Aside from the scores of milling gamers and journalists trying to get a glimpse of whatever it was all those Counter-Strike people are cheering about, there are booths and displays spread all around the periphery of Hall 5 at the Parc des Expositions in Paris, France. In some of these booths are games, some new, some already released. In others, there are fancy accessories that, obstensibly, enhance said games.
SteelSeries and Logitech were there, peddling their mousepads and speakers, respectively. But those are, y’know, meh. More interesting was BigBen‘s Shootpad, a thirdy party’s Sony-exclusive response to Nintendo’s so-called Touch Generation.
So, is it as totally immersive as it claims? Is the epitome of digital soccer bliss? Not so much … hit the jump for my thoughts.
First, let me explain how this newfangled contraption works: kick the side of the ball to pass, and the front for a long pass. Behind you, on the corners of the mat, are two little posts. Pull your foot behind the posts and kick the side for a cross, the front to shoot. There are also “sprint” and “switch player” buttons on the matt. Put your foot on the top of the ball to defend. In your hand, you carry a little Wii-mote clone that’s used primarily to run.
Simple enough, right? No.
It may be because I had little time with the product, and most of that time was spenty getting my ass kicked by someone half my age, but I never felt comfortable with the Bigben Shootpad. Using my right foot to kick the ball, the idea was that I press the buttons with my left. Instead, I found it very difficult to move two legs and one hand indepently of one another. It was hard to sprint at steer and pass all at the same time. Instead, I just kind of shuffled my feet around and fell over a little. Needless to say, the learning curve for this product is pretty steep.
To add to the fracas, the ball was unresponsive. Even when the Bigben personnel were showing me how to use it, the ball simply didn’t respond to input.
Furthermore, the Shootpad doesn’t account for the strength of the player, which may sound egalitarian, but really just impedes gameplay. For example, no matter how hard I kick the shit out of the tiny little ball, unless my foot crosses the threshhold, the only result will be a run-of-the-mill pass. The only other option is to kick a different area of the ball, which only serves to create a long pass. In most soccer games, strenght and distance are determined by how long the button is held down, but that’s impossible here.
Perhaps worst of all, the pad introduces a long delay between player decisions and their on-screen manifestations. Pushing a button is relatively quick, whereas a full on kick takes a while. Due to the this delay, opportunities to pass and shoot are usually gone by the time the onscreen player actually gets around to doing anything. In the realistic, fast-paced simulation gameplay of Pro Evo, this delay is critical and pretty much a game killer.
Sure, the thing works with all Sony consoles, but are any of you guys willing to shell out for a such a genre-specific accessory? One that may or may not be fun, or even work properly?
