Australian Gamer Review

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Boogie

Reviewed on: Wii
Available on: Playstation 2, Wii

Boogie quite stunningly fails to deliver any "fun" at all. I know that is a pretty harsh thing to say, but this game fundamentally fails to deliver what it clearly set out to do.

Players: 1 - 2 Players
Genre:
Release: 2007-08-27

Developer: EA Montreal
Distributor: EA

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Remember when the Wii came out, and everyone was pumped about how there would be a million and one uses for the Wii remote? Everyone got excited about sword games, gun games, golf games, boxing games, bowling games, tennis games and of course, rhythm games. Like most new consoles, the first 6 months after launch was a bit of a void in terms of anything beyond mini game titles like Wario Wares, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Mario Party 8. But we�re now coming up on the 12 month anniversary of the Wii, and it is about now you start to expect to see some really exciting titles coming out that show off the real potential of a console, and the controller. One of the first games to hit shelves for Wii that really has had everyone talking since E3 is Boogie.

Video clips of this game have been going around since the start of the year, and they really show the game to look amazingly fun. The game simply looks gorgeous, and looks like a heap of fun to play. Take a look at this trailer

Yes I feel sorry for the poor saps that they dragged into film this, but the key thing here is that they actually LOOK like they were enjoying themselves. Watching this video (or any other Boogie demo video) and you will get the feeling that the game is an all singing, all dancing, free form expression type game, where you create the moves and you decide the rhythm you want to dance to. But, frankly it�s not. Boogie quite stunningly fails to deliver any �fun� at all. I know that is a pretty harsh thing to say, but this game fundamentally fails to deliver what it clearly set out to do. So what went wrong with Boogie? Well the real problem comes from the fact that whilst the Wii remote promises free form control of your character, it doesn�t. It simply provides up/down/left/right movements, the same as if you just used a D-pad. Now whilst, you can have a lot of fun with those movements, pretty soon you work out that being creative doesn�t contribute to your score, in fact, quite the opposite. If you get a little too creative and miss the beat, your score multiplier takes a nose dive. The end result is that the game quickly degenerates into dull up, left, down, right, left, down, up motions. I�ve even seen kids in store playing this game, and you can see the same confusion� it�s just not clear exactly what you should be doing. No matter how much flair you put into your movements, your character moves the same way anyway� so what�s the point? And that is really the key phrase for Boogie, �What�s the point?�

You too can be a Rainbow Rider if you play this game!

Now, I�m the first to admit that I probably am not in the target market for this game, the title is clearly aimed at the younger set, but I am a big fan of rhythm/Singing games like DDR, Guitar Hero, Singstar and Karaoke Revolution. So I at least have a bit of a background to compare Boogie to. But my wife gave it a go too, and she had a worse opinion of it than me. The game is restrictive in that it only provides you with 4 basic movements (up, down, left right) in the same way as DDR does, but doesn�t have any set dance moves for you to carry out. The end result is that you feel kind of lost, not really sure whether you are doing the right thing or not. We went back to the tutorial, manual and online guides several times, because we were certain we must�ve just been �missing the point�. But no, there just isn�t a point.

Theoretically, the goal of the game is to make a serious of moves on the beat to fill up a meter to allow you to perform special combos and initiate the awesome sounding (but not) �strike a pose� feature (providing you have a nunchuck controller). As you go, you collect multipliers for hitting consecutive beats, which all contributes to your score. Pull off one of the combos, by holding the B button and doing a set sequence of moves, and you�ll get a heap more points. Once your meter is full, you can �strike a pose� which involves holding down the button on the nunchuck and then twisting your wrist awkwardly to move a cursor across a series of targets before the time runs out, whilst your character smiles awkwardly at the camera. After doing all that, hopefully you will have reached the desired score target, and you�ll get a medal�. Awesome. There is a really nifty video editing tool at the end of the game which was a lot of fun to play with, and I think kids in particular will have a great time with it.

So what happened to karaoke? Well, the Karaoke in Boogie is as relevant as the dancing in Singstar. For the bulk of the game, you don�t actually do any singing. In fact, during the normal course of play, the game will have the occasional �singing solo�, which requires you to push and hold the Z button in time with the singing�. WOW. No really, WOW. Conversely, if you want to do the singing, you have to go into karaoke mode where you can bellow out some tunes Singstar style. The Wii controller does actually move the character in the background while you sing, but it unfortunately doesn�t count for anything... so again, what�s the point?

