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Motion Fighters Fists-on

Chris Watters
By Chris Watters, Editor

We take the PlayStation Move to the streets for a vigorous round of motion-controlled brawling.

Earlier today at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, Sony announced the official name for its much-heralded motion controller: the PlayStation Move. Along with the announcement came a number of demos, which members of the press were able to play immediately following the presentation. One of these demos was Motion Fighters (working title), a one-on-one fighting game featuring two gritty-looking street brawlers. In the interest of science (the not-so-sweet kind), we grabbed two Moves and started swinging. Here's how it played out.

The streets of Motion Fighters are predominantly black and white, with a few splashes of color in the graffiti and, of course, blood spewing from your opponent's mouth. It should be noted that the game was in a pre-alpha state when we played it (20 percent complete, according to the screen), so the look and feel were far from final. That said, the brawlers were quite detailed and the environments set the right kind of back-alley atmosphere. Fighting as a muscular guy with a large dragon tattoo across his back, we took on a balding, leather-jacketed biker fellow with a mean scowl on his face. Punches landed with satisfying impact, and the aforementioned blood spurts served as gruesome rewards for particularly solid shots.

But landing a good punch is no easy task. A mere flick of the wrist isn't going to cut it here, so you have to really put some effort in and extend your arms. Straight punches register as jabs while curved blows register as hooks. Turning the Move sideways, lowering your fist, then thrusting upward executes an uppercut. All of the motions are pretty much exactly what you'd expect. Holding your arms together in front of your body will block, and leaning to avoid your opponent's strikes is as easy as leaning yourself. If you get caught leaning into a punch, be prepared to take extra damage. As you land blows on your opponent, a meter at the top of the screen will reflect how much punishment he is taking. Each blow increases the meter, though if you land a big one and then let your opponent recover, the bar will diminish slightly. This seems to reward hitting in quick combos and keeping the pressure on, which gives you more encouragement to batter your opponent silly.

If you are feeling particularly enthusiastic, you can unleash some dirty tactics to deal further punishment. If you get close to your opponent, you can grab him in a headlock by holding two buttons on the Move (the trigger and the action button, which is the big one right where your thumb rests) then swing your arm out like you are throwing a hook and pull it back. You can then proceed to uppercut him in the face or bring your elbow crashing down on his skull, but he is also free to take shots at you. You can also modify most punches to be elbow punches by holding a button when you strike, and swinging both Moves forward from your chest will deliver a nasty head-butt. When your damage meter reaches full strength, you can finish your opponent with a particularly gnarly finishing move, though we weren't able to see any in the build we played.

By requiring you to really put something into your punches and embracing its seedy street-fighting aesthetic, Motion Fighters looks to channel the raw, pugilistic satisfaction of beating the pulp out of a virtual somebody. We're looking forward to seeing how the controls are refined in future builds because it definitely felt like there was room to increase the controller's responsiveness to quicker combos. Still, the motion correspondence was pretty impressive, especially when dodging or landing a big haymaker. We'll have more on Motion Fighters in the coming months for all you fans of big hits and bloodied lips.

Chris Watters
By Chris Watters, Editor

With his Apple IIGS as the spark and his neighbor's NES the fuel, Chris Watters' passion for gaming caught fire in a very metaphorical way. It propelled him across the country and into "the industry," where you can see him striving to be grossly incandescent on weekly episodes of On The Spot.

66 Comments

  • JESSEAARON100

    Posted Mar 15, 2010 12:06 am GMT

    I hope they will give the PlayStation Eye Toy with the PlayStation Move and the Sub Controller together.And i also hope that we can get that Motion Fighter game for free

  • drknessfeeds

    Posted Mar 14, 2010 9:52 pm GMT

    I hope they improve the responsiveness of this, looks like one of the more promising games for move. Most look like shovelware (sory sony). Just get this working better please.

  • Jak_Napier

    Posted Mar 14, 2010 1:45 pm GMT

    This looks and sounds great.

  • ThatBlack1

    Posted Mar 12, 2010 5:43 pm GMT

    Wow....watching people play makes me realize that a lot of people don't know how to throw a punch. If you want it to mimic your movements stop side hooking like your waving a sandwich around.

  • Hey_Jay

    Posted Mar 12, 2010 11:27 am GMT

    This looked okay at first, but I noticed the controls not being as responsive during the conference. I know they can work on that, but lets hope they actually do. I know how frustrating these kinds of games can get when your strike is off by a split second.

