Overview

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Review

Release Date: 03.29.2001
Platform: PlayStation
Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
Publisher: Konami Co., Ltd.

Reviewed by Luke Campbell on 10.19.2003

Review Rating: 7/10

The Beatmania series has had many installments, most of which simply add a few new songs and new backgrounds to the mix. While this helps keep things familiar, it can also project the feeling that the series has become stale. In an effort to remedy this, the colorful and vibrant Beatmania: The Sound of Tokyo! (BMST) breathes a bit of life into the normally dark Beatmania series. Unfortunately, the breath is short and feels as if it is missing something.

Longtime Beatmania players will no doubt be caught off guard by the look of BMST, as the dark and drab colors have been replaced with bright oranges and reds, and the game's playfield is now white instead of black (though an option is present to revert to a black playfield), so while it's the same Beatmania gameplay, it almost feels like a new game altogether. The game sports a cheerleader mascot who exudes happiness, and even the menu music is cheerful.

Speaking of the music, BMST was produced by Yasaharu Konishi, who rose to fame in Japan as a member of the group Pizzicato Five (see the bottom picture to the right). The music on his albums is very stylish and infectious, and this has carried over into the songs found in BMST, which means you'll be humming these songs while you're brushing your teeth or driving to work. The design and sound of this game is similar to that of Pizzicato Five's 2000 album "Fifth Release From Matador", with a very "fashion show-lounge singer" feel to the songs, and the bright colors mentioned earlier.

Sadly, while it's colorful, catchy, and stylish, BMST is simply over too soon. A mere twelve songs reside on the disc, and while it serves as a key disc for other append Beatmania discs (which are unplayable without a key disc), it's hard to justify this as a purchase to anyone other than Beatmania completists and diehard fans of Pizzicato Five and Konishi. What's here is great, but where's the beef?

Box art