180

Copyright : Mastertronic | Reviewed by : Firefly

Oooooooonee Huuuuuunnnndreeeeddd annnddd eeeeeeiiighhhhhttyy!

Darts 180 is a computerised version of the popular pub game, Darts. There are 3 different play modes. First up is Tune Up, which is a game of Round the Clock. You have 100 seconds to hit all 20 regions in descending order. Second up is a game of 501, where you throw 3 darts in turn against the computer, decreasing your score to 0, but you must reach 0 on a double. The final mode is 501 against a real life opponent.

Playing against the computer gives you 1 of 5 random Quarter-finalists. Should you defeat him (which is quite easy to do) you will progress onto the Semi-final, where you get 1 of 2 players, either Devious Dave or Del Boy Desmond. Success here means you face Jammy Jim who is known to throw a 9-dart finish, so you need to throw extremely well to defeat him.

The dartboard screen is great. There are 3 different colour schemes to choose from. The hand is really well animated and moves smoothly, with a well-drawn character face in the bottom left showing your opponent. The computer player animation is crudely drawn and animated, which kind of lets it down a bit, and all the players wear the same clothes. There is a mini Dizzy-esque ditty that plays on the title screen, and an excellent digitised \"180!\" speech, apart from that the sound is minimal.

Gameplay is great. The hand is easy to control, and scoring well becomes easier after practice, like the real game. The Quarter-finalists are quite easy to beat, but it gets a little harder in the semi and the finalist is very hard to defeat.

Darts 180 is a great game to keep coming back to, it captures the spirit of darts and the stereotypical computer opponents are a laugh. Easily the best Darts game I\'ve played on any format.