One of the most intriguing new forms of entertainment has already made a successful splash on the Playstation.

There isn\'t a catchy name for this new Playstation genre yet, but titles like PaRappa The Rappa, Fluid and now Bust A Groove prove that bringing music and videogames together is a very potent formula. Originally created and published by Enix in Japan, Bust-A-Groove (formally Bust-A-Move in Japan) takes the simple tapping gameplay from Parappa the Rappa and created a bonanza dance-a-thon that lifts the dance-sim game to new levels of fun and dancing pleasure. <br><br>Bust A Groove, like PaRappa before it, concentrates more on the rhythmic side of things. Featuring ten highly clourful characters, the aim is to choose one, and then take him or her through a series of dance offs with other characters (That\'s right, just like a beat-\'em-up) Success depends upon how accurately you can enter button combinations in time to the music (all based on four beats a bar). It\'s a simple idea, and while we\'re on the idea of simplicity, I might as well get my one criticism out of the way. In order to win you have to perform better moves than your opponent. But throughout the course of a single song, the available moves are force fed to you via on-screen prompts. At times you\'re given choices of more than one move, but ultimately, even once you\'ve mastered a character\'s moves (all 40 of them) there\'s no real opportunity to go off on one and freestyle your opponent into the ground. This is why the term dance-\'em-up is a misnomer. But the merits are so plentiful, we can ignore this and hope they rectify it for the sequel. <br><br>There are so many good things about Bust A Groove, it\'s hard to know where to start. The characters are by turns, cool and hilarious-characteristics that are often greatly enhanced by the gob-smacking animation. Apart from their own unique dance style, each character has his or her own special moves-such as finishing moves, win and lose routines and so on. And while the range of these moves is impressive enough, they\'re rendered all the more gob-smacking by the perfect motion capture employed. The movement is flawless. <br><br>As is the overall look. There\'s not a polygon in sight-well, there are plenty, in truth, but you can\'t actually see them. The characters are so perfectly rounded, solid and smooth, there are no edges, no break-up, nothing. Graphically, it\'s a peach. The graphics are great but the real appeal of Bust A Groove is the music. Couched in modern MTV-style presentation with scratchin\', sampled sounds, and a quick visual takes, Bust A Groove provides gamers with a gaggle of dancers, each with wonderfully outrageous costumes that best represent their style of dance and music, be it Vogue, break-dancing, disco, Capoeira, hip-hop, jazz, J-pop, or funk. The game is exceptionally well choreographed and skillfully motion-captured to bring a sense of realism and art to each dancer. <br><br>Bust A Groove\'s original tunes, without exception are as hummable, singable, rappable and toe-tappable as any bunch of songs on a music CD. Taking in elements of hip-hop, pure pop, funk, soul, techno, high energy, with a nod towards Macarena and the inclusion of a screaming metal concoction the breadth of music on offer is very impressive. And most of the songs are highly embellished with highly amusing lyrics mostly sung by the characters. <br><br>Other interesting features are the Dance Fever bonuses, awarded to dancers who perform exceptionally well in a particular dance, the linking combos, and the different choices or paths during each dance. Bust A Groove features solid options, a Dance Edit mode (in which players pre-set dance moves in advance), and a great practice mode. Due to the game\'s simplistic command system, no analog or dual shock features are available or needed; this game work just dandy in digital.<br><br>The greatest thing about Bust A Groove is when you\'re playing it (even though your a complete sprout on the real dancefloor) you feel like the coolest dude in the world. It\'s not the deepest game in the world, and so much more could have been done to make it a greater challenge, but at the end of the day, it\'s a glorious mix of great music, rhythm, entertaining characters, humour and dance moves that you\'re only ever going to pull off via a joypad. <br><br>Bust A Groove is one in a million, it\'s a great title that everyone should try. Stating the obvious, this game is terribly unique and there is nothing like this on Nintendo 64 or on the PC. I absolutely love the game\'s library of musical sensibilities, and all of the songs are truly danceable tunes that I can listen to over and over again. While it may not appeal to some, others will love it\'s madcap humour, superb graphics and thumpin\' tunes. <br> <br> <br> <br></P> <br /> <P><a href=\"mailto:bribrad@eircom.net\">Noel Brady</a></P> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p> <p>  <br /> <br /> <br />