With Christmas almost around the corner, it is time for the third and final part of the “Get Moving This Christmas” series, bringing you a number of games on the Playstation Move and XBox Kinect which are aimed at younger audiences to get them up and moving these holidays through the use of motion control. Before I go any further… a quick recap of the scores given out so far:
Part 1
Carnival Island – B
Start The Party: Save the World – D+
Part 2
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures – B+
Just Dance 3 – A-
With this Part, I have brought you three more reviews for Playstation Move titles – these reviews being for EyePet & Friends, Medieval Moves and After Hours Athletes. As always, thanks to Sony Computer Entertainment Australia for supplying me with review samples of these games. By the way… did I mention all three of these are 3D-compatible titles?
Title: EyePet & Friends
Published By: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: Playstation 3
Release Date: November 2011
Genre: Pet-raising
Audio: English
Subtitles: English
Classification: This game is G for General
Region: This was based on the Australian version of the game however no difference should be present between regions or consoles.
The EyePet franchise has been running strongly since 2009 on the both Playstation Portable and Playstation 3 – later incorporating the Playstation Move for added controls and functionality and you know what….. I had never even thought about picking the game up until it arrived on my desk. This is not a bad remark by any means, but is a strong indicator that this is for kids and given the trend of many other pet-raising games…. you might have to expect weeks to months of your children every day going on to play with their adorable ball of fur…. but it does encourage the entire family to get involved raising the pets so why not jump in yourself if you have a bonus Move Controller?
The game essentially works like this: You create a pet which you can name and all that stuff, let them hatch, then can raise them like a normal pet through stroking them, training them, bathing them and playing with them to name a few of the many activities. There is no real purpose to the game – so no forest to navigate or war to put and end to… just clean and simple fun. The most important thing about this game is about playing and interacting with the pets so you are given many different toys to play with including a laser pointer for the EyePet to chase, building blocks for them to climb (For fun, there is also a mode which the gamer can build their own block worlds), a water spurter to wet the pet with and even more imaginative games such as Digger Hoops (Using a toy digger, the EyePet must play a game of basketball) and many other fun and creative games to be purchased.
Of course, it is not all fun and games, with a more serious element about maintaining the health of your pet. Therefore, periodically the gamer will have to bathe the pet, feed it and train it to ensure it is both happy and healthy. The game doesn’t go all out and call the gamer a bad person for not doing these things, but prods them in the right direction when necessary. There is a rewarding element to doing these trivial tasks however. Everything you do in the game unlocks in-game currency which you can spend on more training, better food, better toys and even dress up your pet in a wide assortment of themed and stylish clothes… personally to get into the Christmas season I chose an adorable little Santa outfit for mine. But what makes it Eyepet & Friends? The game allows you to introduce a second player to the game and raise two pets at once and play all the games together – as a twin myself, I can say there is nothing better than a bit of sibling competition.
The one major problem I had with this game was the camera position. You need a fair bit of space in your living room for this game to work, as well as an area not too high or too low to place the camera on in order to get a gameplay experience like the one pictured above. While I am not going to deduct points from the game for this limitation, but I could not find an appropriate position for this to work – resulting in my pet thinking the coffee table was a surface and generally making it difficult to do some things in the game. The design however is fine, with the pets looking adorable and for the most part interacting well with your movements (Depending on several factors). The creative options were visually stimulating with everything about this game screaming “Try me!”. The limitation is that there are some hefty loading times at points – and not even some cute sequences with the pets could stop me nodding off at these points. There is not much in the way of music as it is supposed to represent augmented reality on a television, but the narrator has a fun and cheery tone of voice and sound effects are accurate and adorable.
With one or two children in the family and two Move Controllers, you are looking at some fun this Christmas that does not get them tired out (or in Australia… melting) after 20 minutes. More then two children….. expect a fight for the controllers or a sharing roster.
Design: B
Music/Voice Acting: B
Gameplay: B+
Replayability: A
Personal Opinion: B
Overall Score: B+
Title: Medieval Moves
Alternate Title: Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest
Published By: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developed By: SCE: San Diego Studio + Zindagi Games
Console: Playstation 3
Release Date: November 2011
Genre: Action Adventure
Audio: English
Subtitles: English
Classification: This game is PG for Mild fantasy violence and themes; Gaming experience may change online
Region: This was based on the Australian version of the game however no difference should be present between regions or consoles.
