The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Move It
How do you go about reviewing a controller? It’s an interesting question, mainly because most new forms of control that come from a 1st party like Sony have come along with a new console. Move (and soon Kinect from Microsoft) is one of the few major advances in control methods which has come out seperately from the console.
Some may point out the similarity to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Ok, most people will point it out. Having now used both I can say without a doubt that there is a similarity when you first pick them up but as soon as you actually use the controllers all of that goes out the window.
Check my Moves
There are some physical differences though. The Move controller feels more tactile than the squarish Wii Remote, it’s built for confort. Being curved, your hand fits snugly round the controller and the trigger button feels like it’s been placed perfectly for easy access with a ridge to stop your finger straying too far away from it. The ‘move’ button is nice and chunky, ready for your thumb to press at a moment’s notice. Only the 4 shape buttons spoil the design, being far too small to use in a hectic game but still useful to have as another set of options when using a single controller.
The Navigation Controller (the equivalent of the Wii Nunchuk) is similar in design but stumpier than it’s big brother. Unlike the Wii Remote, it has an analogue still at the thumb position and another trigger in the same format as the main controller. Add a D-Pad and a further X and O button and you have even more choice for the developer.
Bust-a-Move
But a controller is only as good as the software it’s used with and I’ve taken a look at all the games on offer to see how they play with the Move.
Sony have helpfully added demos of 4 Move specific games, some Move enabled games and have also populated the PSN Store with some full titles to get the party started. Sports Champions is their flagship title, just as Wii Sports was with the Wii.
Sporty Mover
As a Move launch title Sports Champions works well to show off the capabilities of the controller. The Demo lets you access Disc Golf and Table Tennis to try out, both of which are good examples of the complete game which is gracing demo pods in shops across the country.
Disc Golf is very straight forward; just move the controller back and forward, letting go of the Move button as you would let go of a Disc. It shows off the 1:1 mapping of the controller and throws can be made pretty precisely. Comparing this against the Wii Controller, the Move feels so much more sophisticated, even when the Wii remote is using Motion Plus. It’s in another league for mapping movement. The feel of the controller helps too, making it feel more like an extension of your arm than a bulky remote control device.
Table Tennis is a good comparison tool to Wii Sports because Wii Sports Resort has a MotionPlus version of the same game. Again, playing both side by side you can feel the difference. The 3 dimensional aspect of the Move is more obvious here, the bat moves in and out of the screen as the camera tracks the Move Controller, not just left and right with MotionPlus.
What I found lacking in both these events, however, and with Sports Champions as a whole, was character. It’s certainly not a fault of the controller but it’s something worth commenting on for those thinking of replacing the Wii game with this. Each stage is lacking that Nintendo magic; no waving people in the background, no cheesy music, no odd touches of florish. It’s very clinical.
Moving In Party
Second up is Start The Party. This one reminds me of an Eyetoy game, not surprising since most of the tasks can have their roots traced back to old Eyetoy counterparts. The two demo games on offer here are Paint, where you have to paint over a certain pattern and points are given for being as close as possible, and Bug Splat, where you’re given a tennis racket to…well, splat bugs!
Both use an on-screen camera view of the player holding the tool instead of the Move Controller. It’s certainly amazing to see yourself holding something like a moving paintbrush on screen and seeing augmented reality work is great. Augmented Reality (where a real moving image is super-imposed with a computer generated controlled one) is something people have been talking about recently so it’s great to see it in place.
The only other Move demo I played was Kung Fu Rider and while the Move controller worked well here too the game is something I’d much rather forget!
Move To The Back Of the Plane
My favourite use for the Move controller at the moment is Flight Control HD. A port of an iPhone and iPad game, Flight Control sees you guiding planes and helicopters to their respective runways. It sounds simple, but with 10 planes on screen, all ready to crash in to each other, it can be a nightmare (in a fun way!). The Move controller is used here as a pointer, but the simple controls make the game work.
