Beatmania
Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: Konami
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail
Before the Xbox 360 took over my life I actually played multiple consoles. I'm sure I'll be making a booty call to my PlayStation 2 soon enough, but I've still got a stack of lime green boxes to tear open and touch.
A week ago I spent some time with Beatmania, the home version of Konami's music game. And while I love music peripherals and rhythm games, I can't say I'm too fond of it. Thing is, I've been spoiled. After the slick manga look and kooky story of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and the face-melting cock rock of Guitar Hero the bar has been forever raised. (Though, in retrospect, Parappa the Rapper set a bar in style and story that few have matched).
I guess what I'm saying is that Konami can no longer rest on its laurels with Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania. Now that there's some serious competition out there, it's time for a ground-up rethinking and overhaul of both games. The sucky music and late '90s rave look aren't going to cut it any more.
As far as Beatmania goes, I'd like to see the control scheme rethought to reflect actual music-making devices. The turntable can stay, but the pseudo-piano keys are spaced out too far to simulate a keyboard. Why not reimagine the controls as an MPC and turntable set up -- maybe a 4/4 or 5/4 grid of pads vs the standard 8/8. Beatmania's biggest triumph is that the player effects the music to a greater degree than most other games. Hit your button a half beat off and your musical cue will roll that much late. Imagine how cool an MPC controller would be for a game like this. Being good at Beatmania would translate directly into musical skills.
Then the next step for Konami is to really up the ante on the music. Forget throw away tunes from Timo Maas and Moby. They need to talk with Madlib or Coldcut and collaborate with these heads to make a music game that does for hip-hop and electronica what Guitar Hero does for rock.
And sorry guys, Amplitude and Frequency don't count.
Publisher: Konami
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail
Before the Xbox 360 took over my life I actually played multiple consoles. I'm sure I'll be making a booty call to my PlayStation 2 soon enough, but I've still got a stack of lime green boxes to tear open and touch.A week ago I spent some time with Beatmania, the home version of Konami's music game. And while I love music peripherals and rhythm games, I can't say I'm too fond of it. Thing is, I've been spoiled. After the slick manga look and kooky story of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and the face-melting cock rock of Guitar Hero the bar has been forever raised. (Though, in retrospect, Parappa the Rapper set a bar in style and story that few have matched).
I guess what I'm saying is that Konami can no longer rest on its laurels with Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania. Now that there's some serious competition out there, it's time for a ground-up rethinking and overhaul of both games. The sucky music and late '90s rave look aren't going to cut it any more.
As far as Beatmania goes, I'd like to see the control scheme rethought to reflect actual music-making devices. The turntable can stay, but the pseudo-piano keys are spaced out too far to simulate a keyboard. Why not reimagine the controls as an MPC and turntable set up -- maybe a 4/4 or 5/4 grid of pads vs the standard 8/8. Beatmania's biggest triumph is that the player effects the music to a greater degree than most other games. Hit your button a half beat off and your musical cue will roll that much late. Imagine how cool an MPC controller would be for a game like this. Being good at Beatmania would translate directly into musical skills.
Then the next step for Konami is to really up the ante on the music. Forget throw away tunes from Timo Maas and Moby. They need to talk with Madlib or Coldcut and collaborate with these heads to make a music game that does for hip-hop and electronica what Guitar Hero does for rock.
And sorry guys, Amplitude and Frequency don't count.
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