The Black Eyed Peas Experience review
So, two reviews, two dance games. How did that happen? This time it’s ‘The Black Eyed Peas Experience’, a game full of BEP songs in case the title didn’t give it away. Not a massive fan? Me neither, but I bet you know at least a couple of their songs if you actually think about it.
Like all dance games you can hop right in and get your groove on to one of the BEP’s 28 songs featured in the experience, including ‘Boom Boom Pow’, ‘Shut Up’ and even the one about Fergie’s bum if you fancy. I’m not the bands biggest fan, but I knew 12 of the 28 songs that come on the disk which was more than I was expecting. However one song that I do know and which I was expecting to make an appearance, ‘Where is the Love?’, is for some reason missing. I’m thinking future DLC track here.
As you scroll through the songs, each is given a difficulty rating from casual to skilled, on to professional and ending with legendary. You can guess what I started with. Yes right at the bottom of the dancing ladder! The Dance Party mode is pretty much exactly the same as any other dance game you could possibly buy, do it by yourself or with friends, have a bit of a boogie and laugh at those with less co-ordination than you.
Alongside the basic dance mode is a feature that sets the game aside from others is the Deluxe Experience, which is the games very own career pathway. Starting off as a nobody, the aim is to get as many followers as you can. You do this by mastering songs, with the more points earned attracting a large number of followers. The more followers you get, the more venues you unlock or upgrade, as well as the more options you get to dress your avatar. During your career you get taught to dance by caricatures of the BEP members, who look more like wannabe superheroes!
The ‘tutorial’ in the Deluxe Experience mode is actually really helpful. The song is broken down into three sections, with three moves in each. One of the BEPs will do the dance move a couple of times before you have to join in, then you mirror what they are doing. Each section has a number of moves you must complete to pass the stage before moving on to the next set of 3 moves. On the casual difficulty, I passed each stage first time every time (which for me is pretty impressive), and there are some nice basic moves to being with, although it does get pretty energetic at some points. You get to practice the moves quite a few times before the final performance, but if you find you’re still struggling on one or two of them, you can chose to practice them even more without interrupting the count of the moves you’ve passed already with a simple squish of the hand, before going back to wherever you were in tutorial stage.
One you’ve passed each of the three stages the whole routine is then performed. At the end of the performance you get graded, and the better you do the more followers you get. If you don’t pass a set number of moves in the final performance then you have to start the routine again.
Your game in the Deluxe Experience will start at a specific venue which will then be upgraded once you hit that magic number of followers, with more venues being unlocked the further in to the game you get. There are also random challenges that pop up from the BEPs. For example, ‘get x number of ‘Incredible’ ratings in this song’ being one of them. If you pass you unlock some goodies, if you fail you get another go. There doesn’t seem to be any negative consequences, and if you fail a second time the challenge can be found in the ‘My Dancer’ section along with the avatar customisation.
One other main selling point of this game is that you can pick and choose moves from each song to create your own unique dance routine to any of the songs. You can store up to 99 of these ‘homemade’ routines to challenge your friends, or even pick the most energetic moves and dance over and over to get fit if that’s more your thing.
Overall I loved playing The Black Eyed Peas Experience, even though I didn’t know more than half the songs. The BEPs music makes you want to dance; you have to mirror a dance move before you can even get to the game’s menu! However, this is probably a title more for the fans of The Black Eyed Peas. That said, the actual set up of the game is great, with the quick Dance Party and the more involved Deluxe Experience two modes that will keep you dancing . It has that ‘one more go’ pull, making you want to pass that song, challenge or unlock venues and clothes before you turn it off.
Maybe a band with a greater choice or variety of songs would have been a better choice, such as the previously released Michael Jackson Experience. Young and old like a bit of Michael, BEPs are probably more for the younger audience, but for those who are fans it’s certainly a title to pick up. I think I might have to suggest a ‘Queen’ Experience. Now that would be a game I would go out and buy!
