It’s never a good thing for a retail release to feel like a tech demo. It’s especially bad when it feels like a tech demo for a system that’s been out for five years. “PlayStation Move Heroes” is admirable in its attempt to transfer combine motion-control standards like Frisbee and bowling out of the realm of sports and into the realm of combat, but the game never seems to do anything that the Move and the Move alone is capable of. The result is a middling diversion that, except for its graphics, feels like a Wii launch title.
Shutting out Crash Bandicoot, the closest thing Sony’s gaming division ever had to a mascot, “Heroes” stars everyone’s favorite PlayStation-exclusive duos: Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and, uh, Sly and Bentley. You know, Bentley. The pairs are sucked up by a special vortex that avoids Microsoft and Nintendo heroes, and placed in beautiful stages with the carnival atmosphere of a “Super Monkey Ball” game. In this new world, our heroes can’t go about the platforming antics they’re used to, and instead must complete challenges, lasting a couple minutes each, that involve bowling, disc golf, swordfighting, whipping or shooting.
Most interesting among these are bowling and Frisbee, which differ from previous incarnations by letting you continue to control the Frisbee and ball after letting them go. With Frisbee, you can pilot the disc around by twisting the Move controller. This is fun but renders your throw worthless. The result isn’t Frisbee at all, but a copy of “Wii Sports Resort’s” flight mode.
| ‘PlayStation Move Heroes’ |
| » System: PS3 |
| » Price: $39.99 |
| » Rating: 2 out of 5 stars |
More unique is bowling, where you twist the remote to guide the ball through an obstacle course rife with ramps and speed boosts. It doesn’t take long to figure out that bouncing your ball against the sides of the “alley” slows it down dramatically and makes this mode way easier. Good thing certain sections have time limits, so you can’t cheat every time.
Shooting is the weakest mode. Rather than using the Move controller to aim at objects within a fixed field, the game keeps your aim point fixed in the center, moving the entire screen when you move the remote. This makes for a greater challenge, as you must look around to find some enemies, but is also a recipe for a headache, as the screen is constantly drifting along with the tiny, involuntary motions of your wrist.
In the one mode where your motion should correspond exactly with what’s happening on-screen, it doesn’t. The Move is certainly capable of swordfighting that mimics your actions perfectly on-screen, but instead, the game goes the early-Wii route of translating your infinitely varied input into a few standard moves.
Fighting with the whip incorporates 1-to-1 motion, but still feels all wrong. You’re never really required to crack the whip, as you would in real life, and just smacking enemy robots by mindlessly flailing your arms around is as effective as anything.
“Heroes” might impress people new to motion-controlled games, but the Move technology is put to much better use in games such as “Killzone 3” or the excellent, family-friendly “The Shoot.”
