Space Channel 5

"KEEP!.....ON!........DANCING!"

''After playing this game, I felt more funky. This is a good thing.''

Space Channel 5 is another in the line of dance-rhythm games. Although it's not bringing anything new to the table, and the replay is considerably short, Space Channel 5 is a fun dancing romp for the while you're able to play it for.

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STORY
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''The future is a lot like it is now, but with more dancing.''

In the future, people do what they do in the present, but with more anti-gravity stuff and space get-ups. People go to work, they have fun, and they watch TV. Television in the future works much as it does now: if a show is bad, it gets cancelled. As a reporter for Space Channel 5, you need to make sure that your news show doesn't get cancelled.

As a gimmick to boost ratings, every TV show in the future assumedly features dancing. Yes, lots and lots of dancing. Not a story can go by that doesn't involve back-up dancers and a catchy tune to go with it. Unfortunately, Space Channel 5 only covers really big stories, like an alien invasion of a spaceship, so I don't get to see what musical news-number about a mudslide or an elephant that can paint looks like. Now, I'd play that game.

Aside from the ratings war, the newest development in the world / universe / galaxy news is that an alien race called the Morolians have invaded certain public areas and have forced people to dance. Hell, I can't dance as is, so if someone took control of my body and I started ''gittin down!'' I don't think I'd complain too much. At any rate, Ulala, Space Channel 5 reporter is sent to investigate the quasi-terrorism instigated by the Morolians! Good clean fun, what I say!

The story is backed up by rival stations trying to cut in on your coverage, different dance situations, and even a cameo by Michael Jackson himself. The game doesn't stop till it gets enough, that's for sure. *cough*

By the way, am I the only one that thinks it's ironic that a problem involving everyone dancing is solved by more dancing? Hypnotized dancers get ''un-hypnotized'' and immediately join your army of backup dancers! That's like giving a survivor of an airplane accident frequent flyer miles for being such a good sport.

Story: 9 / 10
Backs up the game well, good acting, and functional in spite of some cheesiness.

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GRAPHICS
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''Pastel colors and vinyl make for a futuristic experience!''

Space Channel 5 has a little in the way of being a graphical power-showcase for the Dreamcast. Then again, for the type of game this is, it could have been done in pixelated 2-d without affecting too much of its charm. Fortunately, the graphics it relies on are passable and interesting in the context of the game.

For starters, there isn't too terribly much going on at a particular time. Usually, the camera is far-off to show both Ulala, the dancers she has at that time, and the Morolian ''attackers.'' By doing so, the characters usually appear somewhat tiny. The character models for the morolians and the main characters are good, smooth, and pleasing on the eyes (heh, heh), but the rest of the human ''victims'' are a little on the low-polygon side.

The backgrounds are either rendered in 3-d or they're FMV-based, which is pretty cool when it shows up. The FMV-polygon blending works well in the game, and can give a neat effect to a certain dance showdown. I approve. The 3-d is nice, but there's nothing overly complex about any of the 3d backgrounds in the game.

Another thing worth noting is the color scheme of the entire game. For the most part, all of the colors are pastel-type and never overly vibrant. It's a neat little touch to the game that makes everything seem a little more uniform and in the ''same universe.'' Because of this, Space Channel 5 has a graphical and stylistic identity, much like Jet Grind Radio was able to achieve with its cell-shading and color choices. Forgive me for being overtly artsy-fartsy if I've done so.

If there's one major gripe about the game, it's the occasional discrepancy between the dance move timing and the voices. There are times that Ulala doesn't move her mouth to the words she's saying (if at all), and many of the other characters have no animation for any spoken dialog. Considering that there's a lot of it, more work here would have helped greatly. Additionally, there's a small delay between the time that you press a button in-synch with the game and the time that you actually do the input on-screen. It has the effect of making certain actions look as if they're not matching up to the beat, which is a little concerning in a rhythm game such as this one.

Although Space Channel 5 doesn't have award-winning graphics, they're not ugly and they're not entirely the focus of this game.

Graphics: 6 / 10
Stylistic and functional.

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GAMEPLAY
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''Get down and funky... after a while.''

Space Channel 5 is a rhythm game like the rest in the genre, which generally entails hitting a certain button on time with the beat. Simple, but it takes some practice to get it right. The game progresses if you've performed adequately within the level, of which there are 4. If you're a disco-funk grand champion of beat-matching, you'll get stellar ratings. Should you perform at the abysmal level of Johnny Rotten on quaaludes, then you'll fail to meet your ratings quota and will have to restart the level.

To make matters more complex, in certain situations your failure to match the beat will result in the loss of life. You have a certain amount of life in these certain instances, which function almost as mini-boss parts, and each boss battle gives you a finite amount of vitality. The rundown of it all is this: do well, get ratings; do bad, lose life and ratings.

Unlike other games in the genre, there's no sense of when to hit a certain button aside from the beat. Parappa and Bust a Move both incorporated a rudimentary gauge to let you know when it was exactly that you were supposed to hit the button, but Space Channel 5 has none of this. It makes things more challenging, but in a ''it's all the computer's fault'' sense. Grr.

