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PlayStation Move Heroes Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

PlayStation Move Heroes Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Failing Move

I had a faint glimmer of hope for PlayStation Move Heroes when it was first announced. In the back of my mind I rationalized that there was no way Sony would cannibalize three of their biggest franchises by putting them all together in a crappy game. I figured that Sony would want to protect the names of those franchises (even though two of them are essentially dormant at this point). To be blunt: I was wrong. Very wrong.

PlayStation Move Heroes is not an especially bad game; they accomplished most of the goals they seem to have set out to achieve, but it’s incredibly boring. If this is the product they were hoping to produce, then the developer/publisher (whoever pulled the trigger on this project) needs a serious injection of ambition. This game shoots as low as possible, and only manages to achieve successes already accomplished by the first batch of Nintendo Wii games.

PlayStation Move Heroes Screenshot

While you may have been expecting some sort of grand adventure in which the dimensions housing the different heroes collide, you only get half that. The dimensions of the heroes do collide in a ridiculous, inconsequential story, but the game itself is far from a grand adventure. Rather, it’s just a bland mini-game collection that features some great characters.

It’s not just a little bit bland either, this is basically an amalgam of all of the junky tech demo games that were released at the Move’s launch. Except without anything really good like Sports Champions. You’ll whack a few things, you’ll shoot a few things, and you’ll steer things through the sky, but there is nothing (and I mean nothing) contained in this package that you haven’t already done before. And what is here is merely mediocre.

PlayStation Move Heroes Screenshot

You’ll have to be very desperate for a new PlayStation Move title (and it would be hard to blame you for that considering the incredible dearth of games that have come out since launch) to lay down a full $40 for a minigame compilation that could have easily appeared on the iPhone for $2.99. Sony is clearly relying on the fading star power of their three former mascots to sell a game that has no business retailing for $40. The price isn’t really the issue though. Time is the bigger issue. There are far better things to be spending your time on than this. It’s hard to imagine this product meeting anybody’s expectations.

The game stars Jak, Sly, Ratchet, and their respective sidekicks as they compete in a series of games and competitions that mostly revolve around saving tiny creatures or defeating some idiotic enemies. That’s really about it. The challenges are simple, and the game is a breeze to beat.

PlayStation Move Heroes Screenshot

There’s very little to even talk about when reviewing this game because the content is so light. The only bright spot is that the Move system once again proves that it’s a capable piece of hardware that is being woefully underused. There are levels where you fly a frisbee-like object around the level crashing into things by using the Move controller’s gyroscope to aim and turn. The system works really well and is one of the only fun spots in the game. Similarly the shooting and slashing sections of the game are easily controlled. This is the story of the whole game: technically proficient, but woefully unimaginative.

The graphics too are quite solid, and all the characters are as good looking as they’ve ever been. You just can’t do a whole lot with them. The challenges are bland, and there’s more than a slight logic gap involved in combining the characters of all three major Sony platforming games…in a game that doesn’t let them jump. Weird, right?

The voice actors similarly muster the will to give a proper performance in this game, but you don’t hear enough of them. For a game that highlights its characters on the front marquis in flashing lights, one would think that the characters would take the forefront, but they really don’t. A game like this was designed to be a fan service cash-in, and as such probably would have been far better off if it was essentially a cartoon heavily featuring the characters the fans came to see. I doubt many people will be satisfied by merely looking at the back of Sly’s head for the scant time it will take to beat this.

PlayStation Move Heroes Screenshot

The bottom line is that Sony really needs to get its act together with the PlayStation Move. This game was one of the few titles that fans held out hope for after the system’s initial offering of tech demos. Now it’s been half a year since Move came out, and early adopters have nothing to show for it. All of the best games for Move are games that are perfectly playable without it, and at best are marginally improved by its use. Killzone 3 is a perfect example of pitch-perfect Move controls that nobody needed.

I’ve written several times before that I think PlayStation Move is by far the best motion controller available on the market, but it’s hard to maintain that stance when Sony is releasing so few reasons to even use the thing. Each game that comes out is a testament to the potential power of the controller that nobody seems willing to invest in taking advantage of. It’s been eight months, and Sports Champions is still the best game on the system.

The bottom line is that you’d have to be beyond desperate to buy PlayStation Move Heroes. Even at its budget price, it is vastly overpriced in today’s gaming market. Sony is going to need to do a lot better than slapping its characters on the box to win over Move converts.

Save your money and pick up Auditorium HD or Sports Champions if you haven’t already. Those are the real games worth owning for Move. This isn’t worth your time or your money. This could have been a great game, but Sony didn’t spend nearly enough time or money developing this product. The result is an extremely shallow game that takes no risks, and offers nothing you haven’t already been playing for four years on the Wii.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.0 Graphics
The animations and graphics are occasionally decent and the character models are good, but there’s little variety. 4.0 Control
There’s nothing wrong with the Move controls. The game is easy to control and rarely frustrating. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The voice acting is usually solid, but there’s not enough of it. The characters themselves aren’t highlighted enough. 1.5 Play Value
There’s very little to do in this game, and from start to finish it will take you only a few hours. The levels are repeated incessantly, and there is almost zero variety in the missions. 2.0 Overall Rating – Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Get ready for a PlayStation Move motion controller adventure like no other. Six legendary heroes join forces to defeat galactic predators so fiendish that it will take all of their combined cunning and skill to vanquish them.
  • Mix and match your favorite characters including Ratchet, Clank, Jak, Daxter, Sly, and Bentley to create your own super squad of PlayStation heroes. After an evil force has stolen entire chunks of the hero’s home worlds and enslaved a race of peaceful space creatures, the heroes find themselves locked in a struggle for their survival.
  • Take a hold of a whole new arsenal of super powered weapons as you Smash, Hurl, and Shoot your way to freedom!

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