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In the beginning of Xbox Live Arcade we didn’t really have that many choices, and for the most part the choices available were very drab. The one title that stood out, a “full version” of a mini-game found in the arcade racer Project Gotham Racing 3 came courtesy of UK based Bizarre Creations.
The dudes at BC are undoubtedly busy on their two full next-generation offerings (The Club, PGR4), so it is fantastic to see that they can pump out a Live Arcade title. The title also marks Electronic Art’s first foray into the Live Arcade scene and while the game is very basic, and somewhat slim on the variety, it still packs a wallop.
The game is rhythm based, and is probably one of the only game of its kind that doesn’t require a wonky guitar or dance pad (although a dance pad would probably add on to the gameplay). The experienced rhythm game player will probably find the game, if anything else a distraction from the real meaty games out there that have seemingly endless track of songs, but should still like the perks of feeling like their “good” at it, and the easy to get achievements. On the achievement side, you should be able to get nearly all, if not all the achievements within a day in fact.
Then there is the inexperienced, which thankfully, the universally recognizable beats, stupid simple game mechanics, and the bright mesmerizing fireworks will keep you coming back for more. You have a total of ten songs to choose from (for now) and every one of them is a techno version of classic, normally symphony orchestrated songs. For example, “1812 Overdrive” is an ode to “1812 Overture”. Just imagine the song being synthesized. As for gameplay, you have a single player mode, an endurance mode in which you you play the songs in laps as they get faster, and a multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode is disappointing however as it only lets you play against someone else on your Xbox 360. The object of the game is to hit the corresponding colored arrow by pressing buttons, or your directional pad on a line to the beat of the song. Each song has a Easy, Medium, and Hard, of course the difficulty rises along with more button presses. You have a power bar that fills up as you hit the right notes, eventually allowing you to unleash a power move that multiplies your score by sixteen. The only other real object of the game is to collect the fireworks patterns, three for each song on each difficulty. You also will get a grade at the end of each song, along with a chance to see how you fair on the leaderboards compared to others.
There are little nuances about the game that are exceptionally unique; the fireworks have a great depth of quality about them, despite only being sparks of light, and the shapes you can make such as dragons, spheres, and such are interesting as well. When you hit the special mode, the controller even slightly vibrates to the beat, suggesting that you fixate yourself on the experience even further. A good package for both the experienced and causal gamer that isn’t quite up to snuff with Bizarre’s previous efforts but it is an interesting exercise in making a basic version of Dance Dance Revolution.
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People looking for a Geometry Wars Evolved 2 will be sorely disappointed but the game is a fun distraction. While the ten techno-classic bits are catchy, it is a few to little, and it makes the 800 Points ($10) price tag a bit hard to swallow at first. Luckily after awhile the game will quickly grow on you and you shouldn’t be disappointed.
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