The basic format of dart games is now well established, basically it consists of your
regular dartboard with you controlling a rather unstable hand - timing when to fire
the dart is as vital as getting the hand over the right target.
So after the graphically spartan, but very playable Jocky Wilson's Darts Challenge
(73%, Issue 47) what more can you do? Well, Zeppelin have gone for coding in all
the odd little varaint dart games played in weird, out-of-the-way places like the
Kremlin (Phil's local).
The six games on offer here include darts versions of football and bowls! In
Football you can't score until you get a bullseye, thereafter doubles count as goals!,
while in Bowls one player throws a jack dart, then each player has to get as close
as possible to it for maximum points.
Scram has one player going for points, while the other player closes off sectors
with his darts, roles then reverse for the next round. Ten Dart Century gives you
ten darts to get as close to 100 as possible, while Shanghai restricts gameplay
to a single sector.
There's also a traiditional world championsip 501 darts game. All the games
can be played at three skill levels and in one or two-player mode. The actual
dartboard graphics are virtually identical to the original, all that's changed
seems to be the darts are blue rather than yellow.
But graphics and sound are never that important in this sort of game, and while
the basic dart-throwing follows the standard format the new variants add some nice
gamesplaying variety. It's still rather limited unless you've got a friend to compete
with, but if you're on the lockout for a darts game this fun program is one of the
best around.