Okay so it's been about a year since the Playstation Move first appeared and I wanted to write a review on its progress so far and to see if Sony's shift to motion control technology has really been a benefit for PS3 owners. Note that this review will not be a direct review of specific videogames but more how the Move is being used in them. I'd also like it to be known I picked up the Playstation move as a curiosity having won some money and wanting to buy something I wouldn't normally consider getting.
Firstly lets look at the Move technology itself, although very similar to the Wii in appearance I feel it is much more accurate and responsive, probably due to the PS Eye constantly watching the movements of the big shiny ball mounted on the end of the controller. The button placement is also superior with every button being easy to reach from one grip position.
We've all seen the marketing power Sony has tried to put behind the Move to boost its sales and make it look like a strong contender to the Wii while also promising AAA gaming experiences to the more core group of gamers but have Sony been able to deliver on these experiences and make them contend with a standard controller set up?
The natural answer to this question is Killzone 3; Killzone 3 was the first major push to use Move in a first person shooter and a lot of effort went into adding thsi motion controller set up without removing anything from the game and in all honesty, I was very impressed with the Performance of the move, even preferring it to a standard Six axis controller for this game, every function is easy to perform with the motion controls and aiming is extremely precise, I had a much harder time aiming with the standard controller. I even use the Move online for fighting against other players, something I never thought I would be doing with a motion controller.
Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, I picked this up cheap and had some pretty good fun with it, I agree with most people when they say that 5 is inferior to other games in the series but I felt the Move features fixed some of its clunky problems, mainly with aiming, sometimes the red laser dot was almost invisible in the standard edition, with the move there's no mistaking where you're aiming and it also feels a lot more precise, you're not trying to twitch just 2 pixels to the right and overshooting, there's also handy controls for reloading weapons. On the downside the knife control can activate without warning, something I hate, sometimes I adjust my sitting position and out comes the knife, annoying but it doesn't destroy the game.
My main issue with the Move is that besides Killzone 3, and to a lesser extent Resident Evil 5, there aren't many AAA games that really harness the technology to its full potential. I tried Heavy Rain with the Move controls and the huge disconnect was still there, although I love Heavy Rains story and multiple strands of plot I've always found that controlling the game was just an elaborate game of Simon or a very very simplified Guitar Hero, button comes on screen, press it now, it's a very labratory Chimpanzee set up that I find almost degrading as a gamer, the Move brings nothing new here, no new immersion value for me. I've yet to try Resistance 3 out, the second game was disappointing IMO so I've been avoiding it, but Yahtzee's review oddly enough has made me consider getting it.
So to sum things up, one year on and the Move technology definitely works in itself and can provide a fun gaming experience without compromise but it's hit a dead end because a lot of devs simply don't want to incorporate it into their games and if they're developing multiplatform games I can't blame them, with everything else on their schedule why add an optional method of controls. I can't honestly reccomend buying a Playstation Move if you're the kind of gamer that sticks to mainstream AAA titles since there just aren't enough titles out there that use the technology effectively. Sony still seem to strongly support the move in their advertising campaigns but haven't effectively released a library of AAA games to support the device.
Firstly lets look at the Move technology itself, although very similar to the Wii in appearance I feel it is much more accurate and responsive, probably due to the PS Eye constantly watching the movements of the big shiny ball mounted on the end of the controller. The button placement is also superior with every button being easy to reach from one grip position.
We've all seen the marketing power Sony has tried to put behind the Move to boost its sales and make it look like a strong contender to the Wii while also promising AAA gaming experiences to the more core group of gamers but have Sony been able to deliver on these experiences and make them contend with a standard controller set up?
The natural answer to this question is Killzone 3; Killzone 3 was the first major push to use Move in a first person shooter and a lot of effort went into adding thsi motion controller set up without removing anything from the game and in all honesty, I was very impressed with the Performance of the move, even preferring it to a standard Six axis controller for this game, every function is easy to perform with the motion controls and aiming is extremely precise, I had a much harder time aiming with the standard controller. I even use the Move online for fighting against other players, something I never thought I would be doing with a motion controller.
Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, I picked this up cheap and had some pretty good fun with it, I agree with most people when they say that 5 is inferior to other games in the series but I felt the Move features fixed some of its clunky problems, mainly with aiming, sometimes the red laser dot was almost invisible in the standard edition, with the move there's no mistaking where you're aiming and it also feels a lot more precise, you're not trying to twitch just 2 pixels to the right and overshooting, there's also handy controls for reloading weapons. On the downside the knife control can activate without warning, something I hate, sometimes I adjust my sitting position and out comes the knife, annoying but it doesn't destroy the game.
My main issue with the Move is that besides Killzone 3, and to a lesser extent Resident Evil 5, there aren't many AAA games that really harness the technology to its full potential. I tried Heavy Rain with the Move controls and the huge disconnect was still there, although I love Heavy Rains story and multiple strands of plot I've always found that controlling the game was just an elaborate game of Simon or a very very simplified Guitar Hero, button comes on screen, press it now, it's a very labratory Chimpanzee set up that I find almost degrading as a gamer, the Move brings nothing new here, no new immersion value for me. I've yet to try Resistance 3 out, the second game was disappointing IMO so I've been avoiding it, but Yahtzee's review oddly enough has made me consider getting it.
So to sum things up, one year on and the Move technology definitely works in itself and can provide a fun gaming experience without compromise but it's hit a dead end because a lot of devs simply don't want to incorporate it into their games and if they're developing multiplatform games I can't blame them, with everything else on their schedule why add an optional method of controls. I can't honestly reccomend buying a Playstation Move if you're the kind of gamer that sticks to mainstream AAA titles since there just aren't enough titles out there that use the technology effectively. Sony still seem to strongly support the move in their advertising campaigns but haven't effectively released a library of AAA games to support the device.
