PlayStation Move Titles Hands-On

Sony’s new Move controller is all the talk here at GDC 2010. Some are skeptical and others are quite excited. Sony is definitely chasing Nintendo with the Move’s imagery featuring the families having fun in nice living rooms. But what about the games themselves? Well, we took them all for a ride to see how they felt. While a lot of people have been making the joke “Wii HD”, there is more to the Move’s abilities. Read on for our impression of the games they showed at the event. Also, don’t miss our breakout on the Move version of SOCOM 4 and the interesting info we were able to unearth.

The Shoot
One of the better demonstrations of the Move’s tracking ability came in the form of a simple rails shooter aptly titled The Shoot. The gameplay is fairly simple: shoot the bad guys. Set on a campy Hollywood style set, players are pitted against robots with destructible armor. One shot is only enough to tear that armor off. The more robots you kill in a row without missing, the higher your multiplier goes. There are also special moves which use motion gestures to perform attacks that help repel the oncoming robot attacks. The real star of The Shoot is how well the game controls. The tracking is very smooth without being overly sensitive. The developer seems to have nailed a balance that a majority of the Wii games only wish they had.

Move Party
Every peripheral needs minigames! Move Party is one of Sony’s answer to the family fun factor that comes with the territory. Comprised of several games that all feature high speed action, the game really felt more like a goofy tech demo for the technology. That’s not to say that it wasn’t goofy fun or worked well. In fact, the game’s pace kept things moving fast enough that it was hard for boredom to set in. Some of the minigames we tried included cutting a the hair of a goofball cartoon,  saving falling birds with a fan, squashing bugs, and painting. The painting, much like The Shoot, was a good demonstration of how stable and refined the controls can be. The bug squashing game really stood out as a great example of how the Move can track depth beyond the basic motion. You can actually see the forward and back movement reflected one-to-one on the screen. While the games may be uninspired, they showcase the Move’s abilities.

Sports Champions

Much like that “other” sports title on that “other” platform, Sports Champions is a collection of different active games that take full advantage of the Move’s abilities. Of the available games - archery, frisbee, table tennis, and Gladiator - we took a go at Gladiator. The game requires the use of two Move controllers, one for the weapon and the other for the shield. The game’s concept is simple: win the fight. Of all the Move games we tried, Gladiator felt like the weakest link. Winning was pretty easy and some of the tactics that one would assume would come in handy - like shield blocking and fancy weapon swings - weren’t all that necessary in the end.

Motion Fighter
One of the most interesting hands-on demos at the Sony Move unveiling was Motion Fighter, a gritty street brawler. With one Move controller in each hand, we went toe-to-toe with a biker dude in a back alley. Keeping your hands up in a defensive position, subtly moving left to right creates a dodging motion. The rest of the fisticuffs are pretty self explanatory, with hooks, jabs, and uppercut motions delivering the corresponding attack. When things got rough, we reached into the dirty move trick bag, pulling off a headbutt by pushing in the triggers and moving forward. Motion Fighters will feature split-screen bouts, online fights, and a career mode that will unlock new finishing moves as you fight your way through the competition.

Be sure to check out the GDC 2010 hub page for quick access to more news and hands-on impressions straight from the event in San Francisco, CA.