There are a few in-game extensions that just go hand-in-hand with the application of motion controls. Swords, racquets, lightsabers, and boxing gloves all make sense, but the precise motion tracking of Move and arcade shooters go together like peas and carrots. So with a slew of Move titles competing for the more casual market, The Shoot enters the landscape as a moderately enjoyable, easy to play yet short arcade shooter—family friendly, and all.
The Shoot is about as basic a game you can find on the PlayStation 3, and as such does not taking advantage of the console’s considerable hardware muscle. It will probably find itself in some holiday gift baskets for those new to the PS3 and Move, but for the average consumer, there is likely not enough bang for your buck. The game itself mimics a movie set, and you play as the action hero. Keeping the proceedings appropriate for a family environment, your enemies come in the form of cardboard/wooden cutout representatives of various foes including cowboys, zombies, robots etc as opposed to ‘real life’ flesh and blood targets . You’ll play through five sets—western, sci-fi, zombie, mobster, and underwater. The five levels are split up into four quick stages, generally taking only a few minutes to complete. There are plenty of things onscreen to shoot at beyond your cutouts, including destructible environments.
The game essentially gives you two ways to fail, and both are pretty tough to actually accomplish. You can die (or have the game end) if you get hit too many times from enemy projectiles. You’ll use the Move controller to dodge left or right, or duck behind cover by actually moving—go figure. There are onscreen prompts that let you know when enemies are firing weapons at you, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get out of the way. We found this a great feature as it made us stand up and move around, occasionally leaning to the side to avoid oncoming knives.
The other way you can fail a level has to do with the director. You see, the game is judged, in essence, by a movie director. He sits on the top right of your screen and judges your performance. Hit enough consecutive targets and this’ll please him considerably, resulting in him jumping off his high director chair, dancing around like a fool. On the flip side if you miss too many targets, he’ll blow his fuse and eventually cut the scene.
What we enjoyed about the game is that there is so much to shoot at, meaning there’s very little down time. The levels are not too intense or all that interesting, for that matter, but they serve the basic purpose of pushing your character from set to set. You’ll find TNT crates and other items you can shoot to blow up everything on the screen. There is, of course, the option to play with a friend, which injects further enjoyment in to the proceedings. You’ll also find two other modes outside of the standard career track, including Score Attack and Challenges, essentially shorter-based modes that allow you to score as many points as possible.
You are also given three special moves that highlight the capabilities of Sony’s Move controller. For instance, you can slow down time (after shooting enough consecutive targets) by doing a complete 360—again, you need to stand up to pull off this move. The Move tracking abilities work fairly well, although it’s hard to say if it makes up for the fact that The Shoot is a pretty dull game.
The campaign doesn’t take too long to complete—we’re talking less than an hour, maybe a bit more if you die a few times. It’s a bit disappointing that a month after Move’s release, we are still finding bland, short games that seem only intended to attract the casual market. Even if you judge the game as something you’d play with your family during the holidays, it’s hard to recommend it as the visuals are decidedly weak, the game lacks any longevity whatsoever and it does little to show off Move’s true potential. Indeed, that last statement feels like something we’ve thought about a lot lately in regards to Sony’s wand-waggling peripheral. At the end of the day, while The Shoot isn’t a terrible game by any means, like other Move-exclusive titles, there is just too little there to recommend it, especially at a $40 USD price tag.