Medieval Moves: Deadmun’s Quest Review

Zindagi games are known for giving us one of the original PlayStation Move games (Sports Champions) which was actually pretty good. The best three games in Sports Champions were, in my opinion, the frisbee golf, archery and duelling ones. It’s little surprise then, that their newest offering, Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest, uses a very similar set of motion controls to have you fending off its enemies to great success.

You play as Prince Edmund, who, as he’s talking to his dead ancestor’s ghost (yes I said that), has his castle attacked by lots of skeletons, meaning that you need to rush to the keep to protect the Gatestone from the evil wizard, Morgrim. Whilst in battle you are turned into a Skeleton warrior, hence the name Deadmund, and it’s your job to piece together the pieces of an amulet that will save the day. Unfortunately, these amulet pieces are held by a string of boss characters who you need to defeat before moving on to your main goal, the final battle with Morgrim. It’s a pretty generic story that has been used many times before, however, it fits nicely here and the tone is well pitched for the younger audience Medieval Moves is obviously aimed at.

We join our hero as he is walking in the palace, and it’s here you are given a cleverly intergrated tutorial from your uncle Roland. The Move controller is calibrated and you must swing it to swing your sword. When you hold the move button your shield is bought up and you can move it around to defend yourself against projectiles and incoming attacks.

You’re also equipped with a bow, and the archery is done very well with you needing to bend your arm back as if you are talking an actual arrow then hold the T button this bring up an aiming reticule which you then position with the Move controller before letting go. When you get further on in the game, you also get throwing stars and a simple flick of your wrist whilst pressing the Move button will toss these at anyone unfortunate enough to get in your way. There is also a grappling hook that is accessed by pointing the Move controller down and holding the Move button then aiming at the icon on the screen.

I have to say that at no point does the PlayStation Eye Camera let you down, every move is perfectly recognised and very sharply made. There is sometimes a mix up between the throwing stars and arrows, but this is usually down to human error. In fact, Medieval Move’s biggest problem lies in the repetitiveness of its gameplay. Simply needing to to swing you sword, shoot arrows and flick stars at enemies until there are none left means there is not alot of variation, and after a while you actually get tired as you need quite a bit of force to swing your sword hard enough force to kill the skeletons.

The on-rails gameplay means you’re guided to areas of interest and you don’t actually move your character forward, you just aim and shoot. This focus to the action makes the game easier, and ideal for younger players, but I can’t help but think that Zindagi have the talent to make a more interesting and imaginative Move game where they allow the player more freedom. Something like the upcoming new Zelda game, Skyward Sword.

The character designs and the comic book-style cut-scenes are a pleasing look. The environments you play in include dark caves, industrial areas, castles and forests. These are done well, but sometimes they do feel slightly samey. There is not much in the way of chances to interact with the environments, although levers and pulleys can be used with the Move controller when you use it in a clockwise motion.

Nonetheless, Medieval Moves is a very fun game as the motions needed to vanquish the wave upon wave of skeletons are entertianing to do, you even get the chance to drink milk to replenish your health when you need to recover. The voice acting and script are very cool, there are some jokes in there that are funny and the way the story is told little by little plays perfectly to the audience it’s aimed at.

There are also mini-games in the form of shooting galleries which are pretty much the same as the game but still fun to play. Two of them can be played just by you and all three of them can be played with another player over the PSN or next to you. This increases the lifespan of the game as do the three levels of difficulty to choose from.

Overall, Medieval Moves is a very good Move-enabled game; I have to say possibly the best in my opinion as the movements are perfectly recognised. There is not that much variation in the gameplay itself, but the hack-and-slash action is pulled off in a very entertaining way, and there is some inherent variety in using the different weapons you have at your disposal.  The mini-games also add to the main story, which, it must be the said, is pretty long as well. This is a game primarily aimed at the younger audience, but it’s been put together well enough for anyone to enjoy. I tried it out with my parents and younger sister and allthey liked it, so we can definitely put Medieval Moves down as another Zindagi success that’s accessible to all ages.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 3 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.