Salary Man Champ: Tatakau Salary Man

"Salary men are much more interesting than you might imagine"

Ah the Salary Man, a staple of the Japanese society. From dawn 'til dusk these brave little worker bees spend all the day doing various office jobs, until they collapse and possibly die. What a noble life they lead.

And a busy one too, if Salary Man Champ is to be believed. This fun filled minigame fest is a journey through the life of a salary man, as he strives to be the pinnacle of Japanese society and climbs the corporate staircase. But, what does the life of a salary man entail? Ummm...mostly button mashing.

The game consists of a variety of different, mostly odd, minigames. Everything is based on three buttons: Square, X and Circle, representing Red, Green and Blue, respectively. No, this doesn't match the actual colours of said buttons, but perhaps in Japan you could get some sort of colour keyed accessory with the game, I don't know. I also don't know what the overriding story might be, because, of course, it's all Japanese. Japanese knowledge is, for the most part, not necessary to play the game. There are a few points where the game degenerates into random guessing if you don't know the language, but that's mostly minor. Otherwise, it's button pressing to the nth degree.

The stages vary, going from straight up button mashing to strategic button mashing, to timed button pressing, to colour and action matching. The various games have different themes too. In one, you're shaking hands with people, and batting away the hands of kitties. In another, you're singing karaoke, like any good Japanese guy. In another, you're picking up chicks at a bar, by tossing them fluorescent pink beverages. Careful in the bar though, a poorly timed press can lead a male patron or even the bartender to fall in love with you. You've got two competitors in these games too, either taken on by your friends or the AI. The game is a challenge either way, and could certainly be made into a decent drinking game.

The style is your standard wierd Japanese anime-ish look, with big heads and all that jazz. The game never takes itself seriously, some moments being more outlandish than others. One level involves running away from a transvestite, for example. Most of the minigames have some base in real-life tasks of various office drones - stamping papers, listening to boring people, that kind of things. Some things doubtlessly make sense only to the Japanese - the level where you drink milk while wearing only a towel comes immediately to mind. But, as a whole, the game is quite fun, and lends itself well to a party atmosphere.

In fact, for what it is, the game is one of those games where, while it's not the best thing ever made, it's hard to imagine how you would improve on it. I wouldn't mind having it in english, but that's not fundamental to understanding the game. In its pure simplicity, the game achieves its own special kind of perfection. It's just challenging enough, the controls are so simple they couldn't even have screwed them up if they wanted to, and the game design is slick, quick, and fun. There is absolutely no chance it uses the PS1 to its full ability, but then, why does it need to? It looks good enough for what it gives, and it's something that can be played again and again. Sure, you're not going to see this mentioned among the video game greats - it's too simple and weird - but it does exactly what it set out to do. And for a fun party game, it's a winner.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/03/05