The film industry. It’s a funny old business. The Shoot presents a scenario in which film actors are replaced by animated cardboard cut-outs on rotating bases or suspended from wires and you, as the lone human in the entire filming process, have to shoot them all. Just think of that next time you have the chance to watch a dodgy copy of a dvd. You could be contributing to this bizarre animatronic film-making.
You’re given five films throughout the course of The Shoot, each with four scenes – usually culminating in a “boss battle” style face-off. You have a western, a robot-filled sci-fi, a city under siege, an underwater adventure and a high-school horror. Starting with the western, each film is unlocked in sequence by hitting a target score in the preceding film. I’ll be honest, by the time you get to the third film – The Mob – you need to be some kind of shooting wizard to hit the target scores. Something which is a shame, because you find yourself having to replay the same four scenes over-and-over, hoping that you get a decent multiplier which will give you the score you need.
Controlling the game is a doddle – point and shoot – it’s more or less spot on in-terms of responsiveness, although the dodging action can feel a little bit limp every now and again. Hit targets in succession for higher multipliers and special moves (shoot the ground for a shockwave, into the air for rapid fire or spin through 360 degrees to slow down time) which will become crucial for racking up decent scores. In and amongst that, keep an eye out for specially highlighted items which open up new scoring opportunities or new “deleted scenes” from a level. There are also eight pieces of the film poster dotted throughout the scenes – collecting all these and assembling the resulting jigsaw unlocks a special bonus game for each film. Some of these are very well hidden – again, it adds to the re-playability because you have to hunt these bad-boys down – but it increases the frustration.
Each film has its own distinct look and feel – whether it’s a gritty city or a sandy western street – but the cardboard cut out enemies become a little bit samey. There’s only four or five different enemies per film and they pop up a hell of a lot. Obviously this helps you to pick out the bad guys from the civilian cut-outs but you kind of feel that your console could deliver a lot more bang for its Move-enabled buck. On the sound-side it’s all bullets and shattering cut-out – with occasional cries of despair from the director of the film.
PlayStation Move is marketed as a fun peripheral, an accessible bit of kit. As a Move title, The Shoot has everything locked down tighter than Anne Widdecombe’s knickers. Every feature in the game is an obstacle to overcome. You’ve got to hit a certain score, or find the hidden items to get more enjoyment out of your title which ultimately saps the fun out of the game.
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