Bust A Groove 2

"This is a sequel in the truest sense!"

Stop! I know what you're thinking. "A DANCING game?!?! You can't be serious!?" "That sounds like the most boring genre ever!" "Yet another attempt to make gaming appeal to a wider array of gender and age." Yup... I've heard it all. I've also said it all... And to an extent still believe it all!

Bust a Move 2 is a dancing game where you control a set of characters (if you include the secret ones, it becomes a rather large set), and by pressing one of the button combinations currently on the screen, make your characters perform a particular dance move. Hip hop, Dance, Disco, Capoeira, etc. It's all there. The longer you go without missing a button or a beat, the more complex the combos get. And the more complex the combos get, the more points and camera attention you get. At the end of the song, whoever has had the most camera coverage wins! Sound easy? Well, it is. Except for the fact that those button combos may seem sort of complicated at first... And keeping with the rhythm may be tricky... and the other players have the ability to attack you, as well as dodge, block and reflect YOUR attacks! Oh, and did I mention that they may be trying to get bonus points by doing "secret" dances? When all of these factors combine with two or more players (Only two at a time though!), hilarity, fun, and a LOT of competiveness follows!

In terms of the most basic gameplay, Bust a Move 2 is fairly similar to the sequel. However, that's where the similarities end. There are more characters now, and even the old ones have new music, costumes, and moves! The game's difficulty has been upped a couple of notches through more complex combos, but the method of entering the combos has been improved to make it a bit less taxing. Gameplay tweaks abound throughout the game, just enough of them to make things considerably more interesting than before.

Graphically, this game is stunning... Largely due to the fact that the dancers' movements are all "preordained". At any given time, there's usually only a choice between a couple of dance moves... In other words *extremely* limited freedom, which leads to more easily rendered movements.

The gameplay is...well... Either you're going to like it a lot, or you won't. From my own experiences, BAM2 is more fun when you have other people around. Not just as opponents, but to "Ooh" and "Ahh" to your spectacular moves! :)

And then there's the music. Do I even need to say it? The company would have to be suicidal to release a *Dancing* game without good music! Even though I still rather prefer the original's tracks, the music is altogether excellent! Although if you're not a fan of J-Pop you may want to wait until this one officially hits stateside. Otherwise, go ahead and import it! The menus are all English enough so that you shouldn't really have a problem playing!

In closing, if you didn't like the original, then skip BAM2. But if you liked the first one, then by all means GET THIS ONE!!! There's more than enough change to justify picking up this sequel! And if you REALLY liked the first one, then get this one AND the U.S. version when it comes out! Just so you have both versions of all the songs!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 07/09/03