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IGN Preview of Pop'N Music
If you're like most Americans, you have no earthly idea what Pop'N Music is, but that's not true for the citizens of every country on the planet. See, while many have never heard of this franchise -- it's been around since 1998 -- it seems that these games have been tearing up Japan with music, dancing, and gameplay.
Now, it's ready to make the leap to America in the form of Pop'N Music for the Wii.
Gameplay is pretty simple. When you start a game, you'll choose one of the available songs (there were nine covers in my demo including "Virtual Insanity," "Love Shack," and "A.B.C."), an arena to play in, a character to play as, and then get kicked to a screen with five circles that each have a direction on them. From left to right, it's an arrow pointing right, an arrow pointing down, two arrows pointing tip to tip, an arrow pointing down, and an arrow pointing to the right.
As the song starts, bubbles begin to descend straight down from the top of the screen. As these bubbles cross the line of arrows, you need to move the nunchuk or Wii-mote in that direction. See, the nunchuck controls the directions on the left side of the screen and the Wii-mote controls the directions on the right side.
Get it? It's like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but this time there are movements instead of colored buttons.
The directions are adding snare drum beats or whatever sound you chose before the level, so it's not like missing a bubble cripples the song you're listening to. As you play, you're raking in combos and filling the "Groove Gauge" at the bottom of the screen. In the end, you're scored based on how well you performed the tune of choice.
There are 14 adorable avatars to choose from like a lion, and as you succeed or fail, the character's face reacts on the screen -- the avatar is behind the bubbles whacking along with your movements.
I played in the Special DJ Club -- there were other levels such as a Haunted House, Kid's Playground, and Future Disco -- and everything was very colorful and bright. I mean, this game is not skimping on the Technicolor rainbow. The avatars reflect this with a simple, cartoon-like visual style. As I got going, it seemed like the movement controls were a bit iffy; often it would register a down when I was trying to go right and so on. Still, it didn't mess me up too bad because there weren't many bubbles coming in rapidly. I had time to get to the correct movement. Still, I'd like to see it tightened up by release.
Pop'N Music doesn't have a firm ship date yet, but it's sure to catch the eye of Wii owners who might not be old enough for Guitar Hero or who are intimidated by Rock Band. Keep an eye on IGN Wii for updates.
©2009-07-27, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Now, it's ready to make the leap to America in the form of Pop'N Music for the Wii.
Gameplay is pretty simple. When you start a game, you'll choose one of the available songs (there were nine covers in my demo including "Virtual Insanity," "Love Shack," and "A.B.C."), an arena to play in, a character to play as, and then get kicked to a screen with five circles that each have a direction on them. From left to right, it's an arrow pointing right, an arrow pointing down, two arrows pointing tip to tip, an arrow pointing down, and an arrow pointing to the right.
As the song starts, bubbles begin to descend straight down from the top of the screen. As these bubbles cross the line of arrows, you need to move the nunchuk or Wii-mote in that direction. See, the nunchuck controls the directions on the left side of the screen and the Wii-mote controls the directions on the right side.
Get it? It's like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but this time there are movements instead of colored buttons.
The directions are adding snare drum beats or whatever sound you chose before the level, so it's not like missing a bubble cripples the song you're listening to. As you play, you're raking in combos and filling the "Groove Gauge" at the bottom of the screen. In the end, you're scored based on how well you performed the tune of choice.
There are 14 adorable avatars to choose from like a lion, and as you succeed or fail, the character's face reacts on the screen -- the avatar is behind the bubbles whacking along with your movements.
I played in the Special DJ Club -- there were other levels such as a Haunted House, Kid's Playground, and Future Disco -- and everything was very colorful and bright. I mean, this game is not skimping on the Technicolor rainbow. The avatars reflect this with a simple, cartoon-like visual style. As I got going, it seemed like the movement controls were a bit iffy; often it would register a down when I was trying to go right and so on. Still, it didn't mess me up too bad because there weren't many bubbles coming in rapidly. I had time to get to the correct movement. Still, I'd like to see it tightened up by release.
Pop'N Music doesn't have a firm ship date yet, but it's sure to catch the eye of Wii owners who might not be old enough for Guitar Hero or who are intimidated by Rock Band. Keep an eye on IGN Wii for updates.
©2009-07-27, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved