Hands On: PlayStation Move

nofi 60 Comments

Sports Champions

Sports Champions is the flagship launch game for the PlayStation Move. It’s the most feature packed and it’s the most diverse in terms of what it offers, with several feature complete games making up the package, and thankfully few of them attempt to ape anything that’s gone before from the likes of Nintendo’s Wii Sports range. The disk comes with six games – Table Tennis, Volleyball, Gladiator Duel, Disc Golf, Bocce and Archery, and each features a single player campaign mode and a multiplayer competition mode along with a free play option for when you just want to mess around.

The game also features a handful of ‘athletes’, packed with stereotyping and forced character but actually endearing enough for most gamers to find a favourite – these champions play through all of the events, dressing up (or down) as appropriate.

Because the games are so distinct, each requires something of a learning curve before you get anywhere near good enough to challenge the computer AI, and each game needs a different skill set and control method too, although there’re a couple of consistencies (squeezing the trigger to ‘pick up’, for example). Table Tennis is perhaps the most immediate, presumably because it’s the sport most gamers are most likely to have played in real life, and as a result it’s also one of the best, with the ball reacting stunningly realistically off your bat, which moves in a 1:1 mapping with your controller, with no discernible lag.

Also rather good is Disc Golf, which is a take on the throwing disc games with each player trying to get their disc into the target, playing out, as you’d imagine, like golf. The clever thing about this particular version is that, with the Move’s precision and ability to know exactly what you’re doing, putting spin (in any direction) is not only possible but actively encouraged. You throw just like you would in real life, and the disc mirrors what you’d expect it to, without question. It’s not the most exciting game in the package, but it’s a joy to see the game’s technical merit for yourself in the comfort of your own home.

The other games need further playtime before we cast any more opinions, Archery seemed a little confusing and Gladiator Duel a tad dull, for example, but we expect that whilst Sports Champions doesn’t offer the same immediacy as the Granny friendly Wii Sports there’s far more depth here and the overall consensus is that Sony’s take on the genre has far more to offer in the long term than the decidedly throwaway Nintendo experience (who still plays it, really?) The graphics are great, if a little PlayStation Home, but it’s the controls and physics that really shine with this.

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60 Comments

  1. I’m gonna buy move one day, just you wait and see!

  2. Can I ask who ‘we’ is? Obviously its nofi, just wondering which other staff members have tried it. The jurys still out for me. Looking forward to a few tsa reviews to see if you can persuade me to part with my cash. Informative write up! Thanks!

    • It’s the royal “we”. Standard practice when talking about an entity such as a website. That said, expect to hear more MOVEments in this area from us (or, you know, me) before the week is out.

      • Did everyone at TSA Towers have a sex change ? :S
        That picture says so, also explains why it’s so tidy now as well….

      • I thought everyone knew TSA was staffed by a bunch of hot women? Isn’t that the reason why we’re so popular? ;)
        *flutters eye-lashes*

      • I can assure you I am NOT a woman.

      • Circus much ?
        “Bearded, dancing, female bear-cub spotted in grungy council estate flat.”

      • I can assure you that I don’t think I’m a woman.

      • Yeah, I have to say Nofi’s looking pretty hot.

  3. Very neat article, resembles how i wanted to learn about move: glad the tech works well, but don’t really care about really minute details that only fanboys bicker over. Getting this day 1 with resi 5 (was this available for you to play too?)

    • oooh, I forgot Resi 5 Gold was going to be Move compatible. I’ll have to dig out my disc!

      • Only the Gold (or what ever it’s called) Edition will have move support.

      • Yeah ive pre-ordered the gold 1 on shopto for £15, bargain!

      • @ Juelz345

        He did say Gold dude :)

    • *slams head on desk*

  4. This sounded like the hardware acts as advertised but that the software is more or less average. Could this be true of all the games designed move?

    • These are more the casual games though, it will probably work better in games like Killzone 3, Sorcery, Resident Evil 5 etc. which is more based on accuracy and precision then waving your hands around

      • Yeah exactly, the first wave of games is pretty much guaranteed to be sub-par, but later on, I’m sure we’ll see some pretty epic implementations of the Move.

      • Should the first wave of games really be sub-par? When new tech comes out, shouldn’t the first wave be good a least. Take the dualshock for example. Vibration worked pretty well in Gran Turismo and motion control worked quite well is motorstorm.

      • Simple rumble is VERY different from implementing a whole new control machanic. And just how well motion worked in Motor Storm with Dual Shock 3 is subjective, and still very differnt (which is what you’re talking about right, the original dual shock didn’t have motion controls.

        I fully expect that the majority of games that launch for Move and Kinect will be average at best, hopefully with a few shiners. Just like launch games for any console don’t show you what the console is really capable of and fail in comparison to the games that are released in the coming years.

      • Weren’t the first couple of games for the PS3 ok too? I mean they weren’t bad, but they weren’t great! With time they’ll make better games for the Move…I’m sure of it.

  5. Does it come with the girls?

  6. Nice article, seems like it all works as it should. Don’t think I’ll be getting it but good to see it’s alright. I like that you can control the xmb with it that’s pretty cool you don’t have to switch between controllers then.

    I need to stop looking at the move logo and seeing it as an upside down Voi Jeans logo lol.

  7. The only good games worth getting in first week imo are r.u.s.e, echochrome 2, sports champion ( which americans get free rather then a disc version of demos ( which will be on the psn store for free.. ) ) and then of course there are those games that will be recieving a free patch i.e lbp, heavy rain and flower :D

    • Yeah. Here in America, We are not getting the demo disc replaced by Sports Champions! The Bundle comes with both Sports Champions and the demo disc :D

  8. I still probably get the starter kit, but getting the full games will depend on my own experience with Move itself.

  9. Brilliant little article, looking forward to future Move coverage from TSA :)

    Glad to hear that the Move “feels” right, can’t wait to actually get my hands on one. For me, Sports Champions is the only “new” disk based game that appears worth getting. Resi 5 and Heavy Rain should get some extended play time in my house because of Move too, but I think the real winners at launch are going to be PSN titles like Echochrome 2 and Flight Control HD.

    Looking forward to it regardless :)

  10. The games are fine, don’t worry. We’ll have full reviews of them all on the 1st of September.

    • Realy enjoyed your in-depth preview of your thoughts Nofi. I’m definitely going to get the motion controller on day one and then if I enjoy it the sub-controller at some stage in the future . £29 quid isn’t too much of a risk to try it out even on my crap income !

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