  • GunGriffin

    Posted Mar 12, 2010 6:30 am GMT

    In truth Nintendo Admitted the Wii console is just a GCN with new controllers. It has the same hardware, and software as well as the dev kits are the same in terms of graphics power, and other features.

    This means that developers are limited with the types of games they can make for the Wii platform. IE hardcore shooters while they do have some great ones, can't look as good, or sound as good on the Wii as they will on the PS3 system. On top of that with the fact that each game has to use pre set motions with no deviation allowed on the Wii system even with the new motion plus add on it's still just short of allowing hardcore gamers to get the games they want on the Wii as a platform. PS move on the other hand allows for free motion control without the need for developers to pick, and choose pre set motions for the player to use over and over again just to play the game. In fact with the PS3s killer surround sound support, HD graphics, and now PS Move you can play games that look as good, and sound as Killzone 2.

    I would love to see a Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 with full PS Move support for control, as well as games like Ruse, and other RTS titles like StarCraft. In fact PS Move means RTS games are now fully possable on the PS3. Can you say the fallowing games could hit the PS3 in the future now: Company of Heroes
    Dawn of War
    StarCraft HomeWorld
    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
    Dead Space Extraction
    The Vault

  • biokrysty

    Posted Mar 12, 2010 6:07 am GMT

    good for me

  • dubplanet

    Posted Mar 12, 2010 2:19 am GMT

    simple i am nintendo fan since the beginning. I bought PS3 cause the price drop and nintendo stop making good games. So in my household my kids 2 and 4 yrs play the WII and PS3 i play... So PS3 is going into the right direction with motion controller games.. just need to change the color and style of controllers.

  • Ayato_Kamina_1

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 3:14 pm GMT

    @ da_chub - it's not a case of the wii just not making the games like this, fact is the wii is a much inferior console in terms of hardware, you CAN'T make these games for it. because of how bad the hardware is they have to resort to making the cartoony sport resort games because then the failings of the graphics aren't as apparent.

  • GRIMMJOW95

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 2:28 pm GMT

    there seems to be no lag when showed at the Sony Press Conference earlier i watch on game trailers it mite be just the game

  • TheSnakeBelmont

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 2:04 pm GMT

    @chaoskingdom hahah is part of the new sony's campaign: it only does blue ray , internet, wii, everything

  • chaoskingdom

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 1:04 pm GMT

    Haha Homer said "Does the Wii-- I'm sorry, does the PlayStation Move..." d'ohh

  • da_chub

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 12:33 pm GMT

    funny thing is if the Wii got mature style games like this one instead of Wii Sports Resort, then there would be no need for PS and Xbox to copy the motion like they did. 3rd parties are just afraid to make that game for the Wii.

  • lokey013

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 11:54 am GMT

    I like how he mistakenly said "Wii" hahha...

    ..still though....it looks like it'd be a fun game to try ^_^

  • SamSharp505_UOC

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 11:29 am GMT

    Get another fight night out for Move, not this.
    And it would be a scouser >

  • SolidusHo

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 11:18 am GMT

    no, not wii

  • punkdsk8erdude

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 11:07 am GMT

    still very skeptical with all this. i will always prefer a more traditional controller.
    NOTICE HOW SLOW THE GAME REACTS TO THE SWINGING CONTROLLER.
    So you are reacting to whats happening on screen, but the game doesn't register it right away as a button would.
    This is a BIG PROBLEM.
    Forget the 1:1 motion and multidimensional precise readings and stuff if the game doesn't read the motion AS IT'S HAPPENING than forget the whole thing!
    Wii games react faster than that!
    I'll get a couple thumbs down for this because the game is in "pre-alpha" but nonetheless - this is Sony's fault for using this game as an example than.
    Unless they fix the lag issue, Playstation Move with fail.

  • GamerLegend10

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 10:20 am GMT

    hope there will be lots of good games like fight night, that would be cool. rather than cheap mini games with bad graphics, like wii sports or Itoy games. (not that there not fun)

  • GamerLegend10

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 10:14 am GMT

    looks much better than the Wii motion control but i think project natal looks cooler and has more potential

  • Incubus420

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 10:09 am GMT

    Wonder if you will be able to play this online.