Written by: Mark

 

 

 

In recent years darts has become increasingly popular as a televised spectator sport, in particular the 'Professional Darts Corporation' (PDC) due to the massive influx of televised tournaments and recognisable players.

 

In 2008 Oxygen Interactive released a game to capitalise on the sports success and the uniqueness on the Nintendo Wii’s controls which should have mimicked the darting action superbly. However the game ended up being pretty poorly received with a very difficult learning curve and inconsistent controls.

 

Fast forward one year to 2009 and Oxygen Interactive return with a sequel which promises a number of changes to improve the overall game including subtle gameplay improvements, more players and most importantly an improved control system.

 

But have these improvements made enough of a positive step forward to warrant a purchase of PDC World Championship Darts 2009 ?

 

 

Lets start the review by looking at what is the most important thing about the game…the controls. Undoubtedly where the 2008 version of the game failed was due to the very inconsistent controls which if I’m honest never gave the impression that the player was in total control of the action and more often than not the dart never achieved it’s intended target. The developers must have realised this and in the 2009 version have worked hard to implement desired changes.

 

 

The way in which the dart is thrown is still the same in that the Wiimote is held the same as a player would hold a dart and the same throwing action is used only with the A button released at the same point as a player would release a dart from his/her hand. Although this represents the sport pretty well it never gives a massive sense of realism, despite this the game works far better than the previous version and the inclusion of the assist gauge certainly makes the game more easily accessible to players of all abilities.

 

 

In PDC 2009 the developers have included almost all of the official PDC tournaments which can be played in using the games career mode. In this mode the player can either use their own created player of choose one of the eighteen PDC professional players and take them through the tournaments to progress to become world number one.

 

It must be said that the career mode is pretty enjoyable although the create a player tool is the one area where the game has not really developed and still remains fairly poor. This is mainly due to the lack of customisable options which means that you cannot really get much of a likeness to yourself unlike many other games currently available. In addition are the lack of options to select darts and flights. Call me picky but I am partial to playing a real game of darts myself so it would have been nice to have been given more choice of darts instead of just light, medium and heavy.

 

Whilst the eighteen professional players mostly bear a good resemblance to their real life counterparts the unknowns which you encounter are somewhat disappointing. It seems that the game only has a small number of character templates and this can lead to several occasions when you are playing against a computer controlled character which looks identical to yourself. I am aware that the game is one which will get more sales based on it’s controls however the lack of characters is a major negative and gives off the impression of slight laziness from the developers.

 

 

The same can definitely be said for the commentary which features familiar commentator Sid Waddell who attempts to add a level of humour to proceedings. Whilst some of his quips are funny at first they soon get way too repetitive and this becomes very tedious to listen to. Whilst the developers have tried to bring authenticity to the game they could have put more emphasis on commentary which again has not seen significant improvement from previous versions.

 

The same can be said for the player walk ons which are present. Whilst PDC 2009 does feature walk on girls and a more polished finished it still features more of a heavy rock soundtrack and not official player songs. I realise that it may have cost too much to get official music licences however the game could feature more of a mix.

 

As stated earlier the game features almost all of the real life tournaments which are presented pretty well and there is no doubt that the game does feature a variety of tournaments and game modes which will ensure that there is something available for all.

 

Where PDC 2009 stands out are the differing game modes available which include the aforementioned career mode, custom leagues and tournaments, practice mode and most impressively a selection of twelve party games which adds an awful lot of variety and adds longevity to the package.

 

 

Undoubtedly the game modes on offer certainly add a difference to the standard darts game but the major gameplay change is in it’s difficulty which now has three settings. This simply changes the levels of assist from max which is by far too easy and sees you scoring 180’s in almost every visit, min which is probably enough of a challenge for most players and off which makes the game simply too difficult and reminiscent of how PDC 2008 played.

 

 

The game will never win any prizes for it’s gameplay however the controls certainly add a new aspect to how it plays and it is safe to say that this is the greatest console darts game yet released, however I am still unsure about how suited to video games the sport of darts is. This is highlighted by the fact that the game costs about the same as a real dartboard and decent set of darts and requires less skill than the real sport.

 

I should add that the game certainly offers a fair amount fun however I simply cannot see any console darts game having the levels of replay ability of the majority of other sports titles. With the inclusion of a enjoyable multiplayer mode players may find themselves visiting the game every now and then although it certainly will not be a title that sits in your console for any lengthy period of time.

 

 

Undoubtedly "PDC World Championship Darts 2009" has been released to cash in on the popularity of the game of darts and the PDC in particular however it is the good use of the Wii’s controls which is the main stand out aspect of the game.

 

One gets the feeling that there have been a number of significant game changes from the previous version and I have to say that these are all for the better.

 

Despite this there are just too many faults to make the game an essential purchase, however if you are a big fan of the sport or are simply after an enjoyable multiplayer game then you will certainly enjoy what is on offer in the package.

 

 

 

 

 

+ Massive improvement over PDC 2008
+ Controls work pretty well
+ Multiplayer is a good inclusion
+ Party games give added depth

 

- Lack of character custom options
- Gameplay can become boring quickly
- Still too many faults
- Commentary very repetitive and tedious