Block My Move
Tumble is the other full PSN title available to be built from the ground up with Move. It involves piling blocks up on top of each other to reach a target. Other targets, such as using certain types of block, are introduced along the way. It’s pretty much the opposite of Jenga but with explosions and other effects.
What I like about Tumble is that it really shows off the 3D aspect of the Move. The controller can pick up a block, rotate it in 3 Dimensions and then move it in and out of the screen as well. Having this ability makes the game stand out from similar games on the Wii (most notably the Boom Blox series that I reviewed on this very site) though it could really do with a better background and, like Sports Champions, so character to it.
Moving On
So my first few days of using Move have been an eye opener for what could be. The controller is perfectly designed and along with the camera it looks like it could be capable of pretty much anything.
What is currently lacking is a standout piece of software that can be compared to something like Wii Sports. Sports Champions is good, but it probably won’t keep you coming back in a year’s time like Wii Sports does.
That said, I’m excited for the future of Move. If Sony can get it right and third parties embrace it with more than just Wii knock-off games then they’ll be successful.
9/10
How do you go about reviewing a controller? It’s an interesting question, mainly because most new forms of control that come from a 1st party like Sony have come along with a new console. Move (and soon Kinect from Microsoft) is one of the few major advances in control methods which has come out seperately from the console.
Some may point out the similarity to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Ok, most people will point it out. Having now used both I can say without a doubt that there is a similarity when you first pick them up but as soon as you actually use the controllers all of that goes out the window.
Check my Moves
There are some physical differences though. The Move controller feels more tactile than the squarish Wii Remote, it’s built for confort. Being curved, your hand fits snugly round the controller and the trigger button feels like it’s been placed perfectly for easy access with a ridge to stop your finger straying too far away from it. The ‘move’ button is nice and chunky, ready for your thumb to press at a moment’s notice. Only the 4 shape buttons spoil the design, being far too small to use in a hectic game but still useful to have as another set of options when using a single controller.
The Navigation Controller (the equivalent of the Wii Nunchuk) is similar in design but stumpier than it’s big brother. Unlike the Wii Remote, it has an analogue still at the thumb position and another trigger in the same format as the main controller. Add a D-Pad and a further X and O button and you have even more choice for the developer.
Bust-a-Move
But a controller is only as good as the software it’s used with and I’ve taken a look at all the games on offer to see how they play with the Move.
Sony have helpfully added demos of 4 Move specific games, some Move enabled games and have also populated the PSN Store with some full titles to get the party started. Sports Champions is their flagship title, just as Wii Sports was with the Wii.
Sporty Mover
As a Move launch title Sports Champions works well to show off the capabilities of the controller. The Demo lets you access Disc Golf and Table Tennis to try out, both of which are good examples of the complete game which is gracing demo pods in shops across the country.
Disc Golf is very straight forward; just move the controller back and forward, letting go of the Move button as you would let go of a Disc. It shows off the 1:1 mapping of the controller and throws can be made pretty precisely. Comparing this against the Wii Controller, the Move feels so much more sophisticated, even when the Wii remote is using Motion Plus. It’s in another league for mapping movement. The feel of the controller helps too, making it feel more like an extension of your arm than a bulky remote control device.
Table Tennis is a good comparison tool to Wii Sports because Wii Sports Resort has a MotionPlus version of the same game. Again, playing both side by side you can feel the difference. The 3 dimensional aspect of the Move is more obvious here, the bat moves in and out of the screen as the camera tracks the Move Controller, not just left and right with MotionPlus.
What I found lacking in both these events, however, and with Sports Champions as a whole, was character. It’s certainly not a fault of the controller but it’s something worth commenting on for those thinking of replacing the Wii game with this. Each stage is lacking that Nintendo magic; no waving people in the background, no cheesy music, no odd touches of florish. It’s very clinical.
Moving In Party
Second up is Start The Party. This one reminds me of an Eyetoy game, not surprising since most of the tasks can have their roots traced back to old Eyetoy counterparts. The two demo games on offer here are Paint, where you have to paint over a certain pattern and points are given for being as close as possible, and Bug Splat, where you’re given a tennis racket to…well, splat bugs!
