Boogie SuperStar

All boogied out

Usually labelled as the gaming world's most willing profit whore, and often guilty of bypassing originality in favour of shamelessly full-priced annual updates and dollar-squeezing sequels, Electronic Arts has enjoyed something of an innovation renaissance in 2008. However, while the likes of Dead Space and Mirror's Edge have emerged as brave new intellectual properties (IPs), the third-party publishing giant hasn't completely shook itself free of those old annoying habits.

Meet Boogie SuperStar. Arriving as the follow up to 2007's promising but ultimately flawed Boogie, EA's latest stab at interactive gameplay via a blend of dance and song offers up a plethora of pop tracks for players to warble through while the Wii's motion-sensing attributes channel real-life dance movements to cutesy on-screen characters.

Although customising a character before then singing and dancing it towards waiting SuperStardom is obviously the game's core focus, overall appeal is damaged substantially from the outset thanks to a surprising lapse in licensing prowess that gamers perhaps wouldn't normally associate with the all-powerful EA.

Specifically, Boogie SuperStar's hefty track listing of more than 40 songs is irrevocably tarnished as none of the original artists are in attendance. And, unlike the generally convincing cover versions utilised in other music games (the early Guitar Hero releases, for example), the insipid interpretations on show here are an instant turn-off for the casual female market the game is squarely aimed at.

It may be considered sexist to say Boogie SuperStar has been created solely for girls and women, but sadly it's true and is even openly reflected in EA's press blurb, which offers that "once performance skills are perfected, girls are ready to perform for a panel of judges in the ultimate competition, the Boogie Star Show." Who says strapping blokes the world over don't enjoy getting together and tearing up the virtual dance floor while belting out saccharin pop laced with wince-worthy electro beats. Who?

The overt sexism and lack of musical authenticity is punctuated by EA's similarly ill-advised decision to completely drop the first game's most appealing facet, it's visual flare. Gone are the unusual settings and amusing creatures throwing shapes in Saturday Night Fever outfits, only to be replaced by bland environments and a sickly pseudo American Idol and X Factor aesthetics that sees players struggling to craft anything other than media-perfect teen dolls with the limited character creation tools on offer.

In terms of gameplay, Boogie SuperStar remains faithful to its predecessor in both dual structure and the resultant disappointments attached to each. A sing and dance hybrid, players are able stretch their vocal chords in pub-karaoke style courtesy of the (mandatory) microphone accessory, while the Wii's motion-based strengths transfer movement to the screen in order to deliver representative dance steps.

The concept works beautifully in principle and, to be fair, the dancing aspect of Boogie SuperStar is generally pretty solid and is at least a streamlined alternative over last year's original. However, not just hamstrung by ear-grating cover vocals and plunking metallic adaptations, the karaoke portion is heavily flawed and is everything but a fun and enjoyable casual experience for all (the female members of) the family - which is exactly what the package is being sold as.

While fingers of accusation can be pointed at the bizarre lyrical censorship that lifts certain 'sensitive' words from song tracks, but doesn't remove the offending word's scoring pitch bar, which means players are still required to sing something to cover the gameplay gap, the actual points system is perhaps the most telling bugbear. This is largely due to an allocation method that scores every word sung as well as complete lines, which invariably means players will be complaining of unfair treatment should they repeatedly miss the odd word here and there despite emerging with line after line of supposedly top ratings.

Other annoying elements that have a tendency to either jab players in the throat or kick them in the shins, include the painfully slow unlocking of additional song tracks and the progressively more fiddly dance moves, which may promote annoyance and frustration respectively. In the case of the latter, players are initially given access to around 12 tracks, after which they then need to rack up points scores to slowly gain access to more. Sadly, while the general idea is to create a desire to engineer increasingly better performances in order to play more and more content, enduring the twitchy points system and restrictive song choice becomes such a laborious chore that many players will be reaching for the power button long before all the tracks are accessible.

With Wii Music and Battle of the Bands both falling flat on Nintendo's hugely popular home console, Boogie SuperStar could have found purchase with those casual party fans not looking to invest in the likes of Rock Band and Guitar Hero. However, with EA choosing to adopt cheap elevator imitations of pop and blindly ignoring basic gameplay glitches that sully the experience (single or multiplayer), it's extremely hard to recommend a series sequel that struggles to improve upon an already weak original.

58%

By Stevie Smith