It's become a tired crutch for console manufacturer's to force mascot party games onto the public. Usually they try to capitalize on each franchises individual success while piggy backing some other "thing" in hopes it gets some of the residual cred. In this case, that "thing" is the PlayStation Move and the mascots are the characters from famed franchises Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper. I've said before that I'm a big fan of motion controls and the prospect of evolving the tools with which gamers can experience games, but this is not the way to do it. PlayStation Move Heroes is a functional game, but not a good one. And to clarify - nothing about it tells me it's even even a party game - go figure.
Whether you're a fan of Ratchet, Clank, Sly, Bentley, Jack or Daxter you'll be hard pressed to find this a worthy entry for any of them. The game is broken up into fifty levels across four worlds; Paris, Metropolis City, Haven City and the lone planet developed for the game, Planet X. Each level lets you select one group of three characters, either the hero or the sidekick, to play one of the numerous mini-games. You'll use throwing discs, whips, bowling balls, melee combat and ranged combat to complete all of the different objectives. But it's always the same, at least in some form. You're protecting, collecting and freeing Whibbles, little alien creatures that need your help. Though it appears like there's a lot of levels, the truth is most are done in under five minutes, and most often substantially less. But that's the rub; you wouldn't want to play any of the levels any longer than they're designed but when the game totals only four hours (being generous) it's hard to justify paying full price.
If the limited content doesn't bother you then the prospect of enjoying Move Heroes increases a little bit, but it'll depend on your tolerance to Wii-motitis. The two standout game modes are bowling and disc throw which play out exactly like they sound. You perform the movement and release the ball or throw the disc and then guide either by tilting the Move controller. Annoyingly, discs are in very limited supply so if you miss a toss you'll often have to run around the map finding more, burning into the time you have to free Whibbles. Other levels focus on projectile weapons and melee combat, both with middling success. Aiming and response never seems to be an issue when shooting guns, but those levels tend to be far too easy, especially when you're shooting exploding projectiles that take out huge groups at once.
The biggest issue, and PlayStation Move Heroes most obvious flaw, is its reliance on levels where your attack is boiled down to shaking the Move controller. There's nothing new in this control scheme and more than any other mechanic in the game it brings to light the latency of the Move. Actions are clearly not 1 to 1, so players end up having to shake left to right or up and down to have their character react with pre-canned animations. The player really only has to make sure to line up the camera so that they're looking at enemies, shake their arm and wait for the timer to expire. At most you're required to block or decipher whether a horizontal or vertical attack is needed. It's as basic and bare bones as it gets.
All the worlds in the game are plucked from the protagonists own universes and for the most part it creates a good, consistent look. How much you appreciate the levels will depend somewhat on your affinity for the franchises. For instance, I'm a huge fan of Ratchet & Clank so I felt at home in their locations and I've always loved the Sly Cooper aesthetic. But if you're unfamiliar with the characters you may be less inclined to tolerate the length of time you spend in each. The game is poorly paced, keeping you on a single world and forcing you to complete every level before moving onto the next. It would have been nice if they had just unlocked each world at the same time and slowly rolled out the levels on each of them.
The voice work by the actors is on par with what they deliver in their own franchises but there isn't really anything for them to do. On top of that the story falls flat; killing any attachment or investment you could have in the characters and the action. This is only highlighted by the co-op feature, a terrible throw in that only allows the second player to collect crystals or power-ups. Without a real two player (or four) mode there isn't a lot of reason to stay attached to the game. There's leaderboards, but no one really cares for those anymore, right? Had they done some proper versus modes and some addictive score chasing gameplay tied into it then maybe players could feel good about sticking with this title.
PlayStation Move Heroes fails to deliver a genuine idea and wastes every bit of its potential on being a tired retread of all those Wii games people mocked for the last five years. If motion controls are going to be taken seriously then developers need to learn that we expect more than wrist wiggling gameplay, and sticking our favorite mascots into the game doesn't cover up flimsy premises either. PlayStation Move Heroes is fine enough if you want a mindless, playable game to kill a few hours, but that's all there is to get out of it. There's collectibles to grab if you want unlockable character skins but that's hardly enough reason to keep playing after you beat the game. PlayStation Move Heroes is short, easy and pedestrian on every level. It's best played on your own and it's really the only way you can play - that should tell you something about a motion control focused, mascot themed party game.
Final Score: 50%
50-55% - "Middle Of The Road" A game that never finds its footing. Often middling, but sometimes a guilty pleasure that just offers no food for thought. Enticing only as a time killer or easy achievement/trophy grab.
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