BeatMania

"Just one more round... oh... OH GOD NO!! THE BEATS ARE EVERYWHERE!!!"

Beatmania... what's to be said about Beatmania? Here we have the Playstation home version of an arcade DJ simulator. DJ simulator? Golly, how could such a feat be accomplished? Well, to be honest, Beatmania is very much like the rest of the games in the niche music genre. While your choice of wacky, wacky music is playing, the game tells you to hit a button, and you hit it. The beats fall down from the top of the screen, you smack the button and blammo, sound effect. And if you don't get it right enough, you lose, and the audience boos, and you cry. It really doesn't sound addictive in the least, but there is something about this game. First off, it is not as simple as random button-pushing. This can be an extremely difficult, hair-pullingly irritating game. A lot of it, however, stems from memorization, and that is how the game is ultimately won. The actual control can differ depending on your controller. The standard Playstation controller really isn't recommended. You can learn it, sure, but why, when there's... the DJ CONTROLLER. It consists of five keyboard keys and a turntable. It feels much better than the basic controller, since it actually matches the buttons onscreen. Control is beautiful with the turntable controller, and button mashing and scratching is really half the fun of the game, so you should definitely get it if you buy the game. Then, there are other things to the game as well. Graphics, for one. Beatmania doesn't really try too hard to have good graphics. If you expect shaded and light-sourced multiple-thousand-poly models hopping around in a vast, vast DJ environment.... this is not the game for that silly buisiness. The visual portion is made up of the monitor in the middle of the screen. If you are not occupied enough with the game and decide to pay attention to it, you will see various bizarre spectacles taking place. Examples of those would be a monkey scratching on a turntable, dancers changing colors rapidly, and of course, the banana telling you that you are a poor player. While the graphical portion of the game doesn't technically affect gameplay, it adds to the overall... strange feeling of the game itself. Then, of course, this being a music game, one must mention the music. The music crosses over various types of music, your hip-hop, your techno, your papaya bossa nova, the basics. Some of it can be enjoyable, some [very little] of it can be annoying, and a whole lot of it can be downright hilarious. Look out for the part where the Japanese rapper says:

"I got a pound for my homey in my pocket
Make contact to the moon like a rocket."

And there's loads of this crazy, crazy music. Left and right. 2 discs crammed. And you can buy add-ons for the game as well. Highly odd, scarily addictive, and ungodly frustrating. Keep in mind that the game is not for everyone. It's strictly love or hate. If you're looking for something [very, very] different, however, this is your game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99