Both use an on-screen camera view of the player holding the tool instead of the Move Controller. It’s certainly amazing to see yourself holding something like a moving paintbrush on screen and seeing augmented reality work is great. Augmented Reality (where a real moving image is super-imposed with a computer generated controlled one) is something people have been talking about recently so it’s great to see it in place.
The only other Move demo I played was Kung Fu Rider and while the Move controller worked well here too the game is something I’d much rather forget!
Move To The Back Of the Plane
My favourite use for the Move controller at the moment is Flight Control HD. A port of an iPhone and iPad game, Flight Control sees you guiding planes and helicopters to their respective runways. It sounds simple, but with 10 planes on screen, all ready to crash in to each other, it can be a nightmare (in a fun way!). The Move controller is used here as a pointer, but the simple controls make the game work.
Block My Move
Tumble is the other full PSN title available to be built from the ground up with Move. It involves piling blocks up on top of each other to reach a target. Other targets, such as using certain types of block, are introduced along the way. It’s pretty much the opposite of Jenga but with explosions and other effects.
What I like about Tumble is that it really shows off the 3D aspect of the Move. The controller can pick up a block, rotate it in 3 Dimensions and then move it in and out of the screen as well. Having this ability makes the game stand out from similar games on the Wii (most notably the Boom Blox series that I reviewed on this very site) though it could really do with a better background and, like Sports Champions, so character to it.
Moving On
So my first few days of using Move have been an eye opener for what could be. The controller is perfectly designed and along with the camera it looks like it could be capable of pretty much anything.
What is currently lacking is a standout piece of software that can be compared to something like Wii Sports. Sports Champions is good, but it probably won’t keep you coming back in a year’s time like Wii Sports does.
That said, I’m excited for the future of Move. If Sony can get it right and third parties embrace it with more than just Wii knock-off games then they’ll be successful.
9/10
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Move It
How do you go about reviewing a controller? It’s an interesting question, mainly because most new forms of control that come from a 1st party like Sony have come along with a new console. Move (and soon Kinect from Microsoft) is one of the few major advances in control methods which has come out seperately from the console.
Some may point out the similarity to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Ok, most people will point it out. Having now used both I can say without a doubt that there is a similarity when you first pick them up but as soon as you actually use the controllers all of that goes out the window.
Check my Moves
There are some physical differences though. The Move controller feels more tactile than the squarish Wii Remote, it’s built for confort. Being curved, your hand fits snugly round the controller and the trigger button feels like it’s been placed perfectly for easy access with a ridge to stop your finger straying too far away from it. The ‘move’ button is nice and chunky, ready for your thumb to press at a moment’s notice. Only the 4 shape buttons spoil the design, being far too small to use in a hectic game but still useful to have as another set of options when using a single controller.
The Navigation Controller (the equivalent of the Wii Nunchuk) is similar in design but stumpier than it’s big brother. Unlike the Wii Remote, it has an analogue still at the thumb position and another trigger in the same format as the main controller. Add a D-Pad and a further X and O button and you have even more choice for the developer.
Bust-a-Move
But a controller is only as good as the software it’s used with and I’ve taken a look at all the games on offer to see how they play with the Move.
Sony have helpfully added demos of 4 Move specific games, some Move enabled games and have also populated the PSN Store with some full titles to get the party started. Sports Champions is their flagship title, just as Wii Sports was with the Wii.
Sporty Mover
As a Move launch title Sports Champions works well to show off the capabilities of the controller. The Demo lets you access Disc Golf and Table Tennis to try out, both of which are good examples of the complete game which is gracing demo pods in shops across the country.
Disc Golf is very straight forward; just move the controller back and forward, letting go of the Move button as you would let go of a Disc. It shows off the 1:1 mapping of the controller and throws can be made pretty precisely. Comparing this against the Wii Controller, the Move feels so much more sophisticated, even when the Wii remote is using Motion Plus. It’s in another league for mapping movement. The feel of the controller helps too, making it feel more like an extension of your arm than a bulky remote control device.
