The Shoot

FIRE!

Posted 2 years ago By - Jay Acevedo

After Sports Champions, Kung-Fu Rider, Start The Party, EyePet, TV Superstars and other Move-enabled games, it’s now The Shoot’s turn to be reviewed at GameFocus. Not that I was anxiously waiting for this game to come out, but out of all the Move games I’ve played up until now (most of them very forgettable), this one had my curiosity at it’s peak. Now that I’ve run through it, how does this on-rail shooter stack up against its motion-controlled PS3 counterparts? Rather well as far as this reviewer is concerned, but it’s not the ‘killer app’ experience I was hoping for.

Presented as an on-rail shooter, The Shoot puts players in the shoes of an unnamed movie actor hired to star in five action-based films. Each one is made up four scenes and has a bunch enemies coming at you, begging to be shot. The goal is simple: destroy as many targets as possible (either by shooting bullets or simply pistol whipping then at close-range) while taking accuracy and kill streaks into consideration. Even though accuracy will grant you extra points towards your final score, streaks become extremely important since they will unlock three special moves that will provide a nifty score boost as well. Showtime slows down time, activated by executing a 360 degree body twist or an overhead lasso move with the Move controller. Shockwave clears the stage and is activated by aiming down below the screen. Rampage enables rapid fire by aiming above the screen. By performing combos, headshots and increasing your multiplier, these powers will eventually be available.

As you’re progressing through the levels, the in-game director will either encourage or despise your performance. Take too much damage or miss the targets often and you will lose a take (the equivalent of lives). Five takes are given right from the start so make sure you don’t piss him off, especially since losing a take causes you to restart the film from the beginning. Let’s say you’ve passed the first two scenes and for some reason, you lose all your takes in the third one. The game will automatically bring you back to the beginning. Now I don’t mind having to restart a scene but the whole movie? Not that it’s incredibly difficult, but I see it more as an excuse for not having more than five movies to showcase - i.e. artificially lengthening the playtime. Each one can be completed in 30 minutes or so, meaning that the Career mode can be run from beginning to end in less than four hours. The game packs a two player Score Attack mode and special challenges are unlocked once each movie gets completed. These two additional modes do increase The Shoot’s replayability value but due to its repetitive nature, I wouldn’t be surprised to see players skip the game altogether once the campaign is completed and move on something else.

I have to admit, The Shoot is one of the few Playstation Move games to actually have an almost flawless movement recognition system. Aside from a few minor lagging concerns that can be corrected with the extra calibration process (yes, take your time while calibrating your Move controller or else gameplay is going to suffer from it), the game responds incredibly well to all commands; whether it’s the shooting , enabling the special moves and even the tilting mechanic. Trust me, even though you can blast the dynamite sticks those pesky cowboys throw your way, leaning the Move controller sideways to avoid it will end up being the best strategy.

Even though my experience with The Shoot ended up being a positive one, I did come across a few annoyances. One of them is the excrutiating loading times. The game isn’t the most advanced piece of graphic technology ever produced for the Playstation 3, so having to wait that long to go through basic levels featuring rough cardboard cut-out characters is ridiculous. Okay, you don’t have to install the game on your hard disk but seriously…other Move games load way faster than this one. The soundtrack is unremarkably subpar and the announcer…yeah he’s annoying as hell. There’s one thing missing in this game: real-time leaderboards. There are leaderboards but a game like this would have been much more appealing if my friends’ scores would show up somewhere on the screen, urging me to set new records for them to beat.

Finally, I bought the new Playstation Light Gun accessory…I may be the only one thinking this but it sure helps with the immersion. It’s not necessary but if you have $20 begging to be spent, I say go for it!

Conclusion

I’m sure you’ve read our previous Move coverage and some may still be on the fence about acquiring the wand or not. If the choice to bring motion controlled gaming home becomes reality and all you need is good game to play alongside Sports Champions, I think you’re better served with The Shoot rather than with Kung-Fu Rider and/or TV Superstars. As a whole, The Shoot may not be the best and most fleshed-out Move game available, but it’s definitely one of the few that is actually worth checking out.