Not all that different from most nightclubs on a Friday night

There is a story mode (if you can be bothered) which takes the characters through their story kinda like Dead or Alive, but without the bouncing. Hmmm� Dead or Alive Extreme Dancing with a Wii remote� Get on it Team Ninja!! But the story mode really just takes you through each song the same as if you were doing the normal modes, except that you�ll have the joy of unlocking another song at the end. Of course, given that all songs play exactly the same, that won� really matter to you. Random sequences of movements are random sequences of movements, no matter what song you do them to. That is the real crux of the problem with Boogie.

In a game like DDR, you either hit the step, or you don�t. You get points for hitting the beat, and you don�t get points if you miss the beat. It�s a simple, Yes or No, Did you, or didn�t you, you got it, or you didn�t. The challenge, and hence the fun, comes from having to perform a set pattern of moves. Your score is then based on your success at making those moves. The same song can have several difficulty levels by simply having more difficult moves. The other type of scoring system you might find is a game like Tony Hawk, or SSX Snowboarding. This scoring method requires combos of ANY move. The key to this system is that there are a heap of different moves, and that more advanced moves take better timing, and more button pushes. These games will generally score higher for more difficult tricks, and for not repeating tricks. So, what does this have t do with anything? Boogie has a control system the same as DDR, but with a scoring system from Tony Hawk. It doesn�t work. The game rates you on varying your movements ad your timing, but you only have FOUR movements to choose from. If Boogie wanted to be genuinely fun, they needed to either go DDR style and have the song with set dance moves, OR they needed to go completely free form and have the character mimic your moves. In the end, the game is a confused combination of the two, leaving the player feeling like they have no real control over the character�s movements. This, going back to the videos EA have been putting out, isn�t what you�d expect. I have no doubt that 5 year olds will love Boogie, and all the things that the developers chose to do will no doubt make it much more accessible to the younger set, but I think they�ve sold themselves short with what could have been a really fun game for all ages.

What really confuses me with Boogie, is the song list. The game is clearly aimed at sub 10 year olds, yet the song list gets the game a PG rating in Australia, and I would think many of the songs are aimed well into the Teens. Now, I�m not a parent, so I don�t know how much I�d care� but I�ve seen the video clip to Pussycat Dolls� Don�t Cha, and I wouldn�t want my 6 year old dancing like that! And whilst this game has edited versions of most of the songs, the originals have gold like, �I'll be burnin' rubber, you'll be kissin' my ass� (Pink, Get The Party Started), � hot & sweaty in this mu'*****� (Busta Rhymes� intro to Don�t Cha), �Ahhh shit, yeah, that's right, huh� and �Licorice whip gonna whip your ass� (RHCP, Love Rollercoaster ).. .and I don�t even wanna go into what Kelis� Milkshake is all about. Suffice to say, I wouldn�t pick this song list for my 5 year old.

Cheer up little ... um ... thing.

The real shame of all this, is that Boogie looks really nice. The choice of songs is great, the characters look fantastic and have a life of their own and the backdrops are wonderfully created. The whole package just oozes style; it�s just a shame that the game itself completely sucks. The thing that really ticks me off about this game is that some bean counter at EA is going to look at this title and conclude that there is no value in creating new properties and supporting new concepts. Boogie had a lot of potential, and I am sure will make a lot of kids have a lot of fun, but someone somewhere in the pipeline maybe over simplified, just a touch too much. EA, being EA you can bet there will be a sequel, and I just hope they put a little more focus into making the game more fun next time around.

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Final Verdict

Boogie had the potential to be a real �must have� game for the Wii, but falls disappointingly short. I am sure the developers tried something more complicated than four simple movements, but for whatever reason decided to keep it simple this time round. Whilst Boogie is easily one of the best looking games on the Wii, the over simplified game play means that the game falls short for anyone over 6 years old. For the rest of us, we�ll have to wait and see if a sequel brings us something a little more challenging.

Pros
Great song list. Fantastic style, imaginative characters and beautiful surroundings. Sure to be a heap of fun for the younger kids.
Cons
Bad cover versions of the songs! Dancing is repetitive and gets dull very quickly. Claims to be aimed at kids, yet the songs are more representative of a Teen demographic. Just isn�t fun.