Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest PS3 Review

Publisher – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe – Developer – Zindagi Games – Genre – Action – Players – 1 – Age Rating – 7+ – Other console/handheld formats – N/A

In Sports Champions, Zindagi Games brought to us the best Move launch title. With some excellent choices of sports such as Archery and Gladiator Duel, it really displayed the magic of Sony’s take on motion sensing, but at the same time, it was also a wonderful game. The developer obviously knows Move well, so the release of their newest game Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest has some high expectations to meet, at least in terms of controls.

The protagonist is Prince Edmund, who soon becomes Deadmund when, like everyone else, he is transformed into a skeleton by a necromancer. The story is told through nicely drawn still comic-style sequences and is competent enough, and not without a certain level of charm.

Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest is an on-rails game, where you’ll largely be hacking and slashing your way through fellow skeletons. The game can be played with 1 or 2 Move controllers. When you use two, one will act as your sword, whilst the other will function as your shield. It works in much the same fashion as Gladiator Duel in Sports Champions, so that is to say very well. Your shield can be moved around to deflect enemy attacks, whilst all manner of thrusts and such are executed by performing the respective motions.

For the more distant enemies you possess a crossbow, of which works much the same as Archery in Sports Champions. So first you must prepare your bow and arrow, by first reaching for an arrow by putting Move over your shoulder and then you must line up your shot with the pointer function. Later on you’ll also get Ninja stars, which, if you hadn’t already worked out by now, is much like another sport in Zindagi’s earlier game, this time Disc Golf, so the strength and direction of your throw is calculated by how quickly as well as the direction you swing Move in.

It’s a bit disappointing that most of the motions are lifted directly from Sports Champions, not to mention lazy, but nevertheless it works well in the context of the game. As for the game itself, it’s enjoyable but a bit too repetitive to be anything truly special, with not enough variation in the enemies and, in turn, little call for many tactical changes throughout the game.

It’s not a very long game, so at least there’s little chance of it outstaying its welcome. After completion there’s also some mini games that support both local and online multiplayer, though these are as limited as the rest of the game, being nothing more than either co-op or competitive fights against waves of skeletons, and it would have been preferable to have had more diversity.

Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest is an enjoyable game, that is well worth the budget price, but it’s too limited and its Sports Champions inspiration is taken too far, leaving it as a mild disappointment that in terms of controls doesn’t have the surprises to offer that the developer’s earlier effort did.

7/10