Samba de Amigo

"Definitely been given undue bad press"

Samba de Amigo was a game I missed when it was first released in the arcades and on the Sega Dreamcast. When I did find out about it, I instantly wanted to play it. It was one of those games that you just had to play, like Wii Sports or High School Musical Sing It (Come on admit it).

But I didn't have a Dreamcast at the time. Even though I do now, I wouldn't pay the extravagant price for the game and maracas. So I decided to wait and see what they did with the Wii port. From what I have seen of the original, they doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between the two games.

GRAPHICS - They are perfectly suited to the style of the game. Quirky, colourful and full of personality, this game is not for someone with their head screwed on. Basically if you hate the sight of animals wearing samberos and shaking musical instruments you won't like this game. 9/10

SOUND - Although I only knew a few songs out of the 40 or so songs included, each song has its place in the game and there is never one where you think could they have not included it. The brilliant touch of the Wii Remote making a maraca sound effect when you hit a note correctly means you feel more in tune with the game and encouraged to hit the notes rather than, (with most rythym action games) simply to gain a high score. 10/10

CONTROLS - This is the debate that has raged since the games announcement way back when. Are the Dreamcast controls better than the Wii? Well the answer is they are completely different. The Dreamcast controls depend on a height sensor that is plugged into one of the consoles controller ports which allows for true height perception and as such hitting the targets is dependant on the maracas being shaked at said height.

Whereas the Wii Remote and Nunchuk can only sense motion, not position and so it was not going to be easy for the staff at Gearbox to create a working control system. But they did and it works. The trick is simply to point the Wii Remotes or Nunchuk upwards, towards the screen or downwards and then shake the remotes.

The position you are currently in is shown by white markers surrounding the targets on screen. Once you get the knack of the controls, they are surprisingly easy and enjoyable to use. On the higher difficulty levels this may prove tricky but all rhythm action games are tricky on the higher levels, you just need a strategy.

To summarize, although the Dreamcast controls are the idealic, the Wii ones are in no way inferior or broken, just misunderstood. 8/10

LIFESPAN - If you like this sort of game you;ll be hooked for weeks. If you're a casual user, you may need to take half of the points off this score. This is no doubt a game for parties. Once you have completed the career mode and unlocked everything, you'll pull it out at Christmas or Birthdays to have a laugh. 8/10

Overall, a brilliant title and one that deserves recognition as the great game that it is. All the internet and magazine reviews are deceptive, don't be fooled into thinking this game is not a classic. They had a hard challenge to achieve and they pulled it off to the best of their ability. With Wii MotionPlus, they could have done it like the original but lets be honest, does it really matter? If you like dancing or music games, this is essential.

*9/10*

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/08

Game Release: Samba de Amigo (EU, 09/26/08)