Jocky Wilsons Darts Challenge

Copyright : Zeppelin Games | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

The thinking manâ??s pub game (because you have to deduct your score from the total to see what youâ??re aiming at!), darts has always lorded it over dominoes and clashed horns for space with the pool tables. Itâ??s now a big money professional sport with larger than life celebrities.

Join everyoneâ??s favourite hard drinking Scottish darts player as the ex-world champion stumbles to the oche for another round of arrows.

Graphics

Thereâ??s not much you can do wrong when it comes to graphics for a darts game as long as you draw the board as a circle and ensure all the segments are the same size! In fact the programmers appear to have concentrated their efforts into making the side panel look slick and presentable â?? a job well done.

The other major graphic is the â??opponent on the ocheâ?? screen. Depicted from an overhead position it shows your opponent taking his turn and the drawing is very nice and cartoony â?? the only let down is the size of the dart when itâ??s sticking out the board!

The menu screen is very bright and colourful if a little confusing to use without instructions. (Press Control on your PC keyboard to switch to joystick control â?? I couldnâ??t for the life of me work out the keys!)

Sound

The whizzing of the arrow sounds a little lightweight and just feels out of place somehow. The only other sound to be had is the clunk of the dart hitting the board which is a poor effect at best.

Gameplay

Jocky Wilsonâ??s Darts Challenge © 1989 Zeppelin Games

The thinking manâ??s pub game (because you have to deduct your score from the total to see what youâ??re aiming at!), darts has always lorded it over dominoes and clashed horns for space with the pool tables. Itâ??s now a big money professional sport with larger than life celebrities.

Join everyoneâ??s favourite hard drinking Scottish darts player as the ex-world champion stumbles to the oche for another round of arrows.

Graphics

Thereâ??s not much you can do wrong when it comes to graphics for a darts game as long as you draw the board as a circle and ensure all the segments are the same size! In fact the programmers appear to have concentrated their efforts into making the side panel look slick and presentable â?? a job well done.

The other major graphic is the â??opponent on the ocheâ?? screen. Depicted from an overhead position it shows your opponent taking his turn and the drawing is very nice and cartoony â?? the only let down is the size of the dart when itâ??s sticking out the board!

The menu screen is very bright and colourful if a little confusing to use without instructions. (Press Control on your PC keyboard to switch to joystick control â?? I couldnâ??t for the life of me work out the keys!)

Sound

The whizzing of the arrow sounds a little lightweight and just feels out of place somehow. The only other sound to be had is the clunk of the dart hitting the board which is a poor effect at best.

Gameplay and Final Comments

A difficult dart game, Jocky Wilson certainly has a challenging element to it. The control of the disembodied hand (a standard for most dart games!) spins continually when trying to line up a shot, causing problems for beginners but this does get easier with practice, just like the real thing.

There are three different playing modes â?? Tournament play (play against computer), Round the Clock (hit all the numbers in as short a time as possible) and Head to Head (play against human opponent). The computer difficulty is on a scale: as you continue on through the tournament they tend to get harder.

Not too bad if you like dart games but the control difficulty can be very off putting at first. One for dart game veterans only!