The fifth game released for the Amico Home app is Darts Frenzy. I can be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever played a darts video game before. I think maybe I did once on the Amiga in the mid-1990s but darts isn’t exactly my usual jam.
Still, this is an Intellivision Amico game, and in the interest of checking out all the games I can for the currently virtual console, I must aim for the bullseye.
The first thing that strikes me about this game is that it’s the first of the Amico games to come out that features motion controls. The game asks you if you have a lanyard connected to the controller before it’ll let you start playing, which of course no one does. Maybe there are some people out there with their mobile telephones connected to lanyards so they don’t lose them, but I’d wager this is less than 1%. Of course, this is a callback to the game being developed for the actual Amico console. The controllers for that feature motion controls and much like the Wii, the controllers are designed to be strapped onto your wrists so you don’t throw the Amico controller into your 4K TV like an actual dart.
I’ve seen others point out that this may be a remake or sequel to a Wii game called Dart Rage, and having checked that out online, I can see that the aiming interface does appear to be the same.
It’s cool that this is an Amico game with 3D graphics, and is the first game for Amico Home that isn’t presented as a 2D game. Of course, it’s still a darts game and as such isn’t super 3D in nature. It’s odd though that there are shown to be crowds of people and that mostly these are as empty as a 2023 All Elite Wrestling crowd.
I really struggled with the controls on this game, but think that is because of the screens I was using to play it. Obviously as a Intellivision Amico game this was planned for people to play on their televisions. With Amico Home being something you currently play on Android devices the majority of these are phones and tablets. As with my other Amico Home apps I’ve played them using a Fire HD tablet as the console screen and a mobile telephone as the Amico controller.
I think having a screen this small makes aiming harder, but don’t think it’d be that great anyway. I constantly found that I needed to reset the controller to re-find centre and this was frustrating to do after every shot.
The aiming works where you point the controller towards your screen to aim and then have to jolt it forward as if you are throwing it to simulate throwing the dart. This doesn’t work. It could work, but it should be done in two phases. Firstly, you should line up your shot, and then press a button to confirm where you are aiming. Then you should be able to do the throwing motion to confirm the power of the throw. As it is, you aim and throw all in one motion and this means getting the shot on target is near on impossible. Again, this may be easier on a TV rather than a small screen, but since it’s sold primarily on phones and tablets and that I can’t get these to work on a TV through casting, I can be judge the game as I’m able to get it to work.
Although aiming is tricky and not at all natural feeling, I did find I was able to adjust to what was required of me to get something to work. It all became about lining up the shot and then giving a short and sharp jolt forward to hit the target. This is manageable, but actually fairly uncomfortable to play. On a larger display I imagine this will work well, but the game should come with the warning only to bother with it if you do have a large TV to play on.
There are several game modes which vary things up and this includes game modes it calls baseball and golf. These have nothing to do with the sports they’re named after and is just an indicator of how the rounds are scored.
I found playing the game in VS mode was most fun as it meant something of a race against the computer. I think there is some fun to be had here, especially if played with multiple players, but don’t think this is one to go crazy for unless you’re already into your darts.
As the fifth game available on the Amico Home app, I’d say it ranks better than Side Swipers, but worse than Missile Command, Astrosmash and Shark Shark. I’ll try to take another look at this game if and when I have a large tv to play it on, but for now I’d say the higher price which is the same as the other games I’ve just mentioned make this less than worth the entry price.
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