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Review - PDC World Championship Darts 2008

Written by Jack Bulmer

Saturday, 19 January 2008

I received two games in the post today; the original Tetris for the Gameboy and PDC World Champion Darts 2008. Come tomorrow, I’ll still be playing one of these games. I’ll leave you to guess which but the answer isn’t difficult to get at. Let’s get some facts about PDC World Champion Darts; after all it’s a game about darts. I have a real dartboard and darts in the same room as I’m writing this. At anytime I can stop writing and throw them for real. PDC World Champion Darts wants to change that.

After a generic introduction, you’re greeted by the main menu. First on the list of things to visit are the options. No graphics options but a choice for vibration? The phrase ‘console port’ will be screaming in your head. Basically there are only four volume choices, and that’s practically it. Luckily, the game seems to run on any system (and the minimum requirements are pretty low), and it auto-detects graphical options. Despite that you’re probably like myself and want full control over what you’re seeing on screen.

Option choices aside, you’re given four game types to choose from; Exhibition, Tournament, Career and Party Games. The game lacks a tutorial (but arguably how hard is darts to understand) so the best place to begin is the exhibition mode. There are 16 players to choose from and they’re all real life darts champions. While I enjoy playing darts, I don’t exactly follow it so I chose the ‘biggest guy’ simply because he looked like he knew his stuff. After a choice of match-specific options, (skill level, location, etc), the game begins with both players receiving an introduction by the commentator. Think of it as a parallel to wresting but replace the cheering crowds with a bunch of blokes in a pub. Exciting huh...

Eventually the actual dart game starts and if you’ve ever seen darts on TV then you should be familiar with its setup. Half of the screen is covered by the dartboard and the other half by your player. The player camera is basically useless, its only there to convince you that you’re watching real life darts. On a whole though, the graphics are actually good. Facial animations show grief or pride, but this is only on the 2 main players. The spectators seem to suffer from ‘Paper Audience Syndrome’, it’s extremely noticeable. The locations are practically the same, but with different colours and backgrounds and they won’t have any influence on how you play.

To throw a dart, you have to hold the left mouse button, pull the mouse back, and then release it. You can tell that this game belongs on only one console, the Wii (and our review is coming as soon as we receive the review sample). It’s obvious that the setup on the PC doesn’t work. “Carefully crafted and intuitive controls for added realism”, as described on the box. No, just no. I tried with a gamepad, and the results were just as bad. This isn’t my attempt to cover up my hideous darts playing ability, but mind you; the controls really are clunky, very un-dart like. Add to the list of concerns with the fact that there’s an awful lot of waiting. You wait to pick your darts up, wait for the other player to throw his. (Of course multiplayer modes solve this, but it is still very tedious.)

Also the commentator says something on every dart you throw. For me, mostly negative things. “My granny could do better”, doesn’t exactly really make me want to continue playing. Luckily one of the four volume options control his voice, and he found himself promptly muted.

There are a few fun diversions. You can play a few dart-based party games, but as with the main game, you’re not actually told how to play them. You can also design your own character, to an extent. You choose a player model and a hairstyle, and change the colours. It’s hardly a custom character. For comedy purposes, I made a girl with an afro. That was the funniest I could make, although she did look quite hideous. This is a male-based sport after all.

If you’re a darts enthusiast, then you might enjoy this game. If you want it that badly, buy the Wii version. It’s going to be infinitely better. Conclusively, let’s be honest. You do the same thing over and over and that’s all there is to it. Unless you’re a die-hard fan of darts, then it’s not even a fun thing to repeat. The sound is pretty bad and consists of generic soft-rock music all around, coupled with a whining commentator which doesn’t exactly make you feel like playing. A real dartboard costs around £10, a wiser investment. Tedious, fiddly and boring, PDC World Championship Darts 2008 is not the way to go.

Score: 3/10

(PC Version Reviewed)

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