Another female-esque game and a man to sing and dance to it, will I enjoy it? What do you think?
In Boogie SuperStar, players don’t just play along, they are the star of the game. Girls will have a blast belting their favorite tunes into the microphone, and performing real dance moves that are captured on screen using the Wii’s motion-sensing technology. The journey to stardom doesn’t have to be a solo! With two- and four-player modes, girls can play with their friends, sing and dance with their friends or against them in fun competitions that show-off their singing and dancing talent!
Players begin the game by customizing their character, choosing from millions of possible combinations to create a performer that is as unique as they are. They are then “discovered” and whisked away to an island where they learn what it takes to be a star. While on the island, players build their singing and dancing skills, performing in posh environments fit for a rising star, including a studio, a poolside stage, a breath-taking terrace, and a yacht. Once performance skills are perfected, girls are ready to perform for a panel of judges in the ultimate competition, the Boogie Star Show! Only the best and the brightest will be able to outshine the competition to become a Boogie SuperStar!
I had a bit of fun with the original Boogie, but there was one side I hated about it…the dancing. The sequel unfortunately tends to lean more towards that than doing a karaoke type game like they did before, oh you can still sing to songs but only in competitive modes against AI or human players, it feels a bit redundant and the song choices aren’t the greatest either. Oh sure you have some well known ones like Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis but then you have others that I don’t even know. I’m also not 100% sure if they are the real deal or covers, I know what I would bet on but can’t be certain.
The game uses the Wii Remote to dance to the song in the background, there’s two dots on the middle of the screen and another that swings between them to keep in beat. Essentially you need to do the right moves in conjunction with the song, but some moves aren’t recognised as well as you’d hope and others are just silly to even attempt, sometimes you can even get round a move by just swinging the remote around…it’s not really that accurate, I can’t wait to see if the next instalment includes MotionPlus or not.
After a performance you’ll be given a score and then some currency to spend on clothes and makeup for your character, it seems a little shallow and petty to be honest. I would have preferred the original formula so you can choose to dance OR sing as a main thing, instead of focusing more on one than the other. It’s not fair to those who can’t dance (such as myself) and would prefer to shout it out loud, but of course we now have many games like that such as Singstar, Lips, Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Boogie doesn’t really stand out from that crowd, nor is the dancing that revolutionary or even memorable. It’s one of those games that you’ll play for 5-10 minutes and then probably never play again.
Graphically, it looks fairly average. Character models are a bit blurry but they are animated well, having said that…this is one game where visuals don’t matter that much, you won’t be paying much attention to it…just the prompts to sing or dance, although its mostly dance. The game isn’t much fun solo, so for it to be fun you need someone else who probably has either a remote or a microphone to do a duet and since I didn’t get that chance, I can’t confirm if it’s that fun or not.
The Verdict
Boogie Superstar is an instantly forgettable game that has a few good songs but mostly bad ones that I don’t even know. Making the change from a 50/50 split between singing and dancing to mostly dancing is a bad choice and one that I think they will regret, although this game doesn’t necessarily appeal to the likes of me…I can imagine young girls will like it, however briefly. I would recommend avoiding it and waiting for a much improved version that detects moves better and has more emphasis on singing.
