45 - Unison: Rebels of Rhythm & Dance (PS2)

Genre: Rhythm/music
Rating: E
Developer: Tecmo
Publisher: Tecmo
Platform: PS2
Release Date: 2001

Unison is a really odd game. Initially, it seems like a cheap rip off of Bust-A-Move (Groove whatever) and Space Channel 5. Then you start to play and realize that's basically what it is. There's not much fun about the game, although it does have a bit of something that was new to offer at the time.

The characters are all in some sort of disco futuristic anime world. Strangely, it feels like either a game that was made by Americans to try and play itself off as Japanese, or by Japanese in some attempt to appeal to Western sensibilities. As it turns out, it is a legitimately Japanese product, but doesn't feel all too wonderful.

The gameplay is different than most other rhythm games of the time, and honestly only kind of exists now with more modern movement-based dance games. In Unison you watch a character do a dance routine as much as you want and memorize it. Once you have it down, you enter into the actual dance mode and must replicate the exact moves you were shown earlier. This is done by moving the left and right thumbsticks around (kind of like moving the left and right arms).

It's hard. It's such a hard game. It really shouldn't be, but it is and that really let me down. I'm all for a good rhythm game challenge but I prefer it to be about technical skill rather than memorization. I don't know, but it just didn't feel so fun to study up the dancing over and over just to get an A. It's not a very good game and the music isn't all that fantastic either. At least the first song is Y.M.C.A. which is probably the best of the seonglist.

Would I play again? No.

43 - Mad Maestro! (PS2)

Genre: Rhythm/music
Rating: E
Developer: Desert Productions
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Platform: PS2
Release Date: 2002

This is one of those games I passed up on innumerable times. Back when I would see games like this and Rhapsody: A Musical Tale on store shelves I was a connoisseur of Dance Dance Revolution. Because of this I was kind of stingy with other rhythm and music titles. Nothing would be as good as DDR, so why even try? That's how I felt for a while anyway before finally latching onto each music game that would come out.

I do kind of regret not getting it sooner, as well as those other musical titles. This one isn't especially difficult or anything, but it's certainly a new idea (conducting). It's really simple to understand how to play too. There are 4 markers on screen and as a ball passes through them you are supposed to hit a button. It doesn't matter which button, you just need to get it in time with the music. Along with that, the markers have one of three colored borders. The varying colors tell you how hard you should press down on the buttons. It's a slightly unusual gameplay mechanic which took surprisingly long to get used to.

Beyond this stuff, the story was really cheesy. The point of the whole thing is that a concert hall is going to be closed so you are tasked to gathering up musicians to play in it and convince people to save it. Once you start interacting with the cast of weird characters you realize it's so very Japanese in style.

I managed to push through all the chapters and get to the finale concert in maybe an hour. However, at that concert I completely failed on every song and couldn't save the concert hall. What amused me though is that when you fail the screen doesn't say Game Over. No, it says "Nooo...." which is really how I felt at that moment.

Would I play again? Nah.

19 - Britney's Dance Beat

Genre: Rhythm/music
Rating: E
Developer: Metro Graphics
Publisher: THQ
System: PS2 (Also: GBA, PC)
Release date: 2002

So, this might sound really weird but I have played and beaten this game on GBA prior to touching this version. Because of that, these paragraphs will mostly be a comparison of the two games. Firstly, the game is basically a very simple rhythm game where you have to press the four PS2 buttons (triangle, circle, square, x) and sometimes the d-pad. It's surprising but sometimes the buttons managed to trip me up. Not to mention that every dance was a challenge against someone else, who would try to sabotage your moves.

In the PS2 version you are a backup dancer going through a string of auditions against increasingly tougher dancers. The goal at the end is to dance up on stage with Britney. Strangely enough, this isn't the same case in the GBA version. For that one you are Britney and are practicing before your world tour, or something of the sort.

Unimpressively, both versions of the game only have 5 songs. Also, the PS2 version is lacking in the multiple difficulty options that the GBA game includes. It seems quite odd that these would be missing. Still I'd have to say the PS2 version is superior for the simple fact that the songs are the actual ones and not some crazy MIDI music... although it's almost endearing. Almost.

This is supposed to be Oops! I Did it Again

The game isn't awful. In fact, it's kind of infectious in a way once you get past the initial goofiness. That may just be my preference though. The main problem is that there's not much replayability at all once you complete the 10 auditions (you play each song twice).

Would I play again? No.