PDC World Championship Darts: Pro Tour (360, Wii, PS3)
Dig out that bad shirt, grab the pork scratchings and pour yourself a pint - darts is back in your living room.
This is a franchise that has got gradually better over the last few years since it was launched and this latest step up to the oche has hit the bull's-eye.
It came too soon for the Kinect function on th3 360 but it is equally as good as it is on the PS3 with move and with the Wii.
They do of course add the motion element into the game for a different dimension but the gameplay is just as addictive and sharp on the 360 without.
The game is about as authentic as it comes, you can almost smell of bad aftershave and lager.
Whether you are using the Wii Remote, Move Controller or standard gamepad it is excellent in each field - the magic thing about the game is that it allows you to actually do something that is criminally hard in real life.
Darts is an extraordinary game to master so it's nice that you can still achieve a good standard in the game whilst still feeling like you are bringing some skill into the equation.
There are some great options for customizing characters and celebrations and lots of little touches that ensure it goes that extra yard.
Voiced by Sid Waddell and John Gwynne and featuring top names such as Phil Taylor and Raymond Van Barneveld competing for the proper circuit trophies it feels every inch the real deal as an authentic sports game.
Mr Waddell even comes up with lines like this:
"Once upon a time he was breaking records, but now he's only breaking his heart.
Nothing he can do...total eclipse of the dart!"
It is great fun even though there is still something missing for me in terms of the game of darts transferring over into the gaming world, it suffers from the same thing as snooker.
Darts and snooker are hugely popular sports but as games they can only do so much before they become repetitive.
This is as good as it could have been and was great fun to play and I would definitely recommend it. Improving year on year.
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Authors
Steve Wollaston - Sunday Mercury games reviewer Steve has been writing about video games for donkey's years. In fact he is probably far too old for it now which is why you will see a lot of reviews been done by kids... He has been nominated three times for Regional Games Journalist Of The Year at the Games Media Awards, but never wins. His major love is sports games and rates Sensible World of Soccer circa 90's as the greatest game ever made - closely followed by Championship Manager 2. Skyrim has currently taken over his life.
