U-Move Super Sports PlayStation 2
Published
by Konami
Developed by Konami
Release Date : 22nd October 2004
Price : £24.99
The most innovative piece of hardware for consoles over the last few years has to be the EyeToy camera that Sony created for the PlayStation 2. The ability to put the gamer onscreen and truly in the game has proved insanely popular and it's no surprise that this autumn/winter sees a handful of games being released that make extensive use of the EyeToy camera. The first game to land on our doormat is U-Move Super Sports from Konami. Konami have long been associated with quality sports titles so I suppose this is a natural genre for them in which to release an EyeToy based game. Let's take a look at how well it plays.
If you visit Deaf Gamers a lot you'll know our reviews are rather formulaic. Because of the nature of an EyeToy game though it isn't really appropriate to do the review in the same fashion. After all you know the graphics are going to be fairly simple and that most of what you see onscreen will be yourself. You also know that for the most part there isn't a need for subtitles. Bearing all this in mind we'd thought we do things a little differently and briefly comment on the games that have been included. We've categorised the games into their respective sports and also given each game a mark out of ten to give you a rough idea of how good we thought each game was.
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Football Games
Perfect
Goalie - 8/10
You are placed into a virtual goal and have to save the
shots that are fired towards you. You can't block the rockets
that are occasionally fired toward you though as you lose
5000 points. If you let three goals in it's game over. It's
just what you'd expect from an EyeToy based football game.
Ball-Tossing
Alien - 3/10
An alien has planted a bomb on your football. You simply
have to juggle the ball 3 times and pass it back to the
alien in order to move on to the next level. Try to juggle
the ball more than 3 times and it will explode, meaning
game over. Very disappointing to be honest and hardly anything
to do with football.
Yellow
Card - 7/10
The idea is to wave your hands over the referees in order
to appeal against you receiving a yellow card. Onscreen
you'll see 6 referees that will temporarily hold up yellow
cards. The idea is to wave your hand over the referees in
order for them to put the card away. If you don't persuade
the referee though the card will stand and should you earn
3 yellow cards it's game over. One of the better football
based games.
Dribbling
- 5/10
Simply smack the ball around the cones. You can't knock
the cones over though. The games OK but it gets old really
quickly.
Short
Pass Training - 6/10
You have four team-mates and a number of opponents in the
middle of them. Basically you have to keep passing the ball
to prevent the opponents from intercepting it. You pass
the ball by waving your hands over the player you want to
pass to. Not too bad and offers a genuine challenge.
Heading
Adventures - 3/10
Simply head the ball all the way from your home to your
school and avoid the various obstacles that appear on the
way. Becomes boring very quickly to be honest.
Space
Break Out - 4/10
Remember Breakout or Arkanoid (or Bat and Ball) from years
ago when you had a bat/ship at the bottom of the screen
and you had to rebound a ball/laser into a row of bricks?
Well this game is the EyeToy version of it. Not much of
a single player game but could be some fun in multiplayer
mode.
Trapping
Practice - 5/10
Knock the falling balls onto your team-mates whilst avoiding
the bombs. OK but nothing special.
Sling
Shot - 8/10
One of the better games. This game makes you part of a football
flavoured, virtual pinball table that has your goal at the
bottom and your opponent's goal at the top. There are four
images of you on the table and you can move your arms to
make them function as flippers. Do the job successfully
and you'll hit the ball into your opponent's goal. This
is definitely the standard of games that we want to play
using our EyeToy camera.
Corner
Kick - 7/10
You play this game from the side on. Simply wait for your
team-mate to take the corner and then you hit it past the
keeper into the net. Miss the ball three times and it's
game over. A simple but enjoyable game.
Rugby Games
Rugby
Clash - 3/10
You're faced with two onrushing bulls in rugby kits. Each
of these bulls will take it in turn holding the ball. They
both have health meter's over their heads and when you have
your hands over them the gauge will fall and they will drop
or pass the ball. As the only rugby game here it's a bit
of token effort.
Curling
Sweep
Curling - 8/10
Your arms (or whatever you use) replaces the sweeper's brushes
in this curling game. Simply move your arms as fast as you
can to reduce the friction on the ice so your stone can
get as close to the tee as possible. A simple use of the
EyeToy camera but perhaps the most accurate representation
of a sport in the game.
Horse Racing
Jockey
- 9/10
Fancy yourself as a jockey? Well now here's your chance.
You get to pick the horse you want to ride and attempt to
win the race. You'll see a small image of yourself on the
back of the horse. The horse has a speed up button on his
rear and a speed down button at the base of his neck. To
make him go faster keep hitting the speed up button. You
will notice a stamina bar at the bottom of the screen and
making the horse go faster will deplete this bar. To replenish
the stamina bar simply hit the speed down button. Of course
this will make the horse slow down and the trick is to get
the balance right if you're to win the race. A very enjoyable
game.
Golf
Hole-in-one
- 2/10
The game has hardly nothing in common with the game of golf.
A golf ball is hit and you have to swing everything you
have in order to keep the ball's path obstacle free. It's
tedious to be perfectly honest and is probably the worst
game on the disk.
Baseball
Batting
Frenzy - 6/10
You face a pitcher and the idea is to hit as many home runs
as possible. Miss the ball three times and it's game over.
Nothing brilliant but it's OK.
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The games can be played in Single player and Multiplayer modes. There are three difficulty levels for the games so you can make them more challenging if you want to. Perhaps what most of you will notice is the rather heavy slant towards football based games. For a game that is called Super Sports you would expect a lot more variety in the sports available. Konami have also included an Art Studio mode that contains some interesting activities (not really games as such) such as Whack-A-Mole, Puzzle games, Kaleidoscope etc. These are simply there to have fun with and I'm sure younger gamers will enjoy batting a football around the screen or making pretty Kaleidoscope patterns of themselves on the TV.
U-Move Super Sports is definitely a good idea and one that should theoretically prove popular as many will like the idea of playing crazy games with their EyeToy that are based on the sports they love. However U-Move Super Sports suffers from having a large number of games that just don't feel enjoyable. There's also too many football games (most of these could have been replaced with games based on other sports to give greater variety). Tennis, Boxing and Volleyball could have been included with ease but sadly all these popular sports are not represented. The Art Studio mode adds a bit more value to the overall package but it still doesn't make U-Move Super Sports an essential purchase for EyeToy gamers.
Overall
Game Rating: 6.0/10
U-Move Super Sports has some good games but overall there's
a lack of variety amongst the sports and too many weak games
have been included.
Deaf
Gamers comment:
No problems at all for deaf gamers as all information is
visual. Text instructions have been included for all the
games too.