Review
Release Date: 11.24.1998
Platform:
PlayStationDeveloper:
MetroPublisher:
989 SportsReviewed by
Wade Monnig on 4.27.2003
| Review Rating: 10/10 | User Rating: 9/10 |
One of the luxuries of being a game reviewer is that you can review an older game that you loved and bring it to the attention of all the wonderful readers who visit Games Are Fun. That is exactly what I intend to do with Bust A Groove.
A good portion of the hardcore gamers need only to hear ‘Dancing Simulation’ before turning up their noses and heading in the opposite direction of Bust A Groove. Guess what? This will only make them miss one of most addictive games to grace the Playstation. With the recent surge in popularity of Dance Dance Revolution in the states, this is perfect time to go back a few years and scoop up Bust A Groove.
Bust A Groove is simply one of those games that you have to play to fully grasp just how fantastic it is. This can be a problem, since it seems that every gamer gets a bad case of the ‘just one more round’ disease when they sit down in front of BAG and getting a turn is almost impossible. Luckily it includes a 2 Player mode. Not only does this allow other gamers the chance to actually play, but also makes BAG a fantastic party game.
The key to any successful music based game is the soundtrack and Bust A Groove excels in this category. Surprisingly, it kept the majority of catchy J-Pop (Japanese Pop) tunes from the original Japanese version with only the songs that were sung completely in Japanese re-recorded into English. As a proud owner of both the import and domestic versions of Bust A Groove (Titled Bust A Move: Dance and Rhythm Action), I still prefer the original Japanese version and it is one of the few game soundtracks that I actually own. The songs, courtesy of Avex of Japan, will have you humming along almost immediately and never get old.
If the excellent music selection doesn’t hook you, the characters certainly will. From the break dancing moves of Heat to the kwai coolness of Shorty, it won’t take you long to find a favorite dancer like you would find a favorite brawler in a fighting game. The excellent motion capture/animation is a joy to watch…just don’t try doing it while your playing!
The gameplay of BAG is excellent. The game is rhythm based, requiring you to input a sequence of button presses and make sure the final button in pressed exactly on the forth beat. However, you are given some assistance as the game ‘flashes’ each beat on the screen inside the input box, allowing even the most tone deaf among us to count along with the song and hit the beat. As the game progresses and you complete each press successfully, you build combos. After you complete a successful combo, your character ‘freezes’, strikes a pose and then you begin a new combo with progressively harder and more complex inputs required that are worth even more points.
It is virtually impossible to explain all of intricacies of BAG but some of the highlights are the tons of secret characters, the ability to attack your opponent, backgrounds that react to how well you are doing, and round-ending “Fever Times” that serve as the ultimate taunt once you have out danced your opponent.
Bust A Groove (and its sequel Bust A Groove 2) are the highlight of Metro’s music game development. After these two releases, they moved on to a less intuitive and more frenzied input system in Dance Summit and the awful input system of Britney’s Dance Beat. This is the pinnacle of both ease of use and depth of play and I hope they return to this system if the TRUE Bust A Groove 3 is ever released. Bust A Groove is a game you don't want to overlook, so open your mind and check it out.
