Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Playstation Move review - forget the launch games, feel the potential
Hardware good, software not so...Released on 15th September, Playstation Move is Sony's entry into the Wii-fuelled motion control gaming market. I've been playing with the final kit for the last couple of weeks and there is no doubt Move is streets ahead of the Wii in terms of control and accuracy. What it currently lacks though is a compelling reason for gamers to go and buy it on day one. Sports Champions (Wii Sports essentially) and Start the Party (mini-games) have their moments but neither really do the hardware justice.Talking of the hardware, setting up Move is easy. Simply place the camera near the TV and watch it pick up the glowing orb at the end of your Wiimote like controller. The Move controller itself is sleek and comfortable to hold but it's the glowing orb at the end of the controller that will cause most comment. If the "grab and squash it" reaction of my two year old son is anything to go by you may want to keep the controller away from the little'uns. For older gamers though the controller is a good fit. More experienced Playstation gamers will have to make a slight mental adjustment though, as the standard face buttons (circle, triangle, x, square) are arranged here in a square. Luckily then most of the time you will be using the large "Move" button and trigger that will make Wii fans feel right at home.So what about the launch titles then? First up is Sports Champions - basically Wii Sports for Move. What it lacks in charm it makes up for in more precise control ? Move really does do the closest to 1:1 seen so far. Table Tennis is the best example of this. Move picks up subtle wrist tilts and with practice you can pull of fabulous top and back spins. Unlike tennis on Wii Sports you need to do more than just get your timing right. Table Tennis on Sports Champions really demands some skill ? there are no flukey wins on the higher difficulty levels.The other success on SC is Archery. When you start the event it says you need to be 8ft away from the screen. That wasn't an option for me and ? unless you live in a loft style apartment ? probably not you either. Luckily then the archery was playable from closer. Compared to the Wii (with motion plus) version of archery the Move's felt more complex and subtle. If you have two Move controllers you literally need to reach over your shoulder to pull an arrow from the quiver. You then need to hold a proper archery pose and prepare yourself for arm ache as well as satisfaction when you get it right. Like Table Tennis you can actually see yourself playing this for a while. Sadly the other events on Sports Champions are less convincing. Beach Volleyball in particular is mess - especially when playing multiplayer. The lack of player control is the biggest issue, with input mainly limited to basic serves and smashes. You'll need a large amount of playing area if trying to play multiplayer too. Gladiator Duel is a better ? yet short term - thrill that points to how Move could be used in a full size action game. Using one controller to thrust your sword and the other to shield parry you can soon imagine you are "in" a Zelda game. Sadly playing for anything over 20 minutes ? depending on your fitness ? does get tiring. However, the standard beat-em-up progression doesn't really encourage long-term play anyway. More concerning was the occasional missed thrust or parry when I was hacking away like a pro. Generally though the controls worked well and once you got used to the parrying there are some surprisingly challenging bouts to be had. Disc Golf works surprisingly well too. Move captures very subtle wrist flicks and after a bit of practice you can easily angle the Frisbee towards the cage-like "hole". Serious golfers will want to use Move with Tiger Woods 2011 but Disc Golf is one of the better events on Sports Champions. Last up was Bocce. I found it overcomplicated and fiddly with seemingly no real correlation to your movements. Fans of the sport may get something from this but don't expect any Wii Sports bowling style easy entertainment here.Overall Sports Champions looks visually underwhelming. Yes, it compares well to the Wii but you would expect far more from the PS3. The characters in Sports Champions lack the charm of Nintendo's Miis too. Then there is the price. 29.99UKP for 6 events is expensive, while the need to recalibrate the controller between each event quickly dulls any competitive momentum. However, as an expensive showcase of Move, Sports Champions does basically work. While the pick up and play element is often lacking in Sports Champions ? there always seems to be an extra button that needs pressing ? the long term potential seems greater than Wii Sports. This is especially true in single player, with Sports Champions actually rewarding solo play and practice.The other release title I've been trying is Start the Party. With a title like that you wouldn't expect an in-depth strategy game but the lack of depth here is worrying. Start the Party is basically a mixture of Eyetoy-style mini games and is clearly aimed at the family market. Hardcore gamers won't be too fussed about waving wobbly foam hands around but the kids will love it. Well, at least for a while anyway. A lot of the mini-games included feel like very short-term treats, especially as all games are "pass the controller" multiplayer only. Yes, no simultaneous multiplayer here. Whacking bugs or colouring-in on the screen is unlikely to appeal to more than the very young once the initial novelty has worn off. A mini-game that sees you guide falling birds into their nest ? by using a virtual fan ? is the pick of the bunch. Unlike Sports Champions, Start the Party doesn't really reward practice or repeat play and is clearly one for the Christmas afternoon/post pub environment at best. The only similarity to Champions is a similar lack of visual charm. Fun in (very) short doses then, but Start the Party is probably more relevant as a pointer to where AR (augmented reality) style gaming could be going.More serious gamers will be waiting to see how Move works with core titles like SOCOM 4 and Killzone 3. Early indications suggest a Wii-like use of the navigation controller (nunchuck on Wii) and the Move controller to look and aim. Unless this offers a real advantage ? unlikely, to be honest ? then Move will work best on games and genres specifically designed for it.The launch titles are underwhelming then but one thing is obvious very quickly - playing with Move makes it very hard to go back to the relative inaccuracy of the Wii. There is no doubt that Move is a big step up from Wii and the Motion Plus addon in terms of response and control. The tactile feedback from actually holding a controller will also likely make it an easier sell than the hands-free Kinect for Xbox 360. Give it a few months for developers to work out how best to use it and Move could end up being an as essential as the Dualshock controller for the Playstation 3.What do you think then? Planning on picking up Move on release?Move prices (RRPs):The PlayStation Move Pack (PlayStation Move controller, Eye camera and the starter disk) �49.99PlayStation Move controller - �34.99PlayStation Eye camera - �24.99 PlayStation sub-controller (similar to Wii nunchuck)- �24.99Sports Champions - �29.99Start the Party - �29.99SonyGamesGreg Howsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
