When most of us think of a game centring around music we tend to imagine a rhythm game, its garish palette, the simplistic interface, vertical lines and symbols travelling up the screen. B-Boy has none of these things. The game departs from the regular mould set by others that choose rhythm as an integral to gameplay. Instead of the overtly simplistic design of most in this group, the game lies somewhere between a fighting game, Tony Hawk style trick based games, and a Bemani-type rhythm game. During your round, or 'throwdown' as it's known in breakdancing, There are multiple things that you have to concentrate on whilst laying down those ‘phat’ moves. To win a battle in B-Boy you must win as many medals during a battle as possible out of categories including, rhythm, the basics, combinations and creativity.
Some of the moves are pretty damn cool, and have to be seen in action to be fully appreciated.
Although B-Boy incorporates more than just rhythm and beat aspects it still holds a central role within the game. A circle of markers that indicate the beat appears around the base of your dancer, with a seperate marker showing where the rhythm it is up to. By pressing the R1 or R2 buttons along with the music as this markers travel around the dancer, a player can increase the length of moves, and also score higher points for keeping to the beat. Along with this it is important to begin each move on the same time as a beat for maximum score and effect. You also score points for variety and chaining moves along with creativity. The act of performing special moves is similar to a fighting game with its button combinations. This conglomeration of control schemes manages to work extremely well and although it takes a little while to fully master all that you are able to do in the game once you’ve figured it all out it’s relatively easy.
Your home base in B-Boy is your loft, and it is acts as the hub of all you can do in career mode. There is a practice area where you can choose which music to test out moves to, a move book which allows you to assign dance moves to certain controls and your PC. Through emails on this computer you can choose which ‘battles’ to accept, and receive one way communication from fellow B-boys challenging you along with tournament info. The ‘battles’ in B-Boy are really the only place where the actual gaming takes place. As you play through B-Boy the battles you are involved in become both more complex, in terms of difficulty and moves used, and slowly shift from street battles to full-blown tournaments. There are team battles too, and as you play through you will get the chance to pick up more members for your crew.
As you progress through the game you start doing club gigs. Damn sellout.
The rise to the top and getting noticed for your skills is what breakdancing is all about and B-Boy portrays these quite well. The character modelling in B-Boy is amazing and probably it’s best feature. Each spin, turn hop and groove is has been transferred from real world B-Boys to their virtual brothers and sisters. The developers have included an extensive list of real-world breakdancing moves such as windmills top-rocking and a plethora of others. Along with this, your opponents, who can also become your teammates are also well known breakdancers such as Crazy Legs and Mouse.
One of the best aspects of the game is it's soundtrack, with tracks ranging from DJ Shadow to James Brown, with plenty in between, like the Cool and the Gang. Freestyle Games has really made an effort to include liscensed music that is a different from the often overly commercial tracks on many titles released these days.
Gameplay can become quite tedious in B-Boy. Battle after battle the throwdowns not only become longer, but you'll probably find yourself needing to repeat a few after initial failures. There is little variety in terms of styles of play and the game can tend to begin to make you feel like your experiencing an extended episode of deja vu. This style might be conducive to the pick up and play/short bursts gaming style of handhelds, but on the PS2 it leaves you wanting more variety in terms style of gameplay. Along with this the story is sparse, and feels as though it was tacked on at the last minute.
The problem with a turn based game, such as B-Boy, in which you play against AI controlled characters is that you have to wait for them, just as they had to wait for you (it's only polite after all). To begin with it’s fun to sit back and watch your adversary either pulling off moves and transitions that your skill level hasn’t progressed to, or crashing on moves leaving you to triumph over him or her. As you progress through the game this soon becomes tiresome and the 45 seconds of each throwdown can feel like a hyperbolic eternity.
Another issue we found was with the camera. For a game that is relatively simplistic, in regards to the movements that the player is able to make around the field of play, it has some quite aggravating camera work. There are times when your beat circle is either obscured by a member of the crowd or is difficult to see as a result of being camoflauged in the background. This can be frustrating especially at higher levels when on mistake can cost you the battle.
All the battles quickly blend into one and deja vu begins to set in.
There are quite a few non-career mode styles of play, all seemingly aimed at those wanting a quick burst at the game or a multiplayer experience. Unfortunately the limited nature of career mode carries over to these features and its negative impact adds another level of disappointment. It is reasonably fun to battle against a friend however, and watching them complete their throwdown is far less painful than waiting for the AI controlled characters complete their’s.
At its best B-Boy is a great 'pick up and play game, great for handheld gaming, but average for the living room. The control scheme is reasonably good but the playing style feels like a series of the same minigame over and over again rather than a coherent experience, especially for those of us who have experience the spoils of the grand virtual worlds offered up by 21st century gaming. In short bursts the game is excellent, for extended periods of more than a few battles its tedium far outweighs the enjoyment it offers.
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