Oxygen Interactive PDC World Championship Darts review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 15 Mar 2007

Price when reviewed: inc. VAT

Reviewed By: Seth Barton

Our Rating 2 stars out of 5

Darts has been making a TV comeback recently, with Sky Sports showing the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) games.

Oxygen Interactive decided the time was right for a game based on that league. The game features all the actual players and their animated versions look true to their real-life appearances, though a bit more facial animation would have been nice.

The problem with re-creating darts as a computer game is the repetitive nature of the sport. You throw darts at the board to score points and then finish the leg with a double. The board is always the same, the darts are always the same and the distance is always the same. In motor sport, you get different tracks and cars, while golf has different courses and weather conditions. Here it doesn't matter which player you select or whether you play in Essex, Holland or Vegas: it's the same game.

The control system for throwing darts sees you pulling back the mouse to set power and pushing it forward to release. Any deviation from a straight line will cause the dart to miss your intended target. Despite considerable practice, we found it hard to be consistent.

There is a range of game modes, including quick play, tournament and career, but they all boil down to a series of games against either the computer, which is annoyingly good, or an unfortunate friend. The presentation is respectable, however, with the graphics and commentary doing a decent job of recreating the atmosphere of televised darts.

A variety of party games is available for multiple players, and these can all be played with an assortment of wacky control systems. However, it's not enough to save this game, which was doomed from the start by its subject matter. Our advice is to buy a real dartboard and get some friends round to play on that.

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