Sports Champions 2 Review

Why did you remove table tennis from Sports Champions 2, Zindagi Games? It was something that I spent a lot of time playing in the original game, and any logical thinking person would expect it to be in the second game with enhanced features. However, the game does contain a lot of new modes and the motion sensing has been improved significantly.

There’s something I want to say though. You need two Move controllers to play this game as intended, sure you can play with one controller as well but the experience won’t be that optimal. Most people I know who loved the first game did buy two Move controllers, though. Zindagi games shipped out a killer Move game last time around and coincidentally it is also the best selling Move game. I doubt this will replicate the original’s success but if the core fans who loved the first game–like me–still exist then, there’s a chance.

Still, not a bad time to release it when Sony has been ramping the production of Move games a lot with unique titles like Until Dawn and others. Sports Champions 2 will give you more of the same but with new modes and gametypes like golf, bowling, skiing, boxing, and tennis. I have to mention again that the splendid table tennis mode from the last game is gone, but I have found its replacement in boxing, which is not only a good workout but fun to play as well–again, two move controllers are definitely required for this.

There is a fairly linear progression for each mode and upon mastering each mode–which will be a bit difficult–and also features tiered cups steadily increasing the difficulty as you play along. The motion sensing, which was quite good in the first game, has been tweaked to become more responsive and unsurprisingly, it was last of my worries while playing the game. You still have to go through the annoying calibration mode, but it’s for good, right?

The new modes I mentioned above are all quite unique, and offer different experiences, but apart from boxing I found none of them to be interesting to be played for a longer period. I mean, I may be biased a bit when it comes to boxing since I sort of practice that in real life too, so its allure to me is higher than the other modes offered here. There’s skiing too, which is a lot of fun if you know what you’re doing, but gets quite repetitive as you keep playing it. It is also a bit frustrating and the levels don’t really branch out much. So to an extent you are just replicated the Call of Duty linear experience minus the explosions. OK well, that’s not really accurate but hey, you get my point, right?

The visuals are somewhat improved than its predecessor. Zindagi Games should not have been working on this game for more than a year because considering the the level of presentation and content on offer really suggests that it was approved by Sony later. However, what it does offer is completely worth the money to a fan of the first game, it is recommended that you own the first game as well to get the full experience  and by full experience I mean all those modes that didn’t make it in this game–which is frankly bewildering considering Blu Ray doesn’t really lack space, you know.

The new modes as I mentioned aren’t really a pain as far as the basic motion sensing is concerned, they’ve done a good job on that. What’s important is offering players good modes that they will play for a long time. Archery from the first game is available here, which is fun for a while but fatigue can set in. Or maybe if you see your arm on the floor, it’s an indication you played too much, but that won’t happen though. Golf is pretty straightforward too and the basic swinging and other mechanics works as it should, but it still feels empty overall.

Bowling is quite competent and is one mode I can say is on par with boxing, but again, not something that I would play for a long time. There’s tennis here as well, and before you start drooling, it usually tends to be a frustrating experience. It also clearly depends on personal tastes, and as they say, one man’s poison is other man’s nectar, most modes here have the potential to immerse you in the experience; it’s just a question of what mode will tick with you.

Overall, it’s something that will still excite you and offers some fun modes which, at the first impression, may not be that memorable but will grow on you. It’s still something that is just an extension of the first game, but considering the competent Move controls on offer here, you can’t really go wrong in case you decide to buy it.

This game was reviewed on the PS3.