Review
Release Date: 06.22.2004
Platform:
PlayStation 2Developer:
MixMaxPublisher:
Codemasters USAReviewed by
Wade Monnig on 9.7.2004
You know how it is: After hearing a top 40 hit every hour on the hour for months on end, it finally drops off the charts….and just when you thought it was safe to turn the radio back on, the Remix strikes back! So as you sit there with your ears bleeding, you think to yourself, “I could do a better remix than that.” The MTV Music Generator series from Codemasters has been providing that option to console owners for years and the third iteration makes it simpler than ever.
Of course, a love of the music itself is assumed so the track list is very important. MTV Music Generator 3 includes:
Get Busy – Sean Paul
From The Chuuuch To Da Palace – Snoop Dogg
The Way You Move – Outkast
This is my Party – Fabolous
Hear Me – Mike Koglin
Flawless – The Ones
LK – DJ Marky
Katja – Carl Cox
Ill Type Sound – Krafty Kuts
Revolution – R4
While the track list hits genres from hip-hop to trance to dance hall they all have one thing in common: an obvious distaste for proper spelling and correct use of the English language. Haha, I kid. They are all thumping dance tunes and are primed for some serious remixing. However, if you were hoping for hard drive support and the ability to load your own songs of, say, a style you really dig, into the interface for manipulation, you’ll be disappointed. You can load samples off of any CD into the game, but you can't break it down into tracks and simply remix that song. Before anyone writes and tells me it’s impossible to rip CD’s into 24 digital-perfect tracks like those for the songs included here, I know that but it doesn’t stop me from wishing for it.
But don’t think that there aren’t plenty of samples to work with in this title. There are roughly 4,000 samples in the game The Samplebase also lets you create drum patterns, riffs, baselines, and melodies from scratch, the Beatbox allows you to make drum patterns and the Melody section allows you to make runs and chord hits. However, I still think the sample ripper (mentioned above) is the hands-down best option. The samples can be about 10-12 seconds long and you can cut and paste as you see fit. The only downside to sampling this way is that you can't change the sample to match tempo without messing with both the pitch and rhythm. In other words, at least for me, it took a lot of trial and error to get a good mix…well, maybe Ministry just shouldn’t be mixed with Outkast but I had to give it a shot.
The remix system is fairly intuitive and the in-depth tutorial mode does a fantastic job of walking you through every step of mixing, editing, saving and manipulating the included songs. Veterans of the series may find the tutorial a bit slow paced but it’s good to see Codemasters providing for anyone just stumbling onto the series. Most selections can be done with a simple movement of the analog stick, and it's very user-friendly for an application that would seem to beg for mouse support.
While the interface has become simpler than ever, the series (on the PlayStation 2) lacks a couple of items that would push it to the next level. Lack of Network Adapter support to upload your creations is a major disappointment. Yea, it’s an ego thing but if you spend a few hours creating a masterpiece, you at least want the illusion that millions *and millions* of your fans are waiting to hear your latest creation. Instead, you have to lure your friends over with free pizza and bombard them with the modern day equivalent of vacation slides. A download/upload site would have at least provided you with a willing audience. Also missing is support for the sampling device used in MTV Music Generator 2 that connected to the USB port.
One of the bright spots of this release is the $29.99 MSRP. The low introduction price makes it almost irresistible to the PS2 owning Dr. Dre, luxa pan or Rick Rubin wanna-be.
