Kung Fu LIVE!

Damage to enemies is based on the speed of your attack, not any particular motion cue, so whatever kicks and punches you throw will get the job done. You can even grab household objects and use those, the software automatically adjusting the hitbox around your character to include anything you decide to wield.

Landing a punch or a kick carries a satisfying "I did that!" buzz, and it's easy to see how fun this could be - if only the camera could make your avatar look as crisp and clean as the one in the tutorial screens.

There are special moves available, ranging from a simple double-fisted power punch up to Raiden-style lightning blasts. Getting the game to recognise these movements is trickier than the freeform fighting, and it's here that frustration seeps back in.

The somersault, an action that is pretty much essential for dodging attacks and jumping around the scenery, requires you to arch your back and raise your arms in the air. This almost never worked for me, even when every other punch and kick was translated fairly flawlessly.

Sometimes my legs would vanish and my character would sink into the floor. Sometimes I'd just fly into the air for no apparent reason. Is that worth suffering just for the faded novelty of seeing myself transformed into an outcast from Yie Ar Kung Fu? Not really.

Enemies are a cheap bunch, relying on extended health bars and constant blocking to add challenge to the later stages. It's already an incredibly energetic experience, but bludgeoning your way past these opponents feels more like work than fun.

The initial pleasure that comes from the on-screen feedback dims quickly when you realise the game doesn't have much else to offer. As part of a larger EyeToy package, such slim gameplay wouldn't be an issue. Served on its own, for more than a tenner, it's just not enough.

The game is more fun in multiplayer, where up to four mates can grab a joypad and control the enemies assailing you. But from masturbation to watching Alan Titchmarsh, there are few pastimes that aren't automatically more rewarding with the addition of friends and booze. It doesn't make Kung Fu Live a better game, just a sillier one.

Ultimately the biggest problem is that, at present, there's no trial version. You're forced to make a blind purchase, then find out if it'll actually work as advertised or if you'll be guiding a ghostly animated gif as it flickers and judders around.

Some lucky players will fire it up, get great results and then post on the internet about how maybe it's the reviewers that are broken, hmm? But that's not the experience I had, and it might not be the experience you have.

While I admire what's being attempted here, I'd be lying if I said I got more than an hour or so of actual gaming fun out of the two days I spent punching the air, cricking my back trying to do backflips and rearranging lamps to stop my head from disappearing.

It's sad because Kung Fu Live has much to recommend, in theory at least. The comic book presentation is enthusiastically funny, the freeform action concept is commendable and the technology itself, when it works, is promising.

But none of this is enough to even out the awkward imbalance between the steep demands made of the player and the one-note mini game entertainment offered in return. Even assuming a best case scenario, where the camera works perfectly, the game itself just isn't that interesting. A noble experiment, but in most cases a failed one.