choices, which involve letting down some friends, before dumping you suddenly into the final battle. Structural peculiarities aside, its superb script and voice talent, including Stephen Fry, John Cleese and Sir Ben Kingsley, make it a delight to play, as does the humour and variety of its missions. Microsoft, £29.99-£49.99