Off the shelf: Boogie

Boogie is currently exclusive to the Wii, delivering a unique combination of dancing (using wiimote waggling), singing (the player sings), and music video editing (player edits their performances). EA have taken a bold step into the fray currently dominated by Singstar.

With a set of characters called 'the Boogs', you can expect the game to be aimed at a universal (read kiddie safe) audience. It's very cartoony in style, very simplistic and easy to use. The storyline is typically thin and unimportant; this game was born for two things:

Fiddling in the single player situation and having a bit of a laugh in multiplayer with your mates. Something quite new to gaming though, has appeared. Music video editing! And why not, eh?

The choice of camera angle is reasonable for software of this sort, offering some good selections for beginners to editing. Some of the wipes are a bit childish (remember Homer Simpson and his 'Starwipes'?), covering the music video with hearts or stars. Others are more artistic and offer a more mature edit; making the music video appear old and tea stained, for example. One of the more interesting is the 3D effect which works if you're wearing 3D specs.

You can add as many cuts/edits as you like, which we're pleased with. This means that if you get bored of adding wipes and camera angles, you can just leave it there and the end of your video will look a bit plain.

The singing accuracy feels more awkward than Sony's Singstar, it has to be said. The mic is a big improvement on the Gamecube mic, but shorter than the Sony, making it harder to hold. In short, it's a good attempt and it is fun - the dancing adds to the interest and editing your own music videos is pretty bold as a new step. We think the seeds of a great idea are here and on first try, it's done reasonably well. Rhythm is very important in the dancing, and developing rhythm is a sure-fire game winner, if the huge run DDR has had is anything to go by.

However, it's not going to make people who already refuse to play Singstar break out the moves, nor will it defeat the former great singing title. We're hoping that Boogie 2, with a few tweaks and a better singing system, might be the sort of next step that dance and singing games have been waiting for. Not a bad game at all, but it's more of a step forward than a leap into the future.

Kim Kaze 3/5