Dancing Stage Megamix

Published by Konami
Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
Platform: PlayStation 2
Released - Out Now
Price : £29.99

Now this is an oddity, Deaf Gamers reviewing a title that has music as one of its key features. Well to be truthful we have reviewed a few games of this nature in the past, because there are some of you out there who might be interested in these titles. Previously when we've looked at any title such as this we have given a NR (not rated) as the overall game rating. It would be unfair to actually place a numerical rating, as most deaf gamers would avoid it anyway. Still with a meaty subwoofer and a dance mat these titles can be fun so let's press on.

The two games we looked at before, were reviewed with just the standard PlayStation 2 controller. This time however we decided to do it properly and purchase a dance mat. To anyone considering a game like Dancing Stage Megamix, which is the first Dancing Stage title on the PlayStation 2, we highly recommend that you do the same. These games are not meant to be played with a gamepad and in fact some moves are impossible with a dance mat (when you have to press left and right simultaneously for instance). With a dance mat it all becomes so natural and you'll be bopping away in no time. There is nothing to setting up the dance mat. You simply replace your controller with the dance mat and away you go, it's that easy.

Playing the game is easy but mastering it is something else. At the top of the screen you have the four stationary directional arrows. As the songs play you have arrows that move up the screen and pass over the corresponding arrows and the top of the screen. The idea is to put your foot on the appropriate arrow on the mat exactly at the point when the moving arrow is perfectly aligned with the stationary arrow at the top of the screen. If you manage to do this correctly you'll either get a 'Perfect' text message or a 'Great' text message. If you almost time it right you'll get an 'Almost' text message whilst completely making a mess of it will earn you a 'Boo' text message. It may seem simple but once you move on the more complicated songs with their increased beat rate it becomes very difficult and you'll really have to be a twinkle toes to pull all of the moves off. Above all though it's fun and that is the most important thing of all.

There are three game modes for you to play. There is the game mode, workout mode and lesson mode. The game mode can either be played as a single player game, a versus game against a friend or you can play on two dance mats if you're able to move liked greased lightning. The workout mode is great if you want to lose some calories (more on that later). The lesson mode is split into three categories with each category split into eight lessons. The tutorial messages are all given in text so there's no problems here. There are even onscreen feet to show you how you should be standing on the dance mat.

Whilst graphically it looks superior to the PSone Dancing Stage games, it's not the type of game where a lot of graphical power is called for and the fact that the visual improvement is not too much is completely understandable. The backgrounds range from animated dancers to cell shade images and they all look good. There is a lot of multi-coloured flashes though so if you this kind of thing gives you problems then bear this in mind.

Whilst deaf gamers probably won't be able to appreciate the music content, unless of course you have a good subwoofer and your neighbours don't mind bouncing to the beat too, it is worth mentioning that you can use these games as exercise workouts. You can even input your personal statistics and calculate how many calories you are burning. I even tried to trick the software by not moving to see if it still took calories away and it didn't so you can be assured it is monitoring your movements as it should.

It has to be said that deaf gamers are probably not going to be purchasing this title for the same reasons as hearing gamers (for the latest music etc.) but that's not to say that fun can't be had with Dancing Stage Megamix, particularly when coupled with a dance mat. As an exercise tool it's fantastic and I found it very enjoyable (and I don't like dancing).

Overall Game Rating: NR
It would be unfair to place a numerical rating on a game where one of it's main features is the music. Still with a dance mat it can still be great fun for deaf gamers. It's a great exercise tool too.

Deaf Gamers comment:
The tutorials are given in text and there is some text feedback to let you know how well you are doing. There are some unsubtitled comments though but these cause no problems. Even a handful of the songs display the lyrics onscreen as you play.