Developer: Halfbrick |
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Players: 1 to 2 Player Game |
Genre: Action

Release Date: 08/03/11

The ever-popular Fruit Ninja is heading from the small screens of IOS and to the big screen TV powered by the Xbox 360 and Kinect.

For those of you not familiar with the phenomenon known as Fruit Ninja, it has taken the IOS platform by storm. various pieces of fruit launch into the screen and you utilize the touch screen to draw your blade across the screen and cut the fruit in half like only a true ninja could. You only have to avoid the non-fruit pieces or you will lose a life. It is a quick, fun, casual experience that continues to generate huge sales and should make a perfect fit for Kinect.

In true ninja fashion, players use their arms to mirror their “virtual sword” and slice up all the fruit and avoid the bombs on the screen. The modes from the IOS platform are making an appearance: Classic Mode, Zen Mode, and Arcade Mode.  Classic Mode has you using your sword to swipe at all the fruit and avoiding the bombs. The game ends when you swipe a bomb. Zen Mode takes away all the elements to avoid and gives you 90 seconds to get as much fruit cut as possible. Finally, Arcade Mode is the fast and furious one minute to cut fruit–including the new pomegranate.

But no Fruit Ninja likes to compete alone. So grab a fellow ninja and swipe away with two players at once trying to cut your color of fruit (blue or red). Several people kept bumping into the player next to them so you will need some extra room for this mode to work. 

Halfbrick will be expanding Fruit Ninja after launch with both free and paid DLC. It will be coming on Xbox Live Arcade’s Summer of Arcade for 800 Microsoft “Space Points.”

Fruit Ninja should offer safe and family friendly content with the only blood and guts being fruit juice. Maybe they should add a Fruit Smoothie mode!

By Kaleb Rutherford – 06/10/11

Screenshots for E3 2011 Fruit Ninja