There has yet to be any truly comprehensive summary of Move game reviews, so in part 2 of this 4-part special we are going to look at every Move title, past and present, Bluray and PSN, plus a quick overview of some forthcoming titles of interest.
The whole of the last two weeks has been spent just hammering these games to produce this report, and I was fairly sceptical at the beginning, so dive in and enjoy!
Move-only Blu-ray Titles
Start The Party! (demo available on PSN)
One of the launch titles, Start The Party is the obligatory release of social mini-games. I don’t think we need to waste too much time here; how can I put this delicately? Oh yes, it sucks. Although the kids might enjoy it for a short while, for adults not only is it not fun but I also had trouble getting some of the games (notably the fly swatting exercise) to work properly. If you purchase this, it should surely be as a novelty purchase only to see what your new toy can do – and we certainly couldn’t blame you for that.
Kung Fu Rider (DEMO) (demo available on PSN)
Only the Japanese can come up with this stuff. You are an office worker who for unknown reasons is being chased through the metropolitan streets by the Mafia. Grab a seat on your office chair and fling your way through the streets avoiding obstacles, collecting cash and roundhouse kicking people in the face. With its twisted sense of humour and full use of the Move controls, this game should have been a blast. Unfortunately (and remember this is based only on the demo), the controls are awkward and over-complicated, which made the game a chore to play. I struggled to be bothered to finish the demo and overall press coverage on the internet has been less than flattering, so I think this one can be safely avoided.
Racket Sports (DEMO) (demo available on PSN)
This is a port of the Wii game, and unfortunately the extra capabilities of the Move haven’t been capitalised on at all. Featuring Tennis, Table Tennis, Squash, Badminton and Beach Tennis, this should have been a perfect compilation for anyone looking to smash balls at their opponents. Unfortunately, the graphics are poor, the controls are clunky and worst of all: the character moves automatically, just like in Wii Sports, eliminating most of the skill and leaving you to just bat the ball. This is a real shame because we need a great tennis game, it’s a natural fit for the Move, but right now we’ll have to make do with Table Tennis in Sports Champions, which is a far superior implementation.
Sports Champions (demo available on PSN)
Without doubt this is the best and only must-have Bluray launch title for the Move. Featuring Table Tennis, Archery, Beach Volleyball, Bocce (bowls), Gladiator Duel and Disc Golf, Sony chose a strange and eclectic mix of games to compete with Wii Sports. However, it pulls it off well with mostly superb execution.
Different people have mixed feelings on the different games, some loving Disc Golf, others Archery. The general consensus seems to be that Beach Volleyball is the weakest of the six games since you don’t move and merely make gestures to spike, throw and so on when prompted, making it more like a subtly disguised rhythm game than true volleyball.
Table Tennis in particular shows the merit of having 3D tracking, providing a level of control which far surpasses that on Wii Tennis. Forehand, backhand, lob and smash shots are all done as you would expect. Lean in and tap softly to do a little net shot, or lunge back to counter an opponent’s smash. Walk left and right a little to adjust your standing position.
My personal favourite is Archery where you physically reach behind your shoulder to take an arrow, bring your arm down forwards to nock it into the bow, then aim and fire using the zoomed in reticule. It’s all against the clock to score maximum points with good variety in the levels, and I can imagine this would be manic fun with two players in the living room – however, the space requirements for this and Table Tennis in 2-player mode will be prohibitive for many people.
Sports Champions is the definitive example of a great Move concept game. I say concept game, because it has two major problems. The first is that there is no avatar customisation or profiles of any sort, so it’s all rather generic. The much bigger issue however is a sore lack of online multi-player. This game is absolutely crying out for online multi-player, there are hundreds if not thousands of hours of fun to be had there, whereas on your own you will not find much replayability once you’ve worked your way through each sport’s straightforward campaign mode. I would kill to play this online, it is a terrible shame that this feature isn’t included.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt here. If you want a Bluray title to show off your Move, Sports Champions is the one to buy at this time.
Other Move-only titles out now
Get Fit With Mel B (30th September 2010 – USA)
MXZ
Ape Escape and sesame street?
i dont know what to say
gernboes
When you say that a navi is required, do you mean an actual navi or can you also use a sixaxis as second controller?
also, dead space did not use the same contro scheme as RE5, thats why it was better (in my opionion). after playing deadspace, i just cant return to the tank controls in RE…
JigsawPieces
You definitely don’t require one for Heavy Rain .. I played through about a third of it using a DS3 as the second controller before I got a navi.
That said, it was much better with the navi, as it’s much less cumbersome. Some of the button combos would be much more awkward with the DS3.
Apnomis
Excellent round up Katy, although I wouldn’t put much faith in the IGN reviews as they seem to have made it their mission to hate anything Move related to such an extreme that I’m begenning to think money has changed hands with Microsoft’s marketing department!
Apnomis
beginning*
Ducer15
Nice article Katy. As you already know I love RE5 with Move. Yes it would have been better to use the trigger to fire rather than aim, but other than that its good. There is a period of adjusting to the game when you first start to play it and I found myself looking up or down because my instinct was to try and move like in other shooters, however once you get past that it becomes great fun. I like the way you sweep the Move controller in a slicing motion in order to use your knife. Nice!
kevatron400
Wow. Firstly, thanks for the write up; it’s really good to have everything in one place. Secondly, I can’t agree with you that you think that TV Superstars has the potential to be better than Start The Party.
Whilst I understand that STP is very much Wii-ware in essence, it captures the spirit of what made the Wii good in the first place (it’s frantic, fast-paced fun) and has some seriously impressive augmented reality going on.
TV Superstars, by contrast, is everything that is wrong with the Wii. Waggle to run. Make this gesture left, zigzag this gesture right. Soulless and horrible. The face thing is the only good part about it, and you can have your face on your character in STP (although obviously not with the same customisation).
cc_star
I’m yet to play Move since the first week and am wondering whether I made a mistake buying it.
Of the Move exclusive games (eg one’s that aren’t an alternative to DS3’s)
Sports Champions is easily the best but after progressing into the gold cups in all the events I see little benefit in continuing, the game just doesn’t seem to offer anything else… and as a multiplayer game – its OK, but its a million times more sterile than a Wii equivalent, and by utilising Square, Triangle, Circle and X in a few games makes it more inaccessible to non-gamers as they always need to ask what button was it again, or have to stop their motion to locate it on the controller.
For games which offer Move as an alternative to a DS3… I’m not sure of the point, I’ve not had a problem with PlayStation controllers for the last 15 years and not a single game either out now or forthcoming convinces me that an alternative is needed.
Love the tech, just don’t seem to be getting the value out of it that I thought I would when I spent £100 a couple of weeks ago .