Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Britney's Dance Beat

Written by Matt Swider on June 12, 2002

Full Review: While the Mad Catz dance pad makes Britney's Dance Beat feel more natural, everything else about Britney remains totally fake.

It hasn't been too long since dance games were first introduced to the gaming market, however the few that have found their way underneath our bare feet have made the right moves into becoming part of our living room. Recently, arcades featuring Dance Dance Revolution have engrossed players to the point of exhaustion requiring them to repeat patterns of dance that seem all too simple, but actually complicated, especially for those uncoordinated individuals. While light guns and arcade sticks were the only accessories to make it to the home platforms before this, titles like Parappa the Rappa and Bust-A-Groove initiated the need for dance pads as part of the console equipment lineup.

With many hoping that this slight craze turns into a phenomenon, Mad Catz has taken the right steps by releasing a dance pad compatible with the PlayStation and PS2 dubbed the Beat Pad. With it, gamers are able to simulate moves just like in the arcade, brining the full effect of dance games to players at home. On the box of the pad is the featured game Britney's Dance Beat from THQ, which is an encouraged buy and 100% compatible. Picking up both the game and pad ensures that willing participants will have quite an experience whether they are successful in the game or not.

For Metro Graphics, the developers who were also behind of Bust-A-Groove, their key to success for Britney's Dance Beat is that the game should reach a mainstream audience who is otherwise unaware of the gaming dance craze. Introducing America's pop icon to this style of gaming should call attention to the genre, requiring future titles. Furthermore, those who don't enjoy the presence of Britney but aren't reluctant to give it a try should be please no matter what.

The game pits its participants as potential backup dancers for Britney. The entire thing is based off of auditioning for the sought after spot, so rather than actually performing as Britney, players will mainly dance as the flamboyant male and female dancers. Each audition is a competition against a rival competitor, where you must attempt to outperform them by hitting all of the necessary icons as the radar flashes which to press down on. While the PS2 trigger buttons of triangle, circle, x, and square are present on the keypad, it isn't a feature boasted by the game. Players will only need to use the four arrow buttons, but don't think you're getting away that easily with a choice of one of four. Combinations that require impeccable timing must be met, and losing an ongoing combo to one of these can be quite frustrating. To inspire a little more competition, players can send Tetris type garbage over to their competitor, causing the icons to switch at the last second or randomly pick at the last second.

Things like this mean big-time fun when it comes to two-player competition. If two pads are available when playing, get ready to rock any party, cause this game will be the life of the entire night. The only trick is to getting people to actually play the game. You may have trouble convincing some, but once a couple of anxious guests take on the challenge, it can go on all night long. At first, most truly suck at the game, to put it bluntly. Discouraging, yes, but it won't be a problem after about two, maybe three turns on the pad. They'll begin to understand what to do, allowing them to get the basic moves down perfectly during most cases.

While enjoyable to say the least, and highly addictive during parties, the note of downside is the fact that there are only five tunes with a couple of remixes to boast. Surely, Britney has a couple more hit songs, and due to the fact that there's only a handful here, listening to them becomes a bit repetitive. Nevertheless, people keep on playing and the fun never stops.

Britney's entrance into virtual reality is marked with a stunning 3D model delivering an uncanny resemblance to the pop singer. The fluid motions of the dancers set the tone of the game, performing moves that are taken straight from the Britney Spears music videos. The stage is surrounded with a variety of interesting facets, giving each stage its own unique look. Over the last year, many have made comments about Britney's supposed tendency to lipsinc to her songs. Well, there'll surely be jokes about the same issue in the videogame. It's not suprising that her voice doesn't exactly line up with the video displayed in the background. This won't present any sort of problem gameplay wise, in fact the only problem comes when Britney appears on stage dancing by herself or does a worthwhile move in the background clip, distracting every male participant.

A smaller unsettling distraction I noticed, is that sometimes the lighting effects from the stage can blend in with a couple of the arrow icons, making you loose focus for a brief second. This should ruin anyone's fun, except maybe if they're taking on a new record for the highest combo at the same time. Everything seen here doesn't push the power that PS2 can provide. Nevertheless it looks good and moves with great ease, and some poor souls are sure to be memorized by Britney's presence on screen no matter what.

In the end only truly dissapointing aspect found in Britney's Dance Beat has to be the fact that there's no more than five songs available to perform to. The total five include"...Baby One More Time," "Oops...I Did It Again," "Stronger," "Overprotected," and "I'm a Slave 4 U" don't add up to what we were looking for, and since Britney is the entire focus of the game, her full lineup of hits would have been appreciated. Despite this, each one is done to perfection with commands lining up with the beat of the song precisely. After completing each audition in the main page, players are treated to a special 360-degree real time concert with Britney and a chance to view a lot of behind the scenes footage of the pop star. While the amount of features is lackluster, this are made up for when you take into account what the two-player mode can provide it all adds up.