I like to think that I have some sense of rhythm, but Space Channel 5 made me question this when I played through it the first time. There are some moments that are maddening, especially if your spider-sense of what the beat is happens to be off by just a small amount. You'll get it after a while, but that while may vary from gamer to gamer. The windows of what exactly is ''to the beat'' are tight. If you're not dead on, the game will register it as a missed step, and you'll be punished accordingly.

For the first few times before I had learned the songs, patterns, steps, etc. the game was very hard. Now, it's no challenge. In this sense, Space Channel 5's difficulty goes from very hard to easy the more you play it, so there's some replay loss here accordingly. Space Channel 5 would have been helped by varying difficulty levels as well as a beat-meter similar to the ones in Parappa / Bust a Move, if only for the first level in order to get the hang of things.

Because of the lack of this, and the fact that certain sequences are a little hard to follow, Space Channel 5 can set you up with an obstacle you aren't prepared to deal with by fault of the game. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm a white guy, but the pseudo-classical ditty at the end of level two is more challenging to me than the entire last level. Don't be surprised if you yell ''Damn it!'' at the game after it fails three inputs, despite the fact that you timed them ''perfectly.'' So you thought.

There is a small amount of replay, in the vein of extra levels that have a deviation from the levels they're based on. However, there's no difference on one of the four levels, and the rest have some little part that really doesn't feel any better than the part that you're skipping in order to play this one. Because of the fact that there are only insignificant details that change the second time through the game, the execution feels sloppy. I would have liked to see major changes in the button input, timing, and above all: new levels. 4 is a very small number, and you'll notice that after beating the game.

All in all, Space Channel 5's gameplay seems less refined than does Parappa or Bust a Move, which are both PlayStation 1 titles. Not a good sign. Because it's frustrating and loses a lot of replay potential, Space Channel 5 leaves a lot to be desired in the gameplay department.

Gameplay: 5 / 10
It's average. Fun to play while it lasts, although frustrating at times.

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SOUND AND MUSIC
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''Can't... stop... DANCING!''

Everything you've read above is secondary to this category. Dance and rhythm games depend on music as their lifeblood. Without it, you have a meaningless ''hit the button now'' mini-game that stretches on and on. A bleak vision, to say the least.

Now, if you're a person that's very into one specific sound, genre, or group, Space Channel 5's music may not be for you. It's an eclectic mix of jazz, samba, techno, and some rock. I personally love it, and have the soundtrack to it. There are some little ditties that invade your mind and you can't pull them out, like fish hooks. They go in all right, but getting them out is another story.

Because the music is 'kickin, there's a lot of incentive to get through the game in order to see what musical number will challenge you. All of the musical numbers fit what's going on in-game to a T, so there's no reason to think that they were haphazardly thrown into the game in order to provide a soundtrack. Another plus is the fact that the tunes change to reflect your performance: good or horrible.

The voices are nice too, with lots of it. Voice acting was pretty good, and done by actors entirely fluent in English. It's hard to go 30 seconds without hearing some sort of English sentence, which makes the game feel more like a television show. Always a bonus.

Another complaint that may have surfaced is that Space Channel 5's music is average, and lacks the feel that accompanied Space Channel 5 and Bust a Move. I'd argue not, as I found the tunes in both Parappa and BAM games to be downright campy compared to SC5. Not to demean Parappa, but there's no rapping about baking a ****ing cake here. Like Jet Grind Radio, the included music I can listen to without being forcefully reminded that it is indeed video game music. It's professionally done jazz and techno (my favs from the game, at least) that lacks any voices outside of the ''up, left, down, right, shoot'' that serves more as an indicator of a button press than a part of the music.

On the whole, I don't think the music or voice acting could be any better suited to this game. The voices match up well, and deliver the story, and the music keeps the flow and energy of this game going from start to finish. Mission complete.

Sound and Music: 10 / 10
Absolutely perfect for this game. No complaints here.

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OVERALL
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''Everybody dance now!

Space Channel 5 may be shorter than Ulala's skirt, but it's a blast while the game lasts. I loved the music, and never did it feel like a direct contender to any of the other games in the genre. Basically, SC5 has a graphical identity which works in perfect synergy with the voices and music.

Sadly, the gameplay serves as little more than a vessel by which to advance the game. The learning curve is frustrating, and the game isn't any harder at the end than it is at the beginning once you get the timing down. Now I'm convinced I could hold a beat if someone put a gun to my head.

Let's not kid ourselves though: if you're not playing this game for the music and the familiar gameplay, you've blown your money. Play this game through a few times for the music, then put it in the drawer for a rainy day that could use some funk. Sure, other games have passed this in terms of technical gameplay, but Space Channel 5 is tops in graphical style, music, and feel.

Overall: 6.5 / 10
Great tunes, great style, some big gameplay issues.

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*I really did see a news story about a painting elephant once.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/02, Updated 02/18/02