Phil Taylor’s Power Play Darts Review

Darts is a quintessentially British sport I suspect. It's a pub (bar for you North American folk) game after all that might technically be a sport, but it involves no physical exertion other than being able to throw a dart at a board accurately. I quite like darts because of this, it's in the genes plus I'm not very energetic. The aim of darts is simple - take it in turns to throw darts at a board in order to score points. A typical darts match requires you to work your way down from 301 or 501 points. The real trick being that you have to end the match on a double or triple which is much harder than the usual places to hit as they're smaller.

Having played various darts games for the past 20 years, I wondered just how well the concept would transfer to the iPhone - surprisingly well it turns out. Phil Taylor's Power Play Darts is great fun once you get the hang of the slightly awkward control system. You touch with your finger where you'd like the dart to land then pull back your finger slowly and release at just the right moment. It feels odd at first but it doesn't take long to get to grips with it. The key here is to take your time and not rush when lining up a shot. At first it was also bewildering as to how to line up shots on the bottom half of the board but a pinch of two fingers means that you can move around the board easily.

There's a levelling up system in place meaning that you start out in the pub and work your way up to tournaments as well as unlock carnival games such as balloon pop. Various other modes such as cricket and golf exist too which will all make more sense to you once you play, although I have fond memories of them in other darts games It's good fun and quite satisfying to unlock things. The AI is tough at first but not unfairly so. It also doesn't take long to finish a match making for an ideal game on your daily commute.

It makes a pleasant change to see a pub sport on the app store and Phil Taylor's Power Play Darts is certainly worth a purchase for those with the darts bug.