Kung Fu Panda 2 the video game begins where the movie leaves off, as Po and the Furious Five venture out to save kung fu from a new evil threat. Using the Kinect for Xbox 360 Po teaches players key kung fu moves to train them for impending battles against new, never-before-seen enemies. Using Kinect, players will then seemingly transform into Po as they block, dodge, duck, punch and kick, no controller required. Onscreen, Po follows their every move as the game takes them into some new terrains and environments...

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a perfect example of why technology shouldn't be released on an unsuspecting audience until it's ready. In a previous life I was the features editor of the weekly trade paper Electronics Engineering Times (EETimes). I experienced numerous new technological gizmos and gadgets that were launched when they had really been thoroughly tested and an industry insider once told me in confidence that the need to keep ahead of the competition plus the need to keep costs down meant that this was a problem that would get worse as time went on.

Why am I rambling on? Well the truth is that this is would be the shortest review I've ever written if I didn't pad it out with something. You see the Kinect sensor failed to register me jumping - which is what you need to do to start the game. Me jumping is not a pretty sight anyway, but me jumping over and over again - and swearing - in a bid for my actions to be registered is just plain wrong. So, I quit the game and went through the rigmarole of calibrating the Kinect sensor, popped the disc back in and tried again - this time I was asked to high five in order to get to the main menu. I started playing the game in story mode and had to partake in the training level which walks you through the moves. Again, we get to jumping and it won't register me. So we try other people... No, the game can't see them jumping either. So, I go online and take a peek at some of the other live reviews and there are a few were this jumping issue has been a problem for them too. We even tried another Xbox 360 and Kinect sensor, but still no joy.

Other online reviews also bemoan the fact that short children's punches don't register either, so all in all it looks like this game is a bit of a disaster.

So, I'm now thinking this is a game I can't play - and it would seem I'm not alone. So I e-mail the PR contact who sent the game to us and I just get a bounce back to let me know that she no longer works there (or that her e-mail address is not recognised at that company).

In short I can't comment on the game play in any aspect because I couldn't get to it! If I'd bought this I'd be taking it back to the store immediately and demanding my money back. Sadly this game was not fit for purpose.

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Darren Rea