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System:
PlayStation
Genre:
Music
Publisher:
Enix
Developer:
989 Sports
Players:
1-2
Release date/year:
10/31/1997
Other systems:
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- Bust A Groove
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1998 989 Sports - Enix - PSX
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This was my first dance game. I was 12, I was at my friends house. His brother came back, he said he had rented a game, a game called Bust A Groove. I had no idea what this game was. At first I thought he was just insane. Then I had thought it was somewhat like Bust A Move, ''perhaps a sequel.'' But, it wasn’t. For one, Bust A Move is like Tetris in a way, while this game is a dancing simulator. Secondly, this game is much better. My friend friend popped it into the system and we had a long play. I was surprised to see such originality, I had never played a dancing game, and I thought the idea was great. From that day on Bust A Groove has set the standard for dance gaming for me, and for people all around the world. No game since Dance Dance Revolution has even come close to surpassing that standard.
- {~~Main Scores~~}
BREAKDOWN
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 10
Control: 10
Graphics: 10
Enjoyability: 10
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Gameplay
The gameplay is considered by many to be game itself. Basically, you dance, and you dance a lot. You have many different characters, each with their own theme song, and level. Some of the characters are: Heat the freestyle dancer, Hiro the disco dancer, Hamm the fat man, Gas O the mysterious techno dancer, and there are many more too including a child, a long haired rocker, and a stripper. Each dances differently and is definitely worth trying.
Each level you go through has a song to go with it. Those songs have a beat, that you must follow. Because every four beats you press a button to dance, and when you pull that off you will be expected to do a 2 button combo, then 3, then 4, then 5, all the way up to 6, each must be pulled off in the time span of 4 beats, at which point another combo will be presented to you.
As you pull off each combo, a small bar at the bottom of your screen fills up and when you blow a combo and have to start over, the bar starts over. How often and how high this bar was throughout your dance compared against your opponent’s is what judges the winner. Also, when you pull off big combos, or many small ones in succession, the announcer will say: COOL, ICE, and the best one: FROZEN! when and how often you obtain these also helps decide the match. There is a one player, and two player option in this game.
Overall, I liked the gameplay. There were three simple reasons, the good tunes that make it really fun to play, how easy it is to get addicted to, and the originality of this particular dance game. Every part of the gameplay made me like it more and more as I played. Very nicely done here.
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Sound
If the gameplay isn’t considered the best and main part of the game, then this is. In a dance game, good music and sound effects are essential, and if they aren’t there, the whole game can flop. After all, it is a dance game, and to dance, you need music, preferabley good music.
Speaking of that, in this one the music was a work of art. Each person has his or her own song, and all types of music are represented. We have music ranging from disco, to modern techno, all composed magnificently and placed with the perfect character. The music even has lyrics. The lyrics make the music that much better, because the songs are actually good to listen to, and learn the lyrics to. I even have a couple of the songs from this game on mp3.
Sound effects were scarce, but good where they turned up. Your main effects are the commentator starting the match and ending the match, and making his comments such as ''FROZEN'' and with each comment like that a sound comes. For example with ''FROZEN'' you hear a CHING! signifying something freezing solid. They weren’t anything special, because of the music being the main thing. But at least they didn’t ruin the game.
Overall, stunning sound, completing the most important parts of a dance game very well. I especially liked te music more tha anything, but the sound effects didn’t exactly bring the quality down at all. Good job.
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Controls
In a dance game, controls aren’t as essential as the gameplay and sound, but can seriously improve or ruin a game depending on how they are done. In this game’s case, it is the same as the other aspects covered so far, great.
You press the buttons that appear according to the beat. You will get 2 buttons to press, then 3, 4, 5, and 6 each progressing your dance to a new even more stunning level. After 4 beats another combo comes up, so you must complete your previous combo in that time, sometimes making you stray from the beat if you get 6 buttons in 4 beats. But even then you still must follow the beat, because the last button in your combo must be pressed as the last of your 4 beats appears.
The buttons are very responsive, and you should have no worry of the controls causing you problems, unless you can’t follow beats at all. Overall, another great area. It makes the game so much easier to play.
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Graphics
This falls in a secondary position to the other aspects when playing a dancing game, but can seriously make the game worse if not done well. Parappa the Rapper comes to mind, that one had ''paper cut out'' graphics, completely 2D. Luckily, this does not.
This game has fully 3D moving characters. They are fully rounded and well proportioned. They also move as a real dancing person would. I think they may have used real people dancing as their base pictures, then animated them and computerized them. If they didn’t then I need to see these graphical geniuses and introduce them to many other game companies. I know many games that could seriously use realistic character movement like the stuff that is shown here.
Backgrounds here aren’t as 3D and responsive as the characters. This because the game makers wanted to use the 3D characters on 2D background technique. A great idea because it brings out both the characters and backgrounds very well. This showing the thought the graphical team put into making this. But, just because the backgrounds are 2D, doesn’t mean they can’t be done well. They were drawings, but good ones, with much detail and color. Great job on all parts of the graphics.
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Enjoyability
Here I tell how much I liked this game. But with this game, I don’t know if I can even put it into words, this was one of my favorite games ever. The graphics, gameplay, music, and control all molded together to make me love this game greatly. I especially liked the music though. This game had some of the best non-orchestral music I have ever seen in a game. It is so good I have most of it on mp3, and I know the words to most of them. Also, this game had one of the only disco type songs I have ever heard in a game, Hiro, the disco dancer’s theme. Very well done game, well worth the money to pick it up.
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{~~Other Important Scores~~}
Replay Value: Extremely High
The replay value in this is high, very high. This because you can play this game over and over without boredom for many reasons. My main one being the music, and listening to the music, then of course the gameplay is great making it a lot better, the idea, and craft of the dancing is amazing, the control excels, making it even better than before. All together, worth many plays.
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Challenge: Hard
The challenge here is high for a few reasons. One, the combos get very hard to pull of in the later dancing. Like I said, when you are trying to pull off 6 buttons within 3 beats, while you are moving to the beat, and you are required to have the last button pressed in succession with the last beat, well, it gets hard. The other thing that makes the challenge high is the adjustability. You can set the challenge, and if you set it to maximum challenge, it gets really hard to play.
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Learning Curve: Not long
This game will not take you very hard to learn. But of course that’s just so you can know what your doing, to become good at it you may need much more time. I did.
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Buy or Rent: Buy
You will want to buy this game. This is one of the best buys I can recommend. Everything is amazing, and you will be playing it for a very long time. Definitely one to buy, no questions asked.
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PROS
-Amazing Music
-Great Control
-Fun gameplay
-High replay value
-Good character graphics
-Adjustable challenge
-Dancing, enough said?
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CONS
-Occasionally the graphics skip slightly
-Hard at times
Overall a stunning game that all will enjoy. This is the kind of game you should present to your parents when you are defending video games. Even they will agree, a great game to get addicted to. Two thumbs up.
This game easily gets a Seifer Guarantee!
10/10
//Seifer psx
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