Game Review: World Darts (Amiga, Mastertronic)

Back in the 80s, the first thing to look forward to after Christmas was the BDO World Darts championship, also known as Embassy World Darts after the tobacco company’s sponsorship (back when smoking was commonplace). The arena was typically a smoke filled, booze filled Lakeside Country Club, in Surrey, with a raucous crowd simmering to a chatter only as the thud of each dart was thrown at the board. Each score was quickly calculated by the microphone wielding scorer, and announced with an elongated style – “fiiiiifty fiyyyve”. Maximum scores were greeted with a drawn out “one hundred and eighty” as the boozy crowd went wild. Characters such as Jocky Wilson, Eric “The Crafty Cockney” Bristow, and Bobby “Dazzler” George all contributed to mesmerising T.V., and I have very fond memories of staying up late to watch the darts with my dad, and my own can of Top Deck.

Arcadia Systems

In 1987, Mastertronic ventured into the arcade market, setting up the Arcadia Systems label and using the Commodore Amiga chipset to power the games. The intent was to create arcade games and perfect ports all in one go, and try to target a market share in the USA. Unfortunately, the suitability and quality of the games let the venture down, and its failure to recoup the outlay costs almost bankrupted Mastertronic! World Darts was one such game which wasn’t really suited to the arcades, but would be a reasonably fun game on the Amiga nevertheless.

The ”Lowe” Down

World Darts is a port of the budget 8-bit release, “180”, from 1986. At its core, is a darts simulation, focusing on the dart board where you control the player’s hand with your joystick, and press fire to throw when ready. In attempt to make the throwing more realistic, the player’s hand wobbles and resists against your movement, making it more difficult to land your throw in the chosen spot. This is very different to the control system of its 8-bit counterparts, and will take much longer to get to grips with. You are also more likely to get a sever dose of RSI!

Some common options are available on the menu screen, such as selecting 1 or 2 players, number of legs per match, and configuring joystick ports. There is a difficulty setting, which seems to have little bearing on the standard of your opponent. He will still find the treble 20 even on a difficulty setting of zero!

Once underway, you are whisked into the quarter final where you will play one of eight darts players – all parodies of the golden players of old. An opponent is then selected for the quarter final, and you play the best of the selected number of legs (3 by default) to determine the winner. After each turn, you are shown a cut scene of your opponent throwing his darts. There is an option to give you hints on what to aim for to achieve the quickest checkout. If you manage win the set, you can move onto the next round with your opponent becoming increasingly more skilful.

Graphics and Sound

The focal point of the game is a colourful and detailed dart board, with your player’s hand ready to throw, and a chalkboard to the side where the score is kept. The graphics are nicely drawn but don’t stretch the Amiga’s capabilities by any means. The cut scene of your opponent is the best evidence of this.

The sound is also in the adequate bracket, with a satisfying thud as your dart hits the board, some sampled speech rendering typical scoring quotes and a pleasant variation of the “Bullseye” ditty. For this to capture audiences in arcades it should have had a total level up on sound, with full speech for every throw and much meatier soundtrack. As it stands, the is no attract mode of any sort.

Final Thoughts

Mastertronic’s 8-bit variants of “180” were great games, especially the Commodore 64 version. However much of the charm has been lost in this Amiga conversion. The change to the control system actually slows the game down making it less of an arcade game. There is also very little to keep any interest when there are so many better Amiga titles to be playing.

I wonder how many people put money in the arcades to play this and came away feeling exhilarated… not many by my estimate.

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