Review: Boogie SuperStar (Wii)

Graphically speaking this sequel actually puts Gamestyle in the mind of the downloadable Korean developed game Audition, which itself is actually pretty decent fun. That in itself is a problem as the original Boogie, despite it’s flaws, had a unique look to it. Now you’d have a hard time picking the sequel out among a shelf full of very similar looking Pop Idol games, or indeed, an free online game.

On a more positive note, the dancing section of the game is actually halfway decent. Players move the Wiimote along with on-screen instructions and a handy two beat metronome that helps you keep in time. In most cases this actually works very well as long as you can keep in time with the beat. Later on as more complex moves are unlocked the more complex ones don’t seem to register as well as the earlier moves, and there are some cases where just randomly shaking the Wiimote will get the required response.

The karaoke mode however, just does not work.  In the original Boogie you could essentially get perfect points by just making random noises in to the microphone (works for most pop stars as well), while that seems to have been improved on in this iteration, everything else just doesn't seem to gel. While the song listing is suitable for the game ,the fact that they are all cover versions, and bad cover versions at that, makes it feel cheap and lazy. You would think EA would be able to afford to license at least a few of the original versions of the songs.  The song are also arranged oddly in the fact that certain instruments have been replaced by random beeps, and they’re also censored.  If you like Pina Coladas, don’t expect to be allowed to say that in the terrible cover of the Sean Kingston’s “Take You There.” It doesn’t help that the covers are butchering these songs (when you say that about Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” you’;re saying a lot), but censoring them as well just throws you off when you don’t get points for singing a line from the actual song that the cover doesn't have.

There is some solace in that the game starts you with around a dozen songs and the process of actually unlocking more is so dull and overly drawn out it’ll mean you never hear them.  Essentially completing songs earns you points, when enough points are earned and you unlock two songs by going up a level. It takes three rounds of singing and dancing to go up a level, and there are five levels of progressions for each of the games three different genres. Simply put it takes too long to unlock them, and if you’re hoping to quicken the pace with multiplayer, sorry, the fact that you earn less points in multiplayer than you do in single player means that the process takes even longer. Couple that with some odd choices, such as including songs you can only dance or sing in (why not both exactly) and it just makes the game less and less attractive.

Boogie SuperStar essentially has two parts. The decent dancing section and the horrible karaoke, and unfortunately the former doesn’t fully excuse the latter. Still if you’re into the songs you may gleam some enjoyment out of it, but don’t expect anything but a half-decent game at best.

Rating: 4 / 10

Words by Garry Webber