Darts Up (Wii U) Review

By Az Elias 06.10.2014

Review for Darts Up on Wii U

Does anyone remember the last time they had fun playing virtual darts? There's been a few takes on it over the years, particularly during the Wii era, where developers tried to put the Wii Remote to good use. The darts mini-games in Shenmue were personally found to be some of the most fun video game dart-throwing moments, but they were exactly that - mini-games; a distraction. That was over a good decade ago, so how does this dedicated Wii U eShop game perform? Better than a simple mini-game of a Dreamcast title? EnjoyUp Games presents Darts Up, an update of the 3DS version.

Oddly played exclusively on the GamePad with no touch screen controls, except for when choosing modes, Darts Up consists of a handful of game types: Classic, X01, Combo and Arcade.

Aim for the highest score in Classic, try to hit exactly zero in rounds of three darts after picking a certain score to work from in X01, achieve extra points for landing certain combinations in Combo, and try to reach the target score with a limited amount of darts in Arcade. Online rankings are available for Arcade, and whilst it did seem to work when accessing the scoreboards most of the time, there were some odd occasions where errors popped up.

Screenshot for Darts Up on Wii U

Although the trailer for Darts Up boasted of Off-TV Play, playing on the GamePad is the only option possible, so the TV actually becomes rather useless, meaning this game doesn't really offer much different from the Nintendo 3DS version aside from motion control. The dartboard is shown on the TV at all times, so it's handy for local multiplayer sessions for others to see, but actually being able to target and play exclusively on the TV is out of the question.

Using the GamePad motion sensor, the controller must be moved around to aim at the board, then flick back on the left stick to throw a dart. It's very simple, and it actually becomes incredibly easy to work out the exact positions to move the GamePad screen to land on the highest scoring section of the board, Triple 20. This eventually removes challenge from many games.

Although it's easy to play, Darts Up doesn't have any lasting appeal whatsoever. Multiplayer in a group is about the only reason it would be worth returning to, but there's so little here to make even the cheap price sound worth it. The complete lack of modes doesn't do any favours at all.

Screenshot for Darts Up on Wii U

Cubed3 Rating

3/10
Rated 3 out of 10

Bad

Considering just how many variations of games can be played in darts, the modes on offer in Darts Up is pretty shameful, with no saving of scores aside from Arcade online rankings, no replay value of any kind, and a rushed and subpar presentation overall. More fun was had in Shenmue's mini-games.

Developer

EnjoyUp

Publisher

EnjoyUp

Genre

Sport

Players

4

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  3/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  3/10 (2 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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