It’s hard to believe that Sony’s ‘Wii beating’ motion controlling gameplay revolution glow stick of shiny-ness launched late last year. The controller saw the majority of its selling action within the first few months of launch, and even then the numbers weren’t that staggering, or at least as impressive as rival peripheral Kinect.
Despite all the big talk from Sony about its classy new toy, the titles that are actually supporting the controller are few and far between and worse yet, only a few of them are any good. It’s rather sad to see something that is clearly the product of a great deal of craftsmanship and masterful wizardry plummet ass first down **** creek, but basically that’s what is happening.
The preowned section in videogames retailers are literally jam packed with Playstation Moves, and it isn’t all that surprising to be honest. While the tech in the actual controller itself is top notch, the IP support is abysmal and the practical advantages of having a Move are almost nonexistent.
Take the biggest and most important title that the Move has got/seen: Sports Champions (Sony’s repackaged imitation of Wii Sports), Time Crisis (utterly ridiculous next to the standards the PS3 is used too), SOCOM 4 (admittedly a solid game, but not particularly benefitting from the Move), and Playstation Move Heroes (the childish mess populated by characters who normally reside in other esteemed franchises). This leaves Killzone 3 and Sorcery, the game that helped lead the front line for the Playstation Move and then disappeared back into the studios for ever more.
Killzone 3 is a triple A mega title from one of the industry’s strongest development studios, it has the horse power, the looks, and the depth to satisfy the most seasoned of gamers – yet it can all be enjoyed without the addition of a squishy ball stuck on top of a lightsaber. While the game arguably offers the most relevant and polished Move control scheme currently available (maybe excusing MAG, which embraced the Move via a free update, pretty decent), most of the players on Killzone 3 are core gamers and see no advantage or reason to play on it with a motion controller.
Admittedly it is fun for a bit, and the novelty of the experience is exciting for a few hours, but after a short period you will return to your trusty dualshock and dish out the dirt in the more comfortable and traditional manner.
So my question is this, where does all that leave Sony’s controller? Microsoft have been slowly pushing Kinect featured reveals through E3 and beyond, and are starting to win over sceptics by offering fresh integration with some of this year’s most anticipated games. Sony however, are being awfully quiet about their tech, concentrating more perhaps on the Vita, Xperia Play, and the whole ‘PSN-crash-rebuild-image-catch-hackers-thing’
Sorcery is in fact rumoured to actually be coming out at some point later in the year, but in all honesty it’s too little too late. The whole magic and spells things isn’t quite as cool now that we’ve had time to get over the Move. Sony need to inject a new lease of life into the Move by showcasing some genuinely innovative and groundbreaking stuff, within a game that people would normally consider buying. If they don’t dish up something eye catching soon their half-controller may soon be dead in the water.
What do you folks think about the Move? How many have actually got one? Are you finding yourself turning to it more for novelty rather than real gaming evolution? As always, share your thoughts below.
