Kinect Star Wars to offer “finesse” in combat for core gamers

There’ll still be a challenge for hardcore gamers in Kinect Star Wars according to the game’s Global Product Manager.

Speaking to VG247 at Microsoft’s Play Day Event for gamescom 2011, global product manager on Kinect Star Wars, Glenn Gregory, went into detail on how the game will offer extra challenges for the hardcore.

"The challenge with a game like this is to make it so that anyone can play and have a good time right away but then also add enough depth and complexity so that someone who wants a full game experience can get it. I think that we’ve explored a lot of different ways of achieving that. In Jedi Mode you can jump in and have a real good experience but if you’re a core gamer there’s a lot of finesse to that combat and challenge you can experience there," he said.

"Pod Racing has steering assist that you can have on or off – so if it’s a kid or someone who doesn’t have much experience with games you can turn that on and it makes it a little easier – but if you want real tight control and want to really have a pretty serious racing experience you can turn that off – and then you’re kind of on your own."

A new mode was announced today in addition to the ones mentioned above and it lets you play as the biggest monster in the Star Wars universe: The Rancor, fought by Luke in Return of the Jedi. "You actually are the monster, you get to stomp around and eat people and pull TIE fighters out of the air, destroy buildings and fight AT-STs – anything you’d want to do as a monster," Gregory explained.

Gregory told us that more mode reveals would be coming for the game "throughout the Fall."

And what if is this is a huge success? Gregory’s response is unsurprising. "This universe is so rich that you could put out hundreds of games and not explore the entire universe. We’re working very closely with LucasArts – and everyone involved has a lot of ideas for where we could go with this as well."

Kinect Star Wars is due to release later this year, and will launch with a special edition R2-D2 themed Xbox 360 and Kinect bundle as well.

Check out new game screens of it from gamescom below.