XXL Takes A Look At Sports Champion 2

The PlayStation Move hasn’t caught on as well as SCEA probably wanted, but it did boast one of its more enjoyable and overlooked titles in the original Sports Champions. Looking to build on that formula Zindagi Games’ sequel comes in the form of Sports Champions 2.
While Sports Champions 2 is still guilty of copying the model the Wii Sports established, it does offer some new athletic events that replace the older ones from its predecessor. There are six events available for us couch potatoes to feel like professionals in bowling, tennis, boxing, archery, skiing and golf. For the most part the Move controller does a good job tracking the one-on-one motion in the respective events, with the skiing and boxing being the most problematic when using one controller. These two events feel as they were designed for using two controllers as you’ll run into some unresponsiveness with your on screen character as you flail about. This puts a damper on the immersion, as it becomes more of a challenge to make your player execute the motions you want than actually completing the mode. If you’re afforded the opportunity to have two Move controllers, the experience in skiing and boxing improves, as they more closely resemble their real life counterparts. The other four events hold up better, but if you want to get the maximum enjoyment out of this title, you’ll want to go for two.

Like most sports titles, it’s more fun to play with some of your homies, but Sports

Champions 2 does come with some surprisingly dope solo play against a competent A.I. via their Cup Mode. For each event Cup Play is divided into three areas —Bronze, Silver and Gold — with a series of challenges to defeat to earn each cup. The goal is to accrue enough stars to qualify for whatever cup you’re competing for, something heads will find very addictive. There are also the Free Play and Party Play modes that accommodates up to four people. Party Play mode is only for local play though as there is no online multiplayer support.

XXL Bottom Line: If you’re one of the people who’ve needed a reason to dust off their Move controller, then this title is your game. With accessibility that makes it easy enough for anyone to jump in and play and enough depth to keep sports enthusiasts busy, Sports Champions 2 comes up gold.—DJ Rhude (@DJRhude)