Medieval Moves: Deadmund's Quest

GAME OF THE WEEK :Medieval Moves: Deadmund's Quest. 7 cert, Sony/Zindagi, PS3 (Move controls)***

Despite healthy sales and its precise, user-friendly controls, PlayStation's Move controls (still only a year old) have yet to reach their potential market, especially with core gamers. Medieval Moves, while not without its flaws, is definitely a step in the right direction – a shout back to novelty 1990s arcade games, with the added variety and accuracy that the Move provides.

Anyone who looks for dense, engaging narratives in their games might want to skip this paragraph. You play a boy in medieval times who's charged with protecting a mystical precious stone. This central character (complete with anachronistic American accent) is guided on his journey by the ghost of a dead relative (you know, like in Hamlet) to combat a villain with a skeleton's face (you know, like in He-Man). The comic-style cut scenes are quite dull but mercifully short.

Using an ever-increasing armoury, you must fight an army of skeleton/zombie-like creatures in first-person combat. The gameplay is endearingly zippy, rolling you on from one melee to the next. For the most part, the controls work extremely well, except when you’re required to drink milk to replenish energy; get it slightly wrong and you’re drawing an arrow from your quill instead of guzzling down precious calcium. I noticed from online forums that I’m not the only one who had this problem.

Graphically, Medieval Movesis slightly disappointing. Yes, the location and creature design look okay, but the definition and colouring is often bland. But Medieval Movesdelivers where it matters: in fast-paced action.

Let’s overlook the historical inaccuracies. Did they have grappling hooks back then? Oh well, they probably didn’t have zombie skeletons either.