Let’s be honest…. so far most of the motion control games regardless of the console have been more mini-game oriented ventures…. Medieval Moves on the other hand sets itself apart from this stereotype and delivers what you might conceive as the most full-game like release yet. Tired of your kids dragging you into playing “yet another” game despite you already collapsing on the couch in exhaustion? This is where Medieval Moves comes in… and does a fairly good job at doing what it set out to do.
You take on the role of Edmund, a young to-be ruler of a kingdom…. until Morgrimm, an evil being who attacks with his legion of skeletons, resulting in a majority of the townsfolk ending up as skeletons themselves. While ending up as a skeleton himself, due to his holding of the Gatestone (An relic of the kingdom) he ends up retaining his memory – thus his journey to save the kingdom begins as he traverses through the many levels, trials and tribulations that stand in his way to Morgrimm. The storyline is not one too heavy in content (Appropriate for more casual playing), however gives justification to going through level after level.
The game plays out as a sort of on-rail game (Essentially meaning that you have no control over the characters movement but control arms etc) where Edmund walks around the environments while you have to use a number of equipment pieces at your disposal in order to ensure victory. Obviously the Playstation Move is the only means of control, so you get to swing the controller around to use a sword, move it in a certain position to use the shield and for those who prefer ranged combat – grab an arrow from your back to go into archery mode. Of course, as the game progresses the difficulty gets harder with more enemies on screen relying on more proficient use of these. The game also leaves you with other moves to make such as pretending to “Drink the remote” to drink health healing milk, and pretending to prepare a grappling hook in order to travel larger distances where there is no clear path. The gameplay is simple, but offers many hours of enjoyment for those who want more than individual 5 minute games.
In terms of design, the game relies on more comic-book styled designs for cutscenes which actually are of a good quality. The games environments do have a darker style to other games on the Move so it might be a little bit scarier for younger kids – however the skeletons are comical in design to the point where I would call them cute. Each the games soundtrack, sound effects and voice acting is all appropriate for both younger and older audiences alike and I found them enjoying.
Overall, this would be one of the better Playstation Move games in my opinion, however for those who want to play with a group of others – it is not a party game by any means.
Story: B
Design: B+
Music/Voice Acting: A-
Gameplay: A-
Replayability: A-
Personal Opinion: A-
Overall Score: A-
Title: After Hours Athletes
Alternate Title: Puma: After Hours Athletes
Published By: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developed By: XDev
Console: Playstation 3
Release Date: November 2011
Genre: Sports Compilation
Audio: English
Subtitles: English
Classification: This game is G
Region: This was based on the Australian version of the game however no difference should be present between regions or consoles.
For the last game… I present to you After Hours Athlete! Unlike every other game mentioned in the “Get Moving this Christmas” series, it is not actually a game but a compilation of three Playstation Network games titled High Velocity Bowling, Hustle Kings and Top Darts or in other words… Bowling, Billiards and Darts. Each of these three games have their own trophy sets, come with online multiplayer and if you haven’t previously purchased any of these – it might be worth your money. But still…. is this compilation pack still worth purchasing?
To me, I could only play a game or two of each before becoming bored. I am not into Billiards or Darts and in terms of bowling, I had a more enjoyable time with playing it on the Kinect and Wii. There is nothing trivially wrong with any of the games, as the controls are for the most part decent (However I couldn’t get my Move to function with the bowling game making for very awkward controller bowling) and they are what they set out to be. The games are just far too limited in scope and are of “sports” which you would have to really enjoy in the first place to enjoy their Playstation Move renditions.
As these three games were individually developed, the quality differs between the three. The graphics for all three could be described as average – average/good with Top Darts while being more simple, having better designs than say… bowling. Fortunately, they do incorporate quite a bit of customization of dart boards, bowling alleys and the like. Music and voice acting also depends on the game but they are somewhat enjoyable.
Overall, this game would depend on your preference to the games on offer and if you have not previously bought any games in the collection – as owning even one would not financially justify the purchase of this release.
Design: C
Music/Voice Acting: C+
Gameplay: D-
Replayability: D
Personal Opinion: D
Overall Score: D
