Since the launch of the Playstation Move controller two months ago, there has been a lack of fun titles to play with the motion controller. Slowly more and more titles are being released with Move support, making owning the controller actually worth it. There have been people who have questioned the level of excitement that can be had with the controller, but owning The Shoot as one of my first Move games has made it nothing but a fun experience.
The Shoot is a fun, quirky shooter which sees you as an action star who must please the director on various film sets. There are five different movie sets throughout the game, and each set will have you shoot your way through four different stages before the film is complete. Movie sets include a Western, A robot sci-fi, A mob movie, a horror flick and more. The sets offer up card board cut out enemies which fit in with each of the movie themes. In the Western set you will be shooting down rouge cowboys, in the mob set you will be gunning down masked mobsters and so forth. Failing the sets is pretty hard to do, as you can only fail by taking too much damage, missing too many targets or shooting innocent people. Committing any those will make the director call for a “Cut”, and you only get four chances to try again. Each set offers a great challenge as you will not be able to unlock the next set until you hit a certain score threshold on the current movie set.
Combos, accuracy and pulling of special moves will help you rack up points. If your consistently accurate and get multiple headshots, you will gain multipliers as well as special moves. The special moves add an extra level of fun to the experience, as you must initiate the special moves with your very own actions. One of the special moves is a slow motion bullet time effect that you initiate by spinning your body round in a 360 motion. Although you might be thrown off the first time the game asks you to do it, it gives you a rush once you pull it off. The other two special moves include a shockwave which you aim at the ground to initiate and it instantly eradicates all enemies on screen at that moment. The final one sees you shooting up toward the ceiling to initiate “rapid fire”, which allows you to basically hold on to the trigger and go crazy as shots continuously spray at your enemies.
Besides the career mode, you also have Score Attack and Challenge modes. There is also the option of playing multiplayer, which adds a competitive element to the game. These will somewhat compensate for the short length of the career mode, which could be tackled in a couple hours if you’re a good enough shooter.
The accuracy of the Playstation Move with The Shoot is pretty incredible. I got much more enjoyment out of The Shoot compared to other shooters on the move such as “Time Crisis”; this is simply because The Shoot is optimized for the Move specifically as opposed to Time Crisis which has been reworked for the Move. Once you calibrate the Move controller upon loading up the game, it’s very rare you’ll need to do it again unless you leave the room (with the Move) or something of that nature.
As far as performance, the game runs pretty well once it’s loaded. However the loading times are pretty questionable for the type of game it is. The graphics are what you would expect from this type of game, they won’t make you say “wow” but they do their job all things considered. The sound is something that works very well in this game. The gunshots and sound effects sound completely legit; the music score portrays the feel of a Hollywood movie set very well and it all puts you in the essence.
Overall The Shoot gives you the kind of experience you should be seeking with the Playstation Move. You don’t go into a game like this expecting triple A quality, because that’s not the kind of experience Cohort Studios are going for here. If you desire a pick up and play Move experience that you can come back to as you desire, then The Shoot is perfect. The game offers fast paced thrills, fun to play multiplayer and a range of different challenges. Not only that but if you’re looking for some easy trophies then The Shoot provides just that.
