Arcade Darts (Minis)

Posted 2 years ago By - Marko Djordjevic

The great thing about most Bar/Pub games is that they don’t require too much skill to have fun. Foosball and Air Hockey are both extremely simple; Billiards has so many variations and house rules that you’re bound to find something everyone will enjoy, not to mention the added bonus if you’re teaching someone of the opposite sex how to play. Darts, on the other hand, is the one that requires a fair amount of skill and understanding of the rules in order to have the most enjoyment. No one is going to hand over those sharp darts to an uninitiated person, and trying to explain the rules could take a long time. That being said, the latest PlayStation Minis game by Icon Games Entertainment "Arcade Darts" should be a fun escape for gamers and a go-to for fans of Darts. Instead, it only ends up causing more frustration than enjoyment.

Arcade Darts lets you take part in various Dart games: Points (301, 501, 701) Round the Clock and Cricket. Most people have heard or seen people play Points but the other two game types are less known and new players will not know the basis of either of them. While there is a Practice mode, Arcade Darts fails to offer any sort of tutorial to teach newcomers the rules of these two games, especially Cricket which is not an easy to understand Game Type. In order to learn anything you have to actually go the Options mode and read the rules, then head over to practice and attempt to teach yourself.

One would think that those game types could just be avoided, but unfortunately, the main game modes include them. While Versus, Tournament and Multiplayer modes allow you to choose your game type; the core Arcade and Career modes require you to play every game type and without a choice as to when. Again, this would be acceptable and would add more variety, but when you’re playing either mode and the second serious match faced is something completely unfamiliar, you are forced to go back and learn it. This ruins any pacing the user had and most new players will simply stop playing.

Both the graphics and the music in Arcade Darts aren’t much to marvel at either. Outside of character portraits, the board and the game environments fail to catch the eye. The majority of time will be spent simply looking at the dart board and moving the aiming reticule to the spot you want to hit. The music is extremely repetitive and even the minor touches of adding "restaurant" noises such as ringing Cell-phones and background banter does nothing to add to any sort of real atmosphere.

Even with fairly long Career mode and single console Multiplayer option, Arcade Darts feels too cheap for any real enjoyment. Those who already enjoy playing Darts will rather play the real-life version. At the same time, those who are unfamiliar with the sport would be better off simply watching others play the real thing then trying to enjoy this poorly implemented iteration.