B-boy review

If you hadn't guessed from the title, this is a game dedicated to the odd but slightly charming world of the B-Boy. That's break dancing if you didn’t know, something which has had people dancing in the streets on a piece of lino for a couple of decades. Or at least trying to. Done well though it's a seriously impressive and a game that can convey that could be fantastic.

There are problems though. Sit someone in front of Guitar Hero and by the end of the first song they'll have worked out what they're meant to be doing. Even Frequency or Vib Ribbon are quickly learnt, but thanks to a cross between Tony Hawk style moves and a confusing interface B-Boy makes life much harder. Once you've followed (extremely tedious) tutorials your attention is drawn to small marks spinning on the ground around your character. Tap the shoulder buttons when a white line spins past and move between different dance moves on blue marks. Simple...

FREEZE

Each face button holds a different main move behind it and mixing between the four is where the game comes from. As progress is made through the game more moves are unlocked and selected with various d-pad combinations as in any beat-'em up. Do well and a hype bar fills, allowing you to do some more impressive stuff. It might sound simple but in reality it leaves you with hands forced into crab like positions trying to concentrate on too many things at once while focused on a tiny amount of screen space.

After quite a while you (might) start to get the hang of it and remembering moves lists brings with it something of an old school charm that some people might enjoy, picking the right moment to put things together. But then a complete lack of depth starts to become apparent. You're left doing more or less the same thing every time, sometimes you'll have to try harder to include specific moves to get a victory and sometimes you won't but whatever level you're on it's all broadly identical and it makes the initial effort feel wasted.

Scratch

The one area that does almost make the game worthwhile though is in it's soundtrack that shines and glows compared to the rest of the game. Even the best rhythm action game can be spoiled by a terrible soundtrack but this proves that the opposite is almost true. The songs chosen to play alongside the game are almost good enough to carry the game on their own and that is very high praise for what is frankly a poor game.

Press releases and interviews focus on the authenticity of the tracks and the fact that the B-Boy and hip-hop community gave their seal of approval is important but nowhere near as important as the fact that these are all really good songs. People unfamiliar with the genre will know some of the songs and even more of the artists which makes it accessible, but it doesn't suffer from constantly obvious choices either. To pick out a favourite, Nina Simone's ‘Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter’ is well up there, but each track works with no track stands out as terrible. In short, this is an almost perfect soundtrack and it deserves every compliment it receives.

Style

Graphically everything is completely average. It certainly doesn't look bad, it's just that nothing stands out to boast about, even by PS2 standards. Once a dance is really getting going the trails left by the characters are a nice touch, but on the other hand they stop it from looking realistic. Models are neat enough, backgrounds are fine, the frame rate is almost always smooth. It's just average.

Animation on the other hand is much more impressive. The range of moves in the game is impressive and each looks correct, at least as far as someone with very little knowledge of the form is concerned. Better than that each move smoothly joins the others which means there is a vast amount of animation in there which the game is to be commended for. It never feels totally natural, sometimes looking a bit too perfect and losing individual charm of a real performance but that is something difficult to put into a game, so more of an observation than a criticism.

Run of the (wind)mill

B-Boy is a solid concept that has been implemented with commitment to the original design and that ensures it all works together well. But there are too many problems. Progress feels unbelievably slow thanks to long loading breaks and spending half the time watching the computer dance rather than playing yourself (and throwing insults doesn’t count as playing). Multiplayer is fun enough with someone who knows the game well, but for new players it is possibly the most unwelcoming multiplayer game around.

And while it’s good that there is finally a non-violent hip-hop game that eschews the sort of embarrassing attitude Saints Row goes for, it’s just missing something. While the high production values might appeal to some and existing B-Boys might find enough to appeal to them, this just isn’t a game I want to recommend. After playing Guitar Hero I want to be a fantastic guitarist and after playing Tony Hawk games I want to be a fantastic skateboarder. But this never gives me the urge to go into the kitchen, hitting the lino and spinning on my head; not even close. It makes me want to buy the soundtrack and play a different game.