Darts Up (Wii U) Review

Oddly played exclusively on the GamePad with no touch screen controls, except for when choosing modes, Darts Up consists of a handful of game types: Classic, X01, Combo and Arcade.

Aim for the highest score in Classic, try to hit exactly zero in rounds of three darts after picking a certain score to work from in X01, achieve extra points for landing certain combinations in Combo, and try to reach the target score with a limited amount of darts in Arcade. Online rankings are available for Arcade, and whilst it did seem to work when accessing the scoreboards most of the time, there were some odd occasions where errors popped up.

Although the trailer for Darts Up boasted of Off-TV Play, playing on the GamePad is the only option possible, so the TV actually becomes rather useless, meaning this game doesn't really offer much different from the Nintendo 3DS version aside from motion control. The dartboard is shown on the TV at all times, so it's handy for local multiplayer sessions for others to see, but actually being able to target and play exclusively on the TV is out of the question.

Using the GamePad motion sensor, the controller must be moved around to aim at the board, then flick back on the left stick to throw a dart. It's very simple, and it actually becomes incredibly easy to work out the exact positions to move the GamePad screen to land on the highest scoring section of the board, Triple 20. This eventually removes challenge from many games.

Although it's easy to play, Darts Up doesn't have any lasting appeal whatsoever. Multiplayer in a group is about the only reason it would be worth returning to, but there's so little here to make even the cheap price sound worth it. The complete lack of modes doesn't do any favours at all.