It can be hard to pick a favourite sports game because, and I say this with the authority of someone foolish enough to engage in several annual releases, they're all the same. When people think of their favourite sports games, they're probably thinking less about how good the game is and more about the memories they had while playing them. Everyone's favourite World Cup is the one that happened closest to the time they were 12 years old, and the same goes for their favourite sports game. But there are a few exceptions, and it's a shame that Xbox missed out on this phenomenon ten years ago.

My favourite sports game is Wii Sports , in part because of the experiences I had playing it with my family, but mostly because it felt so active and vibrant. While memories of FIFA might be crowding into bedrooms and that feeling when your winger smashes it into your mate's top corner, those emotions are the same whether the winger is Freddie Ljungberg or Wesley Sneijder or Eden Hazard or Mo Salah. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Wii Sports Was Both Ahead Of Its Time And Perfectly Of Its Era

Wii Sports was special in that it was unique. You can't transplant that feeling into another, similar game of another era. You simply had to be here for it. It's the 1986 World Cup - you were there or you weren't and there is no comparison. Except ten years ago this month, Xbox tried to get esteemed developer Rare to make one in Kinect Sports Rivals. This was the 2010 World Cup - it didn't matter if you were the perfect age, it was still kind of rubbish.

Kinect Sports Rivals is the third entry in the Kinect Sports series, so may be more appropriately compared to Wii Sports Resort, but since that offered greater range and depth than its predecessor while Rivals scrounged around and came up short, that distinction does it no favours either.

Part of me liked Kinect Sports Rivals, but a much larger part simply wanted to like it. Like Wii Sports, it had an array of sports that you played via physical movement. Unlike Wii Sports, it didn't even require a remote to play, which was supposed to offer more freedom. But this led to a lack of control, as well as rampant over-ambition. So, like England at the 2010 World Cup. I still remember the highlight of the Algeria game being a bird landing on the net...

Kinect Sports Rivals Was Both Behind The Times And Perfectly Of Its Era

Kinect Sports Rivals had tennis and bowling, the two most popular games from Wii Sports, and did an able job of recreating them, but I'd still rather play Wii Sports. Rock climbing was a solid addition that made good use of the Kinect's capabilities, although it failed to recreate the sporting sensation of a great approach shot in Wii Sports' golf. Somehow, the lack of controller made it feel more artificial, like you were simply playing a video game rather than swinging a real golf club.

This problem only grew worse with the other games. Soccer had you glued in place with options only to pass or shoot, closer to table foosball than actual football, while pretending to race a jetski in your living room just left you feeling like an idiot. Target shooting, the final offering, always felt like a strange choice because most games have that already and there's just not a lot to shooting that makes it feel like a sport, talented though the competitors may be.

Of course, these issues were not all of Kinect Sports Rivals' own makings. Wii Sports is so iconic because it was a pack-in game with the Wii itself, which went on to become one of the biggest selling consoles of all time. Its legacy is indelibly tied to the Wii itself. They are Diego Maradona and 1986. The same is true of the Kinect and Rivals, only they're more Roy Hodgson and 2010.

Kinect Sports Rivals missed its launch date, meaning it could not build the momentum that Wii Sports had, arriving after the hype of the Kinect had moved on. That leads to the second point - the Kinect was unpopular and didn't work as well as advertised, feeling like a clunky albatross around the Xbox One's neck rather than a unique selling point for the green team. The game never stood a chance, whether it deserved one or not.

Kinect Sports Rivals arrived too late for an accessory that wasn't that good to begin with, but I can't help but think of what might have been. I love Nintendo Switch Sports , despite its frustrating online rewards , lack of offline progression , and more limited roster of sports than Resort . I'm always going to be down for motion-based arcade sports games, chasing the high of Wii Sports. The combined powers of Xbox, Rare, and cutting edge motion technology should have gotten a lot closer than they did. Ten years on, I'm not looking back on the game Kinect Sports Rivals was, but the game it could have been.