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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Start The Party PS3 Move

Start The Party: Move PS3

Developed by Sony

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

PlayStation Move launches this week in the UK (17th September) and there are some cool, varied games available right from the start. If you want Sporting fun – there’s SPORTS CHAMPIONS, if you want Kung Fu Craziness – there’s KUNG FU RIDER… But what if you just want to see yourself wielding a big sword, tennis racquet, hammer, pointer, fan, razor, helicopter!? That’s where you need Start The Party.

You know those parties you go to where nothing is really happening, there’s no way to break the ice with the cute girls/guys (delete as appropriate) and you really wish you could be jumping about spearing frantic fish like a caveman, showing your caring side by rescue birds from falling out of their nest or proving how brave you are by hunting for ghosts? Sony know how you feel and Start The Party brings all this and more as augmented reality transforms the PlayStation Move motion controller into everything from a helicopter to a flashlight.

Mini-games are the order of the day, if you remember the PS2 ‘EyeToy’ which was basically doing what the Kinnect will do when it launches in a couple of months – wave those hands suckers… sorry, here is what motion control is all about… Take one PlayStation Eye, synch the cool PlayStation Move controller and then take a photo of yourself, record your voice and take on your family and friends in more than 20 fun mini-games.

But are they fun? Some of those PS2 EyeToy games were a bit lame right, not having a controller is bit crap really – so can PlayStation Move bring the noise and make motion controlled mini-gaming fun??
Well – poke me up the backside with an augmented reality hand… Yes!!

Start The Party is an absolute blast, you get to see yourself onscreen at all times while playing, and the motion controller you’re holding appears as whatever device you need to complete the game… I tried Start The Party both solo (which is ok but can get a bit ‘samey’ pretty quick) then again with a crowd of young players at our church with the PS3 rigged up to a projector and big screen – and that is where it tore the roof off with everyone having a fantastic time!!

"you should see the face she makes when accidentally mashing one of the little birds with her fan!"

The list of games is fun and varied – chop flying fruit with a giant sword, brush the teeth of crocodile with a big toothbrush, shine your virtual torch at ghosts as they try and rush towards you, zap robots with a tazer, spear fish, blow birds, save citizens from dinosaurs with helicopters etc etc… Each game is quick to pick up, although there are brief tutorials for those who really need to told how to squash bugs with a tennis racquet…

Is Start The Party worth buying? Absolutely –if you want to try and beat high scores and put yourself on the world wide leaderboard step up. Mostly though this is a game you’ll put on and play with pals, it gets competitive, it gets messy and it’s brilliant fun!

Darkmatters rating: öööööööö (8 fun augmented realities out of 10)

Check our SPORTS CHAMPIONS MOVE review

Check our KUNG FU RIDER review

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