Beach Volleyball - Admittedly, when I saw some of the advertisements for the Playstation Move, notably the one where they are dancing, I thought "That looks stupid, why would you use both arms when you only have one controller." Then I played this sport in the compilation and I realized, "because it just doesn’t work if you don’t." To bump, set and spike here you have very realistic movements. To bump a ball with just one hand seemed...odd, perhaps even wrong. So I started bumping and setting with both hands. Serving can be done with one or two
controllers as can playing the entire game. I found that with two controllers it didn’t feel any different, but the serving controls are slightly different. In volleyball the game highlights where you need to aim with the controller. You don’t need to move there, though I have seen some friends feel the need to do it, but you only have to aim with the controller.
Bocce Ball - Also known as lawn bowling, petanque and a few other names. This game is somewhat popular here in the Czech Republic often with areas specifically for playing in some parks and beer gardens. It’s fairly realistic, much better than some other games I’ve seen. It also offers a variety of playing areas, many with their unique challenges. However, the computer players don’t seem to progress in difficulty in a cup range (bronze, silver, gold) as I was quite often able to score multiple points per round and win the matches fairly easily. Then again, I did manage a lot of balls under a foot away from the Pallino. I didn’t even lose a match until the final opponent on the bronze
cup. They do seem to progress drastically from cup to cup though as they went from being 3-7 meters away in the Bronze Cup to 2-4 meters in Silver.
Disc Golf is another sport which I quite like and have played in reality. In this version you’ve got everything you would need for real play. Three kinds of discs - driver, mid-range and putter. They obviously give up distance in favor of accuracy. Perhaps it’s muscle memory that allowed me to play so well, I have played a lot of frisbee and qutie a bit of disc golf in my life. I did find though that after some Bocce and then Disc Golf in the same day, my arm would begin to ache. Perhaps that’s a sign I should be out playing these games in reality or should have been before now. I also found that I could play almost equally well with either arm so it’s not overly realistic. The only problem with the game is the
measurement of distance. I could easily wrist flick a disc 10 meters, that’s about 30 feet and I’m not so sure I could do that in real life. I’ll have to go outside and test it I guess. Also 10-15 meters almost feels like a guaranteed shot now.
Gladiatorial Duel - Kick the crap out of your friends or the computer in sword and shield combat, seriously. Duck, dodge, shield bash and slash your opponent into submission all for fun and glory! But be careful, two people playing in a confined space might come to real gladiatorial blows! This game is pretty cool as well (hell all of them are!) you can actually unlock new weapons and shields as you go and there are pretty cool special moves and super strikes in the game that make it quite enjoyable. There is an issue with someone randomly and continuously swinging and winning and there are some sluggish control issues but really, it still adds up to some amount of enjoyable beat down action.