Table Tennis is a good comparison tool to Wii Sports because Wii Sports Resort has a MotionPlus version of the same game. Again, playing both side by side you can feel the difference. The 3 dimensional aspect of the Move is more obvious here, the bat moves in and out of the screen as the camera tracks the Move Controller, not just left and right with MotionPlus.
What I found lacking in both these events, however, and with Sports Champions as a whole, was character. It’s certainly not a fault of the controller but it’s something worth commenting on for those thinking of replacing the Wii game with this. Each stage is lacking that Nintendo magic; no waving people in the background, no cheesy music, no odd touches of florish. It’s very clinical.
Moving In Party
Second up is Start The Party. This one reminds me of an Eyetoy game, not surprising since most of the tasks can have their roots traced back to old Eyetoy counterparts. The two demo games on offer here are Paint, where you have to paint over a certain pattern and points are given for being as close as possible, and Bug Splat, where you’re given a tennis racket to…well, splat bugs!
Both use an on-screen camera view of the player holding the tool instead of the Move Controller. It’s certainly amazing to see yourself holding something like a moving paintbrush on screen and seeing augmented reality work is great. Augmented Reality (where a real moving image is super-imposed with a computer generated controlled one) is something people have been talking about recently so it’s great to see it in place.
The only other Move demo I played was Kung Fu Rider and while the Move controller worked well here too the game is something I’d much rather forget!
Move To The Back Of the Plane
My favourite use for the Move controller at the moment is Flight Control HD. A port of an iPhone and iPad game, Flight Control sees you guiding planes and helicopters to their respective runways. It sounds simple, but with 10 planes on screen, all ready to crash in to each other, it can be a nightmare (in a fun way!). The Move controller is used here as a pointer, but the simple controls make the game work.
Block My Move
Tumble is the other full PSN title available to be built from the ground up with Move. It involves piling blocks up on top of each other to reach a target. Other targets, such as using certain types of block, are introduced along the way. It’s pretty much the opposite of Jenga but with explosions and other effects.
What I like about Tumble is that it really shows off the 3D aspect of the Move. The controller can pick up a block, rotate it in 3 Dimensions and then move it in and out of the screen as well. Having this ability makes the game stand out from similar games on the Wii (most notably the Boom Blox series that I reviewed on this very site) though it could really do with a better background and, like Sports Champions, so character to it.
Moving On
So my first few days of using Move have been an eye opener for what could be. The controller is perfectly designed and along with the camera it looks like it could be capable of pretty much anything.
What is currently lacking is a standout piece of software that can be compared to something like Wii Sports. Sports Champions is good, but it probably won’t keep you coming back in a year’s time like Wii Sports does.
That said, I’m excited for the future of Move. If Sony can get it right and third parties embrace it with more than just Wii knock-off games then they’ll be successful.
9/10
How do you go about reviewing a controller? It’s an interesting question, mainly because most new forms of control that come from a 1st party like Sony have come along with a new console. Move (and soon Kinect from Microsoft) is one of the few major advances in control methods which has come out seperately from the console.
Some may point out the similarity to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Ok, most people will point it out. Having now used both I can say without a doubt that there is a similarity when you first pick them up but as soon as you actually use the controllers all of that goes out the window.
Check my Moves
There are some physical differences though. The Move controller feels more tactile than the squarish Wii Remote, it’s built for confort. Being curved, your hand fits snugly round the controller and the trigger button feels like it’s been placed perfectly for easy access with a ridge to stop your finger straying too far away from it. The ‘move’ button is nice and chunky, ready for your thumb to press at a moment’s notice. Only the 4 shape buttons spoil the design, being far too small to use in a hectic game but still useful to have as another set of options when using a single controller.
