Box cover

The second in the PDC World Championship series, this 2009 edition has professionals like Phil “The Power” Taylor making statements like “…it’s the closest thing to throwing a real dart”. Is that actually accurate or just a hollow marketing endorsement? With the DS version recently scoring an average WiiDS.co.uk review, how will its Wii counterpart fare?

There are certain simulation games that make you think “What’s the point? You might as well go out and do the real thing.” Before even receiving my review copy, I wondered this to myself. It’s not even the first of its kind, there was also a 2008 edition and I thought for Rebellion Studios to develop a sequel, there better be a good reason or two.

As you can imagine, there’s not an awful lot to a darts-simulation game. The main area of concern is probably the control method. Like all the other sport-sims, the appeal is in the emulation of the gestures involved. In this case, throwing a dart; which doesn’t sound as fun as say… tennis, baseball and so on. Still, I suppose you’re not going to buy a darts-sim unless you want to play a darts-sim, which raises the question, why not just play darts or buy a darts-board?

In risk of guessing what Rebellion Studios‘ remit might have been, the reasons for anyone wanting to buy this game would be because they’re a huge darts fan and want to “play” against the professionals or as them; the range of multiplayer games you won’t necessarily get with a real darts-board; or that you have too much money to know what to do with it all.

In all fairness, the recreation of throwing a dart is not too shabby. By holding the wii-mote like a dart as best you can, taking aim and locking in that position by holding the A button, arcing your forearm back and then springing it forward; releasing A at the right time results in the dart flying forward. It’s not bad!

When you’ve locked the aim down by holding A, a power meter will appear, with a section highlighted which represents your target. Obviously over-doing it and under-doing it will result in the dart going off-course. You will need a bit of follow through because if you try stunning it, the game won’t recognise it accurately. It’s all relatively natural, but not exactly ideal.

In Career Mode, you have the option of playing as one of the the 18 professionals in the game, or use a created player. There’s not a great deal of customisation so if you’re thinking of creating an identical copy of yourself, you can forget it.

The split screen during game-play is quite a nice touch. Very in-line with what televised darts is like and captures the realism in the game. The players’ on-screen characters even replicate the aiming actions before it’s thrown. Although you’ll be focusing your attention on the left half of the screen where the dartboard and cross-hair is, it’s a nice touch.

Alternatively, you can change the camera view by pressing the d-pad buttons. The fullscreen view is quite helpful; reducing the amount of scrolling about.

After playing a couple of games, you start getting slightly board (get it?). Every player’s entrance music is “Chase the Sun” by Planet Funk and as authentic as it is, it gets annoying and you end up skipping the entrance sequences.

As I mentioned before, why play a darts video game (that retails at around £25) when you can play in a pub or spend the same amount of money and buy a real darts-board? I suppose Rebellion Studios has tried to justify this by including a large selection of multiplayer party games.

Aside from the well known 301, 501, 701 and their respective Double-In variations, you also have Around The Clock and its Doubles ‘n’ Trebles alternative, Black ‘n’ White, Cricket (US & UK versions), Fives, Half It, Killer, Knockout, Odd Man In, Shanghai, and Twenty One. All party games support 2-4 players except Black ‘n’ White which only supports 2 players.

Technically, there’s eighteen party games which is quite impressive, but is that enough? I found myself getting bored of the main game and the multiplayer games aren’t much better. As someone who owns a real darts-board (although it doesn’t get used), you do wonder why you’re not playing it for real.

Graphically, the game is pretty standard. Before the games start and the camera pans around the venues, you noticed how blocky the people in the crowds are. Some of the players are rendered nicely but there are some that look animal-like. The slow-motion replays after the games have ended look really shoddy.

The commentary gets annoying quite quickly. That’s not dissing Sid Waddell, but the pace of the one-liners is just too quick. Sometimes it’s one straight after another and it all seems a bit much. Also, only in a darts game do you get the commentator saying things like “Shaking the flock!”. “Bangs the lipstick again!” is a good one, as is “Cream in the cheese!”.

A minor feature is the wii-mote vibrating when you’re on for a raucous 180; mimicking the players’ heartbeat. This is quite a nice immersive tool, coupled with the sound of the crowd drowning out to highlight the level of concentration involved.

After playing this game for a considerable amount of time, a shrug of the shoulders sums up my feelings about it. As a darts simulation game, it’s fairly accurate, asides from the rather bulky “dart” in your hand. The audio and visuals departments are pretty average which reflects the overall achievement of this game.

I appreciate the inclusion of many multiplayer party games, but I feel the amount one pays for this game, money would have been better spent on a real darts board. The lack of any online competitive modes is a let down. Surely it’s not much to ask, it’s not going to be a strain on the servers, is it? A rather half-baked game receives a score it deserves.

+ Fairly accurate portrayal of dart-throwing
+ Commentary from Sid Waddell adds realism
+ Many multiplayer party games

- Gets boring quickly
- No online modes
- Unlikely to tempt gamers who aren’t fans of darts

Score – 5.5/10