B-Boy review

As far as GameStyle is concerned, there is only one aspect of break-dancing that you can translate into a game smoothly and that is the music. Thankfully, the developers of B-Boy agree and have taken plenty of time picking which songs to use. The soundtrack is close to perfect. All the music suits the style of the game, it's not all well-known smash hits and it isn't all obscure songs you'll have never heard of. Acts include Nina Simone, Black Eyed Peas, Kool & The Gang, and DJ Shadow amongst others. It's possibly the best rhythm-action soundtrack around, even.B-Boy looks pretty good too. Backgrounds are rough, but stylistically work well in the game setting. Character models are as good as anything else currently kicking around the PSP and the animation is second to none. All moves are perfectly motion captured and the amount of animation in transitions between moves is thoroughly impressive. The light trails to highlight impressive moves which is present in the PS2 version isn't here which makes it all look less flashy, but it also makes it look more realistic so this could be considered a good thing. And importantly, everything is smooth. While the presentation of all loading screens and menus is good, some things could have been made a lot simpler with a more careful approach to menu design but it is nothing too serious. There is a lot of game too. The main draw is "Livin' Da Life"; the career mode complete with forty computer characters, including real life likenesses, to beat. It's a constant progression of learning, improving, unlocking new moves and then learning to use them. As well as the career mode there are a variety of other modes, each of which might be concerned with the same dancing but things like survival modes do add a little variety. And if you happen to have a friend with a copy of the game you can play against each other in ad-hoc network mode. GameStyle is fully aware that it's got this far without actually telling you anything about the game itself and there is a reason for that. B-boy is a decent package, especially the soundtrack and that deserves to be acknowledged. Sadly, it's downhill quickly from here. The biggest problem is with the control system. Basically, you spend all of your performance tapping the shoulder buttons in time with the beat, occasionally tapping the face buttons to perform each base move (and combine it with directions to activate special moves). As you start out it all feels very complex and you always seem to be forced to do too much. Remembering moves, hitting them at the right time and linking them in the right order while tapping the beat is difficult to get the hang of. Especially as the beat youre tapping along to is shown as small white marks spinning around your characters feet. The little feedback you get from the marks means that it is easy to slip out of time and it makes the music feel inconsequential. Guitar Hero makes you understand the importance of staying in time, but this puts no importance on it at all.While it might start complicated, once you've got the hang of the game it soon becomes clear that the confusing controls weren't caused by the depth they have. The actual options you have are extremely limited. Imagine a Tony Hawk game with only one half-pipe (and no momentum for increasing what you can do) but you have to tap along to the beat while performing a limited set of moves. Extremely limited and quickly becomes dull, and however impressive the moves you are performing are there is no connection to them. Even with a perfect performance you never feel like celebrating as you do in other rhythm action titles.The limited and over-complicated gameplay isn't even the biggest problem. The worst thing about the game is how long you spend doing nothing. One dance will last (typically) 45 seconds - you perform for forty five and then you have to watch your competitor dance. To start with that isn't bad, but after a while it soon becomes boring. With no way to skip it you spend half your time, at best, doing nothing. And as this is a PSP that isn't the end of the problem - loading breaks come at shockingly regular intervals and last an extremely long time. If you pause during a game and put the PSP in sleep-mode you're even greeted with a 30 second loading break next time you turn it on. It's one of the worst examples of loading times on the PSP and that is really saying something.B-boy is very hard to recommend. Even without the long loading times the gameplay is poor - how many games can you name with a control system much too complicated but with almost no depth? But it is well presented and if you do get into it the game will last you. People dedicated to break-dancing might get something from it (even if it's just copying the perfectly animated moves) but for anyone else you'd be much better just buying the soundtrack.