When I first saw Playstation Move Heroes revealed I was kind of excited as I am a Ratchet and Clank fan. The idea of combining Sony’s top platform heroes Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper is a very promising one. With the right execution you have the recipe for an epic platformer complete with Playstation Move functionality. Unfortunately Playstation Move Heroes is a letdown with nothing of substance to excite anyone over the age of ten years old.
My first gripe with the game is the 6.4 gigabyte install, which I fail to understand how that much space is required. For the gamers with big hard drives this likely isn’t an issue, but I have been sporting my 60 gigabyte Playstation 3 for years now. So you can imagine the amount of space management I have to go through when playing new games. For this type of game I would have thought it would be better compressed so that this much space isn’t needed.
Once that’s out the way you then get the very ugly looking menu system which looks like it’s standard definition. For a game featuring characters which have been greatly animated in their own games, I would expect this game to be presented beautifully. Unfortunately the unattractive blocky nature of the menu’s is consistent throughout the game.
Moving on to the actual game; while I appreciate that the aim is to get the players engaged as soon as possible, the set up for gathering the heroes together is pretty face-palm worthy. Basically the heroes get kidnapped whilst attempting to solve a certain issue in their own worlds, they are then told that they must compete in some type of elite hero super competition thingy’. Thankfully the whole experience isn’t as lame as the concept, as each character carries on their individual personalities, bringing a level of humor to the experience.
Gameplay is dead simple, and the only time it gets close to difficult is when it’s actually annoying to play. Don’t be expecting a platformer here, because you will be let down quicker than a vicious dog. Most of the challenges include having to throw things which must then be controlled with the Move stick, or shooting robots in attempt save as many fans as you can. Many of the challenges are reminiscent of the most basic Wii games where you simply waggle the wand. For a game made specifically for Playstation Move, it should be a little more complex. Whilst these challenges are very simple, playing with a buddy adds a level of excitement as you can compete for the best scores.
You shouldn’t have any problem running through the games challenges. However winning a gold medal on all of them can be a challenge, which should persuade you to give certain challenges another go. Plus there’s the fact you can choose from one of three heroes for each challenge. If you are a very patient person then trying for the gold medals may be something you’ll want to try. Just be warned that when collecting things like bolts, orbs and coins; they are deliberately placed in the most annoying place imaginable. You may literally have to break your wrist attempting to obtain some.
In closing, Move Heroes might be a cool party game if played in a small space of time. Unfortunately it has no lasting appeal and it’s pretty much a waste of some great characters. This had the potential to be something great, as the heroes own games are pretty epic. In this case it’s just another case of ‘great idea, poor execution’.
