Samba De Amigo Review

While rhythm isn’t one of my strong talents, I have always enjoyed the fun that can be had with playing any rhythm based games. What's even more fun is watching other people make complete fools of themselves and samba de amigo doesn’t disappoint.

Before I get on to the game at hand, let’s first have a quick refresher for all those who have only just heard about the series. So sit up straight and have a quick blast to the past with me. Back in 1999 Sega released this game on the Sega Dreamcast, with a unique control system being a pair of maracas. Nowadays this doesn’t seem much, but back then this was a unique selling point which allowed the game to be a cult hit. While the Wii version doesn’t have maracas, the Wii controller and the nunchuk seem to work fine.

The whole purpose of Samba de Amigo is that it is a rhythm based game in which you have to shake your maracas at different heights as blue spots go towards the six areas on your screen. To make sure your wrists don’t fall off while playing this game or to try and mix things up during a song, you will be asked to either strike a pose positioning your controllers on the correct points, or perform a dance move by shaking your controllers up and down to score more points. Using a nunchuk and a Wii controller will be the control of choice for most players, especially if you want some two player action. The major downfall of this is the lightness of the nunchuk makes it feel out of place, and having played the game with two Wii controllers your hands feel more balanced and easier to place in certain positions.

The game consists of a single player campaign mode putting you through your paces as you can start on easy or medium mode and eventually working your way up to the more difficult stages. While there doesn’t seem to be much of a step up from easy to medium you will soon find yourself cursing the nunchuk (if you are still using it) for missing beats and being in completely the wrong place at the wrong time. You will also have to learn how to move both arms in different directions and shake at the same time.

While the career mode will be what will take up most of your time on this game, you can also take a break from this and have a look at the other game modes which are available for you to play.

Love Love mode allows you to play with a computer player or a second player to work as a team to try and gain the best score possible. After the song has finished you will be given a rating depending on how in time you are with your partner, how long your bond will last and keywords to define your relationship.

There is also a battle mode if you want to show off your skills to another player., In this mode you are building energy for your bomb meter by doing combos. Once this is full you can use this to attack your opponent and sabotage their combos so they cannot attack you.

Survival mode gives you probably the greatest challenge in the game. In this mode you have to clear songs with the set number of mistakes allowed. If you reach this, the game is over.

There are also tons of mini games including guacamole, which is a whack-a-mole mini game. You have to whack the moles that appear to gain points. Obviously the more moles you whack the more points you get. Power rush is a game that test your speed and is really good for training when attempting some of the hard modes. Here you have to smash the rocks as fast as you can to get more points. Strike a Pose is a mini game testing your posing skills. Again the more poses you do the more points you get. Dance Dance Amigo is much alike to Strike a Pose, and tests your dancing skills again. The more dance moves you do the more points you get. Monkey see, Monkey do is a basic idea of the classic 'Simon Says' game. In this you have to watch the patterns and then repeat them.

While all of these mini games are good 5 minute time wasters, most of these you will probably only play once unless you really want to train you skills using the Strike a Pose and Dance Dance Amigo.

While the single player mode is good, it is the multiplayer which is so good that it shines past all the controller issues that you may come across during the game. This will keep you playing the game with a friend long after your thumbs go numb.

While the Song list is now double the original listing, most people will not know any of the more unique tracks played throughout the game, although you will soon remember hearing them at some point and really can’t resist the upbeat tempo as you stand in front of your telly flailing your arms around like a crazed monkey. With downloadable content on its way, it seems that this will grow and will also give more life to the game after you have beaten all the standard songs. We may even get song packs like Guitar Hero and Rockband.

Speaking of monkeys, the graphics are well presented if a little too bright and cartoony, which is a glorious mix of colour emitting from you TV as you play this game. Unfortunately for the player this barrage of colours may seem a little off putting. Most of the levels start off with you in a procession down a street or even on a stage like most Sega games, the sun is always shining and the sky is always blue. While there are a few Sega favourites in the background (Green hill zone to mention one), in most rhythm games this is really a waste of time as your too busy concentrating on hitting the beats.

There are a few controller issues that will get on your nerves, especially on the higher difficultly levels, but putting these aside the game itself is quite good. This game isn’t a challenger for the top spots of Guitar Hero or Rockband, but it is a nice and refreshing change from all the current games that are available on the Wii. Let’s just hope the downloadable content keeps up the good music as well as fun that this game offers.