Cort works his ass off for the site, he really does. He is ready to help at the drop of a hat, and is willing to work with no sleep, day after day. He just helped me out bigtime yesterday! I can't tell you how much I appreciate all that he does. If something needs to be done on the site, he is always there. That's why I wanted to give up my 'Eod' post to him for this morning. Hopefully, you'll enjoy reading through while I head to bed. I'll catch you all in a few hours, have a fantastic morning.

__________________________________

Hey everyone, cortjezter here, fresh from a few days off in sunny San Francisco, and I have some updated impressions for Hudson's athletic Deca Sports title. If you missed my original take on the game (of an early build played before the title was announced), you can find that story here. You've since seen other stories, press releases, and even some direct feed footage of RMC getting his chops busted in badminton, but since Hudson was nice enough to send me the same build of the game (and even a nifty wristband to match RMC's headband), I can articulate my current-state opinion of how the game is progressing after giving it a thorough whirl.

First things first, it should be noted that the current build is actually "less complete" than the original build I got to try back in December, and by that I mean that while all 10 were demonstrated then in varying forms of completeness, only 4 are available here, and not all features of each have been enabled. With that, on to the impressions!

Beach Volleyball. This one is actually pretty fun, though you'll definitely want to play with at least one other human, either cooperatively or competetively. The controls are simple: lift the wiimote up to bump or set, and swing downward to send the ball over. If timed right (the ball glows briefly when falling), you can spike the ball, making for an almost sure score; I have yet to return one, only able to block them. Some subtlety in aiming the ball left or right exists, but for the most part, simply mastering the up/down motions will often get the job done.

I have only two nitpicks: the first is if playing 1P, the CPU teammate you're paired with can sometimes seem distracted by the DOA girls playing in the next court instead of the match at hand, but for the most part keeps on task, especially when setting up one another to return the volley, but don't be surprised if his/her distraction costs you a point from time to time. The second is that the spiking or "power hit" is a little tricky to catch. Whether this is a result of some lag in the swing recognition, or just a tactic of players needing to anticipate the proper timing (versus reacting to the flashing ball), pulling off a spike actually seems a slight more difficult than it was earlier.

Of the 4 playable sports in this version of the game, Volleyball is arguably the strongest.

Badminton. Wait... volleyball could be my pick of the litter this time around? Even though last time Badminton clearly took the prize for me, and is still one of my favourite real-world sports, a few changes to the controls made between the last play and this have made a bit of Balut of my precious birdie bashing sport.

Overall, the game suffers from what is perceivably a 1/3 to 1/2 second delay in registering a swing from your hand to a swing in-game, which can make things understandably frustrating when trying to beat an opponent--real or cpu. This latency seems more apparent when watching the character dive for the birdie after it's already hit the ground. The controls are very similar to Wii Tennis, so while blaming my sometimes poor gaming skillz is often a fair scapegoat, several matches have all lent themselves to the same outcome: mostly me groaning at the clear gap between the game I've been playing, and the one I've been seeing on the screen. One other "glitch" that can sometimes mean the difference between scoring a point or losing one, is that in-game players sometimes get confused and find themselves completely facing the wrong direction... perhaps a side-effect of the otherwise cool backward facing swings characters will make. Ideally I'd like both precise controls AND the cool swing variations, but if a choice were forced, obviously the controls should win out.

So was there anything positive? Yes, actually, and if you've watched RMC and Deux Michaels' video, you'll see the power swing that spikes the shuttlecock hard and fast into the opponent's tender zone is much easier to accomplish than before, despite the lag. This is the opposite treatment of Volleyball, whose power serve has become more difficult, though it's controls are perfectly tight. If the latency can be corrected, returning power swings will not only be possible, but a better test of one's aptitude.

At this point, I can only hope that my beloved Badminton gets some last-minute tweaking to bring the controls back to their former glory.

Figure Skating. I'll be honest, my first run with Figure Skating several months back wasn't so hot...fun, sure, but my performance had a distinct lack of elegance this sport normally commands. Luckily, things are coming together with the controls. Not leaps and bounds different, but the subtle refinements seem to add a lot of playability--which translates to enjoyability.

In this game, you use the nunchuk to control your skater around the rink, along a dotted line which represents your routine. Stick as close to the line as possible to earn a better score, and flick the wiimote when crossing a large dot to execute a fatality special element such as a spin or jump. Miss the timing on these moves and you'll wind up breakdancing on your butt, wasting precious time. That's the other catch...not only do you have to follow the routine and perform the stunts, but you have to match the timing of the music; ending too early nicks your score, go too slow, and... well you don't get to finish the routine at all. That brings me to a couple pitfalls, no pun intended:

Falling down by missing a stunt costs time. So much so that it's sometimes hard to catch up with the music meter if it happens even once, meaning your routine will end prematurely. I'm not saying it's too difficult necessarily, but perhaps a better balance can be struck to afford some leniency. Missed stunts brings me to the other critique of Figure Skating, which is one I've voiced since my first play session: the proper waggle timing for the giant stunt dots isn't particularly intuitive. All of the smaller dots are 'scored' simply by crossing them, but the stunts must be timed as you cross the centre. Even after playing several times and understanding the mechanics, I am prone on some subconscious (read: intuitive) level to waggle immediately upon touching the things, which of course basically ruins the rest of that round as my character lathers their backside with frostbite. If even one of these two things are improved, Figure Skating will be just ace.

It's very close; between this and Volleyball, the strongest in this pack.

Supercross. I didn't really cover this one in my initial impressions story, because I felt it too early to fairly discuss. Now that we're closer to release, I can say that things have improved. The controls are relatively simple, steering similar to Mario Kart Wii or ExciteTruck to turn, but then it adds in some airborne control over balance forward or backward to land properly on whatever terrain lies below. Mid-air dynamics are an essential skill in real motocross from what I understand, so it makes good sense to see that here.

Now, while things are "improved" they're not perfect. The bikes feel a bit like steering an inner-tube behind a brisk canoe, which will have you hugging the track borders a fair amount of the time. With enough practice, this could be a learned behaviour each gamer can correct, but other racing games have set a precedent where the tightness of controls are concerned, and this one could do well with some direct inspiration from them. My only other question based on the demo is how versatile the track will be... and I say that without plurality because it's not clear whether we'll be racing around this one track repeatedly, if there will be multiple options, or more of a random generator. A track editor would be asking too much, but if it helped lend some variety, it would also help lend some additional interest.

Beyond the individual games' descriptions, some of the presentational elements are coming together, such as little visual cues: the volleyball will land and displace the surrouding sand, or how the game transitions from the menu to the match by pulling out from the scoreboard screen in a matrix-like blending of reality and virtuality. The match environments are coming together nicely too...proper lighting and textures make it a suitable blend of realistic and stylised graphics, similar to Wii Sports.

OK, there you have it: the ups and downs of the limited Deca Sports demo. Some of my impressions may sound harsh, but it really is a decently fun game overall if you're not too hardcore to appreciate a casual-friendly title, and I can only extrapolate my anticipation for the remaining 6 sports' evolution. A few key improvements would go a long way here for gameplay, but even without them, the game is at least an inspired spiritual successor to something like Wii Sports. Stay tuned, and we'll be sure to keep you in the loop as things progress!

--cortjezter