Nihilistic’s interpretation of what should constitute a PlayStation Hero reads more like a who’s who of PlayStation 2 brand iconography rather than the current generation machine: whilst Ratchet and Clank have seen their fair share of action on PS3, Jak and Daxter haven’t, and Sly Cooper (and his sidekick Bentley) are only here on account of an HD wildcard. It’s an odd triplet of sadly rather dated team-ups – where’s Nate and Sully, for example, or Sev and Rico – the real heroes of the hour?
[drop]Because they wouldn’t fit in with the slapstick, slapdash mechanics – PlayStation Move Heroes’ few moments of brilliance generally lost beneath unfunny wisecracks and disjointed, unfocused gameplay. But we can only assume that the game’s like this because of the protagonists, not vice versa – if Drake had appeared perhaps there wouldn’t have been a game mode dedicated to rolling an exploding bowling ball up ramps and into wormholes as you try to collect enough crystals to fire off a rocket containing a little alien.Perhaps, but then where’s Sackboy?
Regardless, Heroes, then, offers up an assortment of modes split over four environments (Metropolis, Haven City and Paris from the respective games and one based on the alien race at the heart of the game’s loose ‘story’), with each location housing four or five unique settings. In each you’ll find a small number of missions, played singly or local co-operatively, divided up into a slightly bewildering array of weapon and game mode types, all of which are given little icons on the level select screens.
The weapon types vary from projectiles (including a Sports Champion-esque throwing disc) to melee (specific to each character) and the rather bizarre aforementioned bowling ball; these are paired up, with varying levels of success, with a smattering of challenges: survive for as long as you can, locate trapped aliens, collect crystals. The game goes to great lengths to tutor the player on a few combinations before letting you loose, although it’s easy enough to get the hang of things even when it forgets (like the first time you get given a rocket).
The problem is that the game isn’t actually much fun, and it’s not helped by the forced Move implementation, which works best with a Navigation controller (rather than a Dual Shock) but save for a few waggles of the whip could easily have been dialed down to a traditional controller without losing any of the appeal. Indeed, although the inputs manage reasonably well when flitting between steering a flying explosive and aiming a third person targetting reticle, you can’t help feeling that this would be better with dual analogs.
[drop2]It’s not that we’re adverse to motion control, it’s just that in this game they don’t feel necessary and often over-complicate things: camera control, for example, is either limited to a tap of the L2 button or shifted via crosshairs, neither of which are precise enough when the difficulty starts to ramp up and you’re aiming for the increasingly elusive Gold medals in each round. Likewise, the melee combat is tiring and limited meaning that, initially at least, best results are achieved by simply waving the Move around, something that could easily have been mapped to X despite the occasional requirement to swipe in a given direction.It’s not all bad though, the game steadily develops into something at least half interesting and the slow trickle of rewards mean that there’s always reasons to try to ‘gold’ each minigame, but repetition sets in quickly and feels at odds with the uneven difficulty curve, part of which can be blamed on floaty Move aiming or a frequently appalling camera – when the two are combined, like with the bowling sections, any failures are hard to pin entirely on the player. Coincidentally, such missions are mostly void of characterisation, too.
The visuals are nice, though – the various representations of the characters’ home environments are rich and vibrant, the attention to detail pleasingly gives off a nice sense of fan service, especially for Sly Cooper’s Parisien locale, and the frame rate remains locked at thirty. Sound too, comprising of the original voice actors, is at least authentic but the omnipresent announcer fails to excite, or indeed remind players that this is meant to be set inside an intergalactic game show, his main focus being to irritate as the game progresses.
It’s an odd game, PlayStation Heroes. Condensed further and simplified into nothing but quick-fire minigames the concept might have worked, but dragged out like it is it falls uncomfortably between third person action and a mish-mash of weapon types, none of which are honed as neatly as they could have been, the experience diluted to accomodate one too many styles of play. Co-op team play helps a little, but this is an offline title save for a rather back-seated implementation of high score leaderboards, and suffers for it.
Pros:
- Reasonable graphics
- Original voice actors return
Cons:
- No online play
- The range of ‘heroes’ is disappointing
- The Move support isn’t optional, or needed
Distinctly average then, PlayStation Move Heroes trades off some legacy brand IPs without ever really giving them room to shine or, indeed, interact. It’s a frustratingly shallow collection of styles, dressed up as something more than it ultimately ends up as. The presentation’s slick, the visuals are nice and some of the game types are actually rather entertaining, but as a whole this could have been so much more. Interestingly, a sequel that fixes some of the above issues could, potentially, be quite brilliant. We’ll wait and see.
icuyesido
Love R&C, love Sly, never played J&D but I really didn’t like the demo, I think I enjoyed one of the 5 minigames on there and its not worth £40 at that and its not like I would play that mini game for hours on end. Had high hopes for this, such a shame.
kevatron400
It’s a shame this isn’t very good, but I can’t say I’m massively surprised, having played the demo.
3shirts
Didn’t take long for Sony to ‘do a Wii’ did it?
Juelz345
One more thing to add to the list of things that Move controllers wont be doing.
Anyone tried using the Sharpshooter for KZ3? I really need to find some use for these things. Here’s to hoping Socom 4 benefits from Move.
Apnomis
Yet my nephews absolutely loved the demo – how many 5/10 (or lower scoring) Wii games have there been that have sold over a million? This game was never aimed at the core PS3 gamer – even those that play the R&C, J&D, and Sly games…
You can’t blame Sony for going after a slice of the casual gamer pie, even if Move is capable of being more than that (I find it surprisingly effective/enjoyable in Killzone 3 for example).
gaffers101
My son has enjoyed playing the demo, shame the games not so good. Maybe I’ll just keep the demo for him to play.
Harinero
“you can’t help feeling that this would be better with dual analogs”
And sadly this sums up my whole take on motion controls, even when playing Wii gems like Twilight Princess and Mario Galaxy.
cc_star
Just want Jak & Daxter The Precursor Legacy on PS3 – I massively prefer them to the R&C
Disappointed this game doesn’t hit the mark, my PSMove needs feeding, waiting for a Move exclusive game is getting tedious – completely regret buying all my Move sticks, if all Sony are going to do is (in the main) is offer it as an alternative control for shooters, in short Sony’s support is lacklustre, I never learn.
ultimatepunchrod
i think youre sort of forgetting that it is a MOVE game. its supposed to be a move only game and therefore the support is necessary. this is kind of like saying a wii game doesnt need motion control. it may be true that its unnecessary, but thats the platform it was made for. as for the heroes, its also supposed to be a kid friendly collection of heroes that older gamers can get into. you cant put Killzone characters or Resistance characters in a platformer.
TTP
Why is Move a con? You do realize was this DS3 only it would have scored even lower right? ;)