PDC World Championship Darts 2009 (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

The DS has meant that many games previously seem as problematic, have made their way onto the home console scene. Take darts for example where previous computer and mobile phone outings have simply involved the target area jumping around making it a challenge to actually hit the correct part of the board. We have seen darts games on the DS before though and SEGA's Touch Darts did reasonably well some years ago. Oxygen Games clearly feel they can go one better but have they?

Gameplay

Before you get to the game there's a series of rather clunky menus to navigate however there is no explanation of what the various gaming modes are. That's frustrating enough but there are even more problems to be had when actually selecting a darts player. This has to be one of the poorest interfaces yet seen on the DS. Anyway, back to the actual game. There are a variety of modes available including Exhibition where up to 2 gamers compete on one DS and Tournament for up to 8. If that isn't your thing there's always the single player (and self-explanatory) Career mode that takes place over an impressive 20 seasons against a whole host of darts players. Probably more entertaining, for the pick up and play crowd, is Party Games featuring the usual favorites including Around the Clock amongst others. There's also a Multiplayer option, which is a good thing because the actual game mechanics are so poorly implemented that even the poorest of AI opponents is likely to beat you.

Controls

It's all touch-screen.

Graphics

Given that most of the visuals are dart and dartboard related we didn't expect much. There are some badly animated players to watch after each throw, but the rest is simply given over to endless (badly designed) menus.

Sound

Starts with some rather generic rock music but this, thankfully, stops when the actual game begins. From then on it's all crowds mumbling and cheering accompanied by some commentary, all of which repeats far too much.

Dual screen

Yes, you've guessed it; this is yet another DS title that features a unique stylus interface, allowing the gamer (i.e. you) to feel like you're actually putting some effort into the sport in question. Unfortunately there's no sign of a tutorial or practice mode so actually hitting your target is purely a case of trial and error, which can be incredibly frustrating. You'd think that a game that relied on the touch-screen interaction would have been overflowing with hints and tips on just how to get the best score but sadly there's nothing and the only way to work out how to actually hit the board is hidden away in the manual.

Final comments

On the surface PDC World Championship Darts isn't bad at all with reasonably good production values and a good number of play modes. Unfortunately this becomes meaningless when you actually try to play the game; even the actual mechanics of launching your dart at the board is far from smooth. What's worse is that there's very little in the way of help to make things any easier making the whole thing far too frustrating to ever really be entertaining.

Pro: If you do happen to enjoy darts on the go then it may be worth a look.
Con: No Tutorial, Frustrating and Unrewarding Gameplay.
Final score: 3.5

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