Nyko Perfect Shot Review

Geez… I bought a Nyko Perfect Shot a few weeks ago and didn’t get to play with it until now. That’s how busy my life has been.

So how is it?

It’s pretty cool, but that’s also coupled with the Ghost Squad game.

Is it akin to shooting a real handgun? Actually in a lot of ways it is. The grip is wicked thick so that’s a strike against it for “realism” (so much for gun fit). As well, you have to use the pass-thru for the nunchuck, so you’re generally going to be shooting one-handed, but that does vary from game to game if you need the nunchuck or not. But what is t3h suck? Aiming. While the Perfect Shot has a rear sight and you can imply a front sight, point of aim does not equal point of impact. While Ghost Squad has a way to calibrate, it doesn’t really work as well as it could. So you figure things out the best you can, but then the front-end of the control obscures your target… and holdover doesn’t even seem to compensate for angles. For instance, I found myself shooting better when I was sitting instead of standing, and even then it seemed to target better if you kept the Wii-mote flat instead of angling it to point up or down at the target. It’s hard to describe, but the point is that it doesn’t naturally aim like a handgun would. I guess you just have to get used to its way of being.

That said, there were some benefits. The Perfect Shot does actually have a nice trigger for a piece of gaming plastic. I kept wanting to feel the click of the reset, but you just have to ignore that and go all the way in and out. Ghost Squad has a training mode with 3 sessions: a simple bullseye test (10 rounds, bullseye target, 10 seconds), shooting moving/floating targets of various point values in various locations for time and points, then performing training missions. I spent some time with the bullseye test and found that well… you really have to apply good trigger control. Slow down, accuracy improves. Try to blaze it and you’ll be all over the paper. Improve your support-hand grip, accuracy improves. Sure there’s no recoil, but a lot of the basic principles of trigger control, grip, stance, etc. really can be worked here. It’s pretty cool. And if you spend time in the other trainers and adjust how you aim, you can have some fun doing the action shooting.

The game is simple enough and fun, but what I really like is how the Nyko Perfect Shot allows you to get a decent simulation of a handgun. Does this replace proper training? No, but in some ways it could be an alternative to dry fire practice because you do get confirmation of hit locations. And hey… what a great excuse! “Honey, I’m practicing! I swear!”. It does show potential, and what I’d like to try or maybe see in the future if improvement of how games interact with the Niko. For instance, if it could alleviate the need for the nunchuck (2 hand shooting), if the point of aim could equal the point of impact, and other improvements that can be software/game dependent. It’s a nice step in the right direction, so hopefully things will improve.

So if you’ll excuse me, I need to do some more…uh… practice… yeah, that it… practice. 😉