PDC World Championship Darts is the only official game of the PDC World Darts Championship - and I can't imagine why! There's probably a reason why EA have never done a darts game; maybe it's something to do with the logistics and style of the game, maybe it's that they thought they couldn't pull it off… or maybe they thought it wasn't a 'sport'. But of course, how could that be? Snooker, pool, poker, they all have had multiple games over years and yet the number of darts games barely numbers a dozen - the last one I know of was ProDarts on the Game Boy in 2000. Now, I'm not one to play the "What's the point of this game?" card, but there is a deep ingrained feeling of that as I play and though some can say that about the plethora of card games that are available, this is not the same at all.

Care for me to explain? Okay then! Every computer in the world has Solitaire as a free game - it's a simple, quick and easy way to waste some time, yet you can easily take out some cards and play without all the new-fangled gadgetry. Right? Here's where the difference lies; when you deal out the cards you get stuck and then you have to go through the whole hassle of shuffling and laying the game out again. However, with a computer, one click of 'Deal' and it's done in an instant, and this can be applied to all card-based games. With darts, the only hassle is walking the six feet or so to retrieve the darts every few seconds, which isn't that hard at all.

I must admit that I like a game of darts every now and again; there's a certain skill in getting a bullseye, and the ability to subtract after three shots is a feat in itself. But the prospect of this game left me in doubts as to how good it would actually be. The game is true to real-life in every way, and because of this (just like ProStroke Golf on PSP, also published by Oxygen) a lot of the fun is sapped out of it. As with ProStroke, there are very few game saves, meaning you have to play a round all the way through, which can take some time, especially in Career mode, which makes up the bulk of the game. Because of this, if and when you sit down to play, it'd better be your day off, or you'll find yourself playing for an hour and then crying as you have to leave for work, not reaching the game save point and having to start all over again next time. This becomes a frequent occurrence during Career, an ill-conceived mode that is no different to the Tournament, other than the fact you're ranked for your performance as you proceed. Though this is lengthy, a good few hours at least, the fact is that the gameplay is so repetitive and uninspired that only a stubborn gamer or darts enthusiast will see it through.

Once you start to play, the first thing, no scratch that, the only thing you need to know is how to throw the dart - if you can't master this then you may as well take the game back now. This is all down to the left analogue stick and involves you pushing to the left to create the desired power of the throw, then smoothly pushing forward to launch the dart. In Amateur mode you're aided with a power bar, but the further into the game you get, the harder it becomes, as the power bar disappears and you must do it all based on your own judgement of the character. Aiming is a little more awkward than that, with three different types available, involving the cursor in constant motion. Firstly, Control A sees the cursor moving clockwise around the board until you press X at the desired spot and then X again on the desired position down towards the centre. With Control B, the cursor first moves horizontally and then vertically. Finally, with Control C the cursor moves steadily around the board and you must stop it in the desired location. This can be a challenge, and most of the time it is down to luck more than skill, which does take a little away from the game, especially when the CPU opponent seems to hit treble twenties and bullseyes on every shot, whereas you are lucky to hit the board at all.

Unlike other sports, the competitors are not known for their svelte figures, and so this game involves hours of you staring at obese men who look like they may actually find that six foot to retrieve their darts the most exercise they'll have all year. These include some real darts players with classically cheesy names like Colin 'Jaws' Lloyd and John 'Darth Maple' Part, as well as (for those interested) current darts champion Raymond 'The Man' van Barneveld. Although a Create a Player option is available, this is not the beautiful recreation as seen in SmackDown, but rather a "Which fat man would you least object to playing as?" mode, with changeable options limited to shirt type and colour, which is pathetic, and the developers really should be ashamed that they didn't give us even a simple character creation model, as it may have added more longevity.

This lack of visual flair seems to seep into every aspect of the game, and though on the PSP it would be fine, on the PS2 the overall graphics and sound are terrible. The sound, which includes the usual ambiance, has added commentary by Sid Waddell and Russ Bray, who I must presume comment on the sport in real life. However, unlike Jim Ross on SmackDown, or Motson on any football game, these two seem to come out with so much nonsensical nonsense that you'll be laughing so much that you'll forget about the game altogether. Like most commentaries, these phrases are recycled so often that you wonder how long they actually spent on the recording session, as every shot seems to be a "difference maker" and every game "the greatest I've ever witnessed."

As a multiplayer game, PDC tries so hard to get everything right, and for what it offers it does achieve this somewhat. However, it really needs you to find as many dart-obsessed fans as you can, and unfortunately all I had were two on hand who had a vague idea of the game and one who'd never played anything other than Warcraft in the past year, and had no knowledge whatsoever. [Of darts, or of real life in general? Ed]. Because of this, we couldn't get into the game as we might have done in a football or boxing game, and I can't remember a point when one of us exclaimed "I'm Mark 'Flash' Dudbridge, how cool is that!?" as we may have done elsewhere. There are fifteen games available, which are the more or less variations on the usual game, with you having to hit certain targets to get points. Of these, Around the Clock is the most entertaining, as you must hit numbers in sequence (1,2,3 or 8, 9, 10 for example), which is tricky but at least brings a bit more interest to the game, whereas the others are pretty much the same idea with you trying to hit as many doubles, trying to get in the black or white and trying to hit a certain number. In terms of the multiplayer features, there is a feeling that the designers have thrown every trick in the book at this game and yet it still doesn't feel like it's enough - and no amount of mini-games or multiple player count can change this.

PDC World Championship Darts is a waste of time on any system, and although that is supposed to be the point of games in general, if you were a darts fan could I really hand on heart recommend shelling out £30 so you can play this in your home? The likelihood is you already have a board, oche and scoreboard, and so there's nothing in this game that you can't get from the real thing - indeed, at least in the real game it's down to your own skill rather than what the game's poor emulation of dart mechanics. One interesting thing would be if this game had been on the Wii, as the use of the wand to throw the darts would have made the experience a lot more enjoyable - maybe if they had incorporated the EyeToy in some way to monitor how fast and accurate you can throw at the screen it might have had something. As it is, this all feels like the developers were trying to make a big deal about something that really isn't all that spectacular. If by some small chance you own PDC already then I suggest you look around the rest of this site and (to paraphrase Jim Bowen) let's see what you could have bought!

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).