By Stevie Smith Apr 28, 2008, 14:58 GMT
It’s obviously not everyone’s cup of sporting tea, to the point where many may dispute its classification as a bona fide sport, but competitive darts is undoubtedly a battle of skill and accuracy that sees two -- usually overweight -- combatants take to a rowdy, beer-fuelled arena and engage in lobbing tungsten arrows at a numerical target board with shocking precision.
Likely to inspire little more than cloying boredom when played out on a traditional videogame console, the arrival of PDC World Championship Darts 2008 onto the Nintendo Wii successfully invokes a much more tangible sense of player intrigue towards a sporting activity that most of us have tried at some point -- and most of us have sucked at it.
Indeed, physically holding the Wii Remote and executing a studied tossing motion towards the TV screen is almost as authentic as donning an unpleasant and oversized shirt, growing wobbly jowls, quaffing copious amount of ale, and unleashing repeated threesomes of tungsten terror in the hopes of demoralising a similarly attired opponent. It’s almost that authentic… but not quite.
You see, if you should stumble across a live darts match on the TV, it’s invariably awash with an oddly addictive blend of raucous crowd atmosphere, thumping interlude music, and player tension that manages to inexplicably hold your interest like Olympic curling or a late-night shopping channel. Sadly, none of that is in evidence in PDC 2008.
Specifically, the in-game action is all-but devoid of atmosphere thanks to almost completely static and dull crowds, absolutely no rabble-rousing interlude music, and zombie-like darting star re-creations that fail miserably to capture any of the fervent emotion so often displayed through the sport. Indeed, while the 16-strong star line-up, which includes the near-legendary Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, offer variable gameplay strengths and levels of opposition -- depending on their world rankings -- they never show even the slightest glimmer of being imbued with true character.
Despite PDC 2008’s rather disappointing visual and atmospheric shortfalls, the game’s raw appeal still resides within the Wii’s unique motion-based control method, which offers itself up to the player in two separate guises.
The most innovative option tasks players with holding the Wii Remote as if it were an actual dart. With the motion sensor aimed directly at the screen, the player sights where on the dart board he/she wishes to throw before then pressing the Remote’s ‘A’ button and executing a dart-throwing motion. Releasing the ‘A’ button during the swing causes the on-screen player to loose his tungsten missile, although actually releasing at the optimum moment is of vital importance for accuracy and differs depending on where on the board the player is aiming.
When PDC 2008 is set to ‘Amateur,’ an on-screen power bar helps the player to hit the proper ‘sweet spot’ for increased throwing accuracy -- which is a huge help when acclimatising to the admittedly difficult gameplay. However, when the player moves up to ‘Pro’ that power bar assistance is promptly removed, which ramps the difficultly level to a point that truly sorts the beer-swilling darts aficionados from the limp-wrested wine bar wannabes.
The second control method is somewhat removed from the Wii Remote approach insofar as it includes the Wii Remote and Nunchuk and is much closer to a conventional system. Arriving as a welcome alternative to the Wii Remote method, which, while more intuitive and challenging, can be a weighty burden on the wrist over time, the introduction of the Nunchuk makes things much easier to grasp for first-timers.
Specifically, the player still uses the Wii Remote to aim at the screen (though without having to adopt a darts action), but then draws back the Nunchuk’s analogue stick to begin the throw and pushes it forward to release. Again, when set to ‘Amateur,’ the power bar remains on screen to aid accuracy, and is removed when opting for the application of more difficulty.
Core gameplay, using either control method, works surprisingly well alongside the physical aiming of the Wii Remote and is bolstered by the player being able to zoom in on the dart board to get a better bead on those pesky double and triple areas. A modicum of tension and difficulty is also added by the Wii Remote vibrating whenever the player is faced with nailing a vitally important throw -- such as completing a successful check out or landing the third of three darts into the triple twenty for the big “One hundred and eeeiiiggghhhtttyyy!” However, that tension is depleted somewhat if using the slightly easier Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo control method.
Game modes available include single Exhibition matches, which are ideal for practicing the dart throw methodology before taking things to the next level. That next level resides in Tournament mode, in which the player can create their own custom event or enter any of the major competitions from the official PDC calendar -- including the UK Open, the US Open, the World Grand Prix or the Las Vegas Desert Classic. Opposition arrives in the form of pretty darn tough A.I. controlled darting stars or up to eight human players. Similarly, a Career mode option allows the player to create their own budding tungsten archer and embark on a professional quest to conquer all that the PDC calendar can throw before them.
Sadly, despite the apparent variety and innovative use of the Wii’s controllers, darting purists will likely grow disillusioned by PDC 2008 fairly quickly once they ramp up to the Prof setting. At this point, all the intuitive interaction forged alongside the game’s power bar assistance, which is difficult enough to master on its own, can quickly become an exercise in frustration caused by extremely unpredictable throw sensitivity. And, factor in the added difficulty supplied by the opponent A.I., which rarely performs badly and all-too often completes wildly difficult check outs, and PDC 2008 can lead to long chains of player expletives and a desire to actually launch the Wii Remote at the screen.
All in all, there’s certainly a degree of motion-sensitive fun to had with PDC World Championship 2008, but its true potential -- which is considerable -- remains untapped thanks to the lack of developmental effort shown to the game’s star characters and the event atmosphere. While jumping up and down to the energetic chorus of Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis (a popular darts anthem) would perhaps have been hoping for too much, some form of pumping accompaniment and a vibrant, emotive crowd are prerequisites given the rampant fan passions associated with professional darts. Both should have been included as integral elements of the presentation, neither are present.
It’s a great shame, because perseverance with the control systems can garner an immense sense of achievement once a rhythm begins to build, but ineffectual presentation all-but saps the will to invest that necessary time, especially when the developers clearly couldn’t be bothered to.
Verdict: 65%
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