When Sony showed off PlayStation Move, I like many other people assumed it was just a Wii HD. That was until I had the chance to play it on release day. Upon playing Move, in my local game store, I left the store utterly bewildered as to how good Move is and how Sony could have essentially let it slip under the radar. Needless to say I bought the Move starter bundle and Sports Champions a week later (they aren’t bundled together here in the UK).

I have been playing Sports Champions almost exclusively since I picked the bundle and game up and I am in love. Although more specifically I am in love with Table Tennis and that is what I have been exclusively playing. I firmly believe that both the Table Tennis game and PlayStation Move together are the perfect way of proving the capabilities of motion control in games. I also firmly believe that until one tries PlayStation Move with Table Tennis, from Sports Champions, then one cannot truly know what Move can do. This isn’t to say that the other games in Sports Champions are not great. They are all brilliant but the Table Tennis is the true stand out of the bunch. Archery is a lot of fun although I personally couldn’t play it for extended periods of time. It’s surprising how fast my arms got tired. The Gladiator battle is also brilliant, especially if you just want to kick the crap out of something.

The small tweaks to Move over the Wii are what make it so great. Having the PS Eye instead of a sensor adds another level of depth to the experience. This is because instead of just registering the controller like the Wii sensor does the camera uses the Move to establish where you are in the room. For example when playing Table Tennis you quite literally have to run back and forth in order to hit the ball. This isn’t all the time however it does make the game incredibly fun when your opponent flicks the ball over the net and you have to run forward in order to hit it back.

I have said it before but I believe that Move is essentially Kinect and the Wii mashed together. Sony has taken the Wii and made it as close to 1:1 as is maybe possible at this time and they have taken Kinect and added buttons. This makes for the best gaming experience when it comes to motion controls available. It obviously may be beaten in November but I don’t see that happening.

As a quick side note I have tried the demos for the likes of The Shoot and Heavy Rain and they control beautifully aswell. So much so that I now plan on picking up Heavy Rain because I prefer the Move controls to the standard controls. How the Move controls work in other ‘normal’ games remains to be seen but so far I am very impressed.

If you are interested in Move (I assume you are if you have read this far) then I strongly recommend you find a store near you that has a demo set-up. Try the Table Tennis.

Written by: Cookie Writer