Sports Champions

It is of course impossible to discuss Sports Champions without mentioning the hardware - Playstation Move. Just as the case was with Wii Sports four years ago, it's the controller and its capabilities that everything revolves around.

At the time it was something new, but it's not any more. Playstation Move has been accused of being a Wii clone, and the inclusion of Sports Champions adds fuel to that fire. But I aim to judge Sports Champions on its own merits.

Sports Champions is made up of six events, and these can be enjoyed in a tournament, or as single events, normally for up to four players. We last threw frisbee in similar fashion with Wii Sports Resort. As is the case with all other events your sessions starts with calibration. We stand up in front of the camera, and make our way inside a white rectangle on screen. Next we are asked to place the Move controller at our thighs, at shoulder height, and finally just above our pleasure zones, an area referred to by Sony as "at the belt buckle". Good to go.

I pick up the flying disc and turn it a bit with my hand. It's very responsive and Sony are correct when they claim to have the most precise motion controller on the market. When I throw the frisbee and it drifts to the far right, it's my fault for turning the wrist a tad bit too much, and it's not due to the game or the hardware.

The environments aren't exactly picturesque, but the bird tweets and the trees that reflect in the water create a decent atmosphere. The problem is that disc gold suffers from a chronically low pace, and it's not exactly stellar entertainment even in real life. Taking turns throwing the disc, listening to the mute thump as the disc hits the ground and handing the controller over to the next person in line is only fun if you've got money riding on the result.

The pace picks up dramatically as we turn to the table tennis, and it quickly becomes a favourite event of mine. Once again you pick one of the boring and generic looking characters, and then you're good to go. Everything works wonderfully well, you can put spin on the ball in different ways and executing a tricky spin that puts your opponent in trouble is very satisfying. A small symbol pops up shortly before the ball lands so you can position yourself to return the ball.

Overall, I feel that the more the controller physically resembles what it's trying to represent in game, the better the event. It feels a bit like gripping a table tennis racket, and nothing like holding a frisbee for instance.

Archery is the hardest event to master, but also the most rewarding one. When you use both Move controllers, you start off by picking up an arrow, and any one who has ever played Robin Hood games as a kid will feel right at home. One hand holds the bow, while the other tightens the string, and after carefully judging a white line that represents the trajectory you can release your deadly projectile. Well, at least it's deadly when used on targets, pumpkins and money sacks.

In archery there is a bit of variation, and on top of shooting targets that are gradually moved further away from you, you also get to compete in a something that appears a bit like Gomoku or five-in-a-row, where you have to nail down circles and crosses with your arrows. If all events had been as varied as archery, Sports Champions would have been a true marquee title.

In the Gladiator event you take on a computer controlled enemy or friend, armed to the teeth with weapons taken straight out of Rome. Far from the subtle moves of archery, this encourages wild swinging with your sword and frantic parries with your shield, with one or two controllers. Facing off against an A.I. controlled opponents feels pointless, but chopping away at the shield and health bar of a friend is decent fun, at least for a few rounds.

The same can be said of Bocce. I appreciate the technique, and I like the way my motions are faithfully represented. Strength, angle, grip - all details of the intricate art of throwing a ball are beautifully interpreted by Playstation Move. But is it entertaining. Hardly. The pace is low and it doesn't get more tactical than "getting as close as possible to the small ball".

The Volleyball is another of the not so entertaining events, and once again an event I won't return to after playing a handful of matches. You mimic serves, digs, passes and spikes in the hopes that the opposing team is forced to dive head first into the sand and miss the ball. It's not very immersive, and the sport is a bit too complex to properly fit this kind of format.

Sports Champions is perhaps better at demonstrating the capabilities of Move, than as an actual game. The characters, and presentation are very anonymous, but if you want to get an idea of what Playstation Move is all about - then it does the job.