The Navigation Controller (the equivalent of the Wii Nunchuk) is similar in design but stumpier than it’s big brother. Unlike the Wii Remote, it has an analogue still at the thumb position and another trigger in the same format as the main controller. Add a D-Pad and a further X and O button and you have even more choice for the developer.
Bust-a-Move
But a controller is only as good as the software it’s used with and I’ve taken a look at all the games on offer to see how they play with the Move.
Sony have helpfully added demos of 4 Move specific games, some Move enabled games and have also populated the PSN Store with some full titles to get the party started. Sports Champions is their flagship title, just as Wii Sports was with the Wii.
Sporty Mover
As a Move launch title Sports Champions works well to show off the capabilities of the controller. The Demo lets you access Disc Golf and Table Tennis to try out, both of which are good examples of the complete game which is gracing demo pods in shops across the country.
Disc Golf is very straight forward; just move the controller back and forward, letting go of the Move button as you would let go of a Disc. It shows off the 1:1 mapping of the controller and throws can be made pretty precisely. Comparing this against the Wii Controller, the Move feels so much more sophisticated, even when the Wii remote is using Motion Plus. It’s in another league for mapping movement. The feel of the controller helps too, making it feel more like an extension of your arm than a bulky remote control device.
Table Tennis is a good comparison tool to Wii Sports because Wii Sports Resort has a MotionPlus version of the same game. Again, playing both side by side you can feel the difference. The 3 dimensional aspect of the Move is more obvious here, the bat moves in and out of the screen as the camera tracks the Move Controller, not just left and right with MotionPlus.
What I found lacking in both these events, however, and with Sports Champions as a whole, was character. It’s certainly not a fault of the controller but it’s something worth commenting on for those thinking of replacing the Wii game with this. Each stage is lacking that Nintendo magic; no waving people in the background, no cheesy music, no odd touches of florish. It’s very clinical.
Moving In Party
Second up is Start The Party. This one reminds me of an Eyetoy game, not surprising since most of the tasks can have their roots traced back to old Eyetoy counterparts. The two demo games on offer here are Paint, where you have to paint over a certain pattern and points are given for being as close as possible, and Bug Splat, where you’re given a tennis racket to…well, splat bugs!
Both use an on-screen camera view of the player holding the tool instead of the Move Controller. It’s certainly amazing to see yourself holding something like a moving paintbrush on screen and seeing augmented reality work is great. Augmented Reality (where a real moving image is super-imposed with a computer generated controlled one) is something people have been talking about recently so it’s great to see it in place.
The only other Move demo I played was Kung Fu Rider and while the Move controller worked well here too the game is something I’d much rather forget!
Move To The Back Of the Plane
My favourite use for the Move controller at the moment is Flight Control HD. A port of an iPhone and iPad game, Flight Control sees you guiding planes and helicopters to their respective runways. It sounds simple, but with 10 planes on screen, all ready to crash in to each other, it can be a nightmare (in a fun way!). The Move controller is used here as a pointer, but the simple controls make the game work.
Block My Move
Tumble is the other full PSN title available to be built from the ground up with Move. It involves piling blocks up on top of each other to reach a target. Other targets, such as using certain types of block, are introduced along the way. It’s pretty much the opposite of Jenga but with explosions and other effects.
What I like about Tumble is that it really shows off the 3D aspect of the Move. The controller can pick up a block, rotate it in 3 Dimensions and then move it in and out of the screen as well. Having this ability makes the game stand out from similar games on the Wii (most notably the Boom Blox series that I reviewed on this very site) though it could really do with a better background and, like Sports Champions, so character to it.
Moving On
So my first few days of using Move have been an eye opener for what could be. The controller is perfectly designed and along with the camera it looks like it could be capable of pretty much anything.
What is currently lacking is a standout piece of software that can be compared to something like Wii Sports. Sports Champions is good, but it probably won’t keep you coming back in a year’s time like Wii Sports does.
That said, I’m excited for the future of Move. If Sony can get it right and third parties embrace it with more than just Wii knock-off games then they’ll be successful.
9/10