At a glance...

Previewer	Platform	Publisher	Developer	Players	Release Date	Screenshots
Matt Bailey	Xbox 360	Oxygen Interactive	Mere Mortals	1-2 (Online, Take turns)	26th September 2008	Here

PDC World Championship Darts 2008 preview

Darts is one of those sports that some people won't acknowledge as actually being a sport. Wait, haven't we been here before? Ah, we have; we've already looked at World Championship Darts 2008 earlier this year when it was on PC, and we've also seen the PS2 and Wii versions of the game. Now Oxygen have decided to ramp things up a bit with an Xbox 360 release arriving this week.

So, is it the same? Well, firstly, the menu system. Seeing as this is based on previously finished code, we shouldn't expect the bugs saw before, and indeed all is well. Of course, the original menu was also designed with the Xbox 360 controller in mind, so everything should be perfect here. It's not surprising, therefore, that I already knew how to play with the controller, allowing me to jump straight into the game itself. As before, you control the throwing through movement back and forward of the right analogue stick on the controller. You set power on a bar that goes up and down as you pull back, and the straightness of the movement will determine accuracy. It seems to work reasonably well, but can take some getting used to.

Despite the change of platform, it's clear that the game isn't aiming very high graphically, but there's certainly been a notable improvement over the previous releases. Everything looks crisper, with Mere Mortals taking advantage of that 720p HD resolution. The player models look noticeably improved, but overall the game is somewhat lacking in detail. Still, unless you wanted a completely photo-realistic experience, then you should be satisfied by what's here. After all, it's all about the darts, and the dartboard is certainly sharp enough, even in close-ups.

As in the other versions, World Championship Darts has a variety of modes to take part in, including a career mode that pits you against the known players, through to single matches, and a range of other games. These other games feature the kind of darts rules you might play down the pub, such as round the clock, and are a welcome addition for those who enjoy darts outside of the conventional rules.

The big change here is multiplayer. It's no longer limited to offline action only. The 'take turns' play previously available is still here, but now you can finally play darts online, thanks to the Xbox Live support in this edition. You can take on others in a conventional match, and there's also ranked online leaderboards to let you compete even when others aren't available to play. And let's not forget this is the only edition with those all important Achievements offering life-changing Gamerpoints. That's got to be a good enough reason to get this version over any others when it arrives later this week. World Championship Darts seems almost complete to us, and should be a solid title for darts fans with Xbox 360s.

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