Motion Fighters caught my attention during the PlayStation Move presentation. It was explained as a gritty street fighting game with motion control, but really it’s a motion controlled boxing simulator.
The hands-on demo was a fight where two guys brawled in the street. You could throw punches – jabs, hooks, uppercuts, and even backfists by punching at the camera. Theoretically, your fighter could follow a combo like – right jab, left uppercut, and right hook. However, the Motion Fighters demo had trouble picking up fast motion. The rep watching the game explained I needed to punch slower, especially for the jab. I tried punching in slow motion to compensate and Motion Fighters detected my punches better, but it felt unnatural.
Aside from punching, players can do elbow drops and grab an opponent in a headlock. The computer doesn’t try to escape or fight back much when caught, so you can just punch your way to victory. A number of players won their fights this way. The rep explained the artificial intelligence will be fixed for the final version.
The pre-alpha build was less like a street fight and more like Wii Sports Boxing 2.0. Motion Fighters also requires players to own two PlayStation Move controllers to play it. Sony has not announced pricing for a standalone controller, but said a starter pack with a PlayStation Eye, controller, and game would cost under $100.
