FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
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Wed, 1st Nov 2006
FYI, this story is more than a year old

It's enough to make you dizzy just watching it… breakdancing . So now, for the more sedentary-minded of you out there, here's the electronic version of head-spinning and body-popping where you can break out your phat moves and not risk waking up in the morning with a sore back. Essentially B-Boy is like a fighting game where you must unleash the craziest combos against your opponent… the only difference is you never actually touch them. Maybe we are totally uncool – but we think this is a seriously niche game market. But even we can see that this is an impressive first stab at this kind of title, with over 40 of the world's real-life greatest B-Boys lending their support and likenesses to the game. The control system is bewildering at first, but soon makes sense. There are four base moves to which more moves can be added to make for throw down winning breakdancing, and more are earned whenever you beat an opponent. The moves list is enormous; there's plenty you can use to mix up your spot in the limelight, and they certainly look impressive - every last move has been captured from real pavement lickers, and the result is a richly animated game. Sequences of moves are pulled off to the rhythm of whatever tune is playing (all of which are top choices). Your B-Boy is surrounded by a ring of coloured blocks, and hitting the right block at the right time ensures a move is successfully incorporated into a throwdown. You have to be bang on with your timing as very little leeway is given, so if you're even a little bit out the game is probably a waste of cash.B-Boy is a novel concept, but is also limited in gameplay terms: dance, earn moves, dance some more, earn some more moves and climb up the respect ladder. A booming hip-hop and classic funk soundtrack means you can't help but bounce your head while playing (making you look that much cooler on your bus ride to school), but when the music stops you're left feeling that everything could have been a little bit slicker. It's fun while it lasts, but the novelty soon wears off. It's authentic, and paints the culture of B-Boying in a great light, but it becomes just a little too b-boring, too quickly.