PDC World Championship Darts 2008 review (X360)

I have to confess, I enjoy a good game of darts, another thing I’ll confess is that I am of the general opinion there are few things in life that can’t be made more fun by converting them into a video game. Let’s face it, for most of us, no matter how much we enjoy doing something we are rarely as good at it, or as likely to reach the big leagues as you are in the digitized version.

So then, that established it seems logical that if you take two things I enjoy and mash them together the only logical conclusion is going to be something I’m going to enjoy even more, ladies and gentlemen, next up to the Oche is Oxygen Interactive’s PDC World Championship Darts on the Xbox 360.

Third time lucky?

After its release on the PS2 and Wii a short while ago, Oxygen Interactive went back to work polishing and scrubbing a version for the 360, and you can see where that work went. The graphics are a step up and worthy of the higher spec machine, the in-game representations of darts most well known names look good, add to that detailed environments and some slick menu systems and overall presentation is done well.

When starting a game you are presented with a choice of Exhibtion, Career and Party Games. I think it’s fair to say that career is where most people will spend their time, with exhibition as a fall back for the odd quick game. In career mode you compete through the darts year calendar, taking part in various open’s, one off exhibition events and knock out tournaments. Each round of darts start with an entrance sequence for the two competitors, complete with entrance music and cheering fans, though amusing the first time you watch them from the second match on you’ll be hitting skip.

For career mode you have the option to create a character, though if you are looking to create a fully lifelike representation of yourself to take on the likes of Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor then also be prepared for a little disappointment. The limited collection of stock faces, bodies and hair meant that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with anything other than a rather haunting insight into how I’ll look in 30 years time.

Nafarama

In game commentary is provided by Sid Waddell, a name which will be well known to fans of televised darts. His often unintelligible dialogue will bring a smile; screams of “naffarama” after you’ve just thrown a stinker are at first very amusing. Unfortunately as always this quickly falls into being repetitive and you’ll find putting on music infinitely preferable to hearing the same comments over and over.

The control system is intuitive and easy to pick up, the downside is that it is also too easy to master. With inspiration I can only assume came from playing certain golf titles, throwing a dart is controlled via the two analogue sticks. Using the left stick you position a target circle on the dart board, you then pull back and push forward on the right stick to actually throw the dart. As you pull back a power gauge will start to build up and the idea is to hit the sweet spot in the middle of the gauge. Five minutes practice will see you getting the power gauge right much more often than not. Admittedly it’s not as simple as all that, the movement of the right analogue stick has to be smooth and straight, if you angle to the right or left then the dart will skew in the air and go off target, I had this happen once in the entire time i was playing this. This tolerance seemed so high that you actually had to put effort in to skew the dart.

Oxygen have thrown in a little something extra to make things more interesting, when throwing a ‘pressure dart’ i.e. the third treble top or an out, the controller starts to vibrate, a heartbeat sound effect kicks in and your targeting circle starts to move around with nerves. Rather than adding an extra element of tension I just found this incredibly annoying, it seemed that I suddenly went from using (an admittedly small) amount of skill to relying on chance.

Look at what you could have won

At the end of the day this comes across as a very good attempt to make a game out of something that just isn’t suitable for the purpose, the ability to place you into the ‘big tournament’ environment really doesn’t add much, and all you are adding to the darts experience here is the ability to hit treble twenty more consistently than you possibly could in real life. If you are an absolute diehard darts fan, someone who really enjoys watching the televised tournaments then there is possibly something here for you, otherwise if you’re simply looking for a game of darts, one that you can enjoy with your mates? Well nip down to your local high street, a bog standard dartboard is likely to cost about half of where this game will RRP.