Saturday 14 August 2010

Djmax portable black square RE

gamespot score:N/A

my score: 8.8

(+)Pros:- full of hardcore songs that are more suited to many players,- challenging level of difficulty will appeal to veterans,- club tour is a great way to prove your skill, - many songs have multiple difficulties such as MX and RD,- more songs than clazziquai edition.

(-)Cons:- may be too damn hard for beginners,- auto correct sucks.

gameplay time: 100 hours+( very long lasting)






So yes! Here we go again, djmax portable black square review re-do version. This was supposedly supposed to be released along with clazziquai, but I dont know what the hold up was it ended up being released 2 months later. Anyway, being the 4th djmax portable release, it holds some level of expectations, and well, they are met. Black square is by far my favourite djmax portable game as a whole, it provides a great array of music, a challenging difficulty level, and an incredibly difficult and frustrating club tour that is very satifying once you clear it.




Just like all djmax portable games, there is not story. But like in clazziquai edition, there is a club tour mode in black square, that serve as sort of a "story mode". Unlike in clazziquai where the club tour is ridiculously easy and would be skipped by some players, black square's club tour is sure to provide a challenge, to newcomers and veterans alike. Like before you go from club to club to play songs and meet requirements until you reach the end. And like before club tour is to unlock songs, so its quite compulsory.




Djmax black square's presentation stands out quite abit, but its really nothing compared to clazziquai edition. In clazziquai the colours were bright and would have caught the attention of many, in black square, the colours and presentation seemed more simple. Anyway, I'll say this, up to date, black square is the hardest djmax on PSP. The songs have some ridiculous levels and many of them haves MX modes. 8B has been re-included, and has some monstrous songs to play. Club tour is the exact opposite of clazziquai edition, its set to kill, not to prep babies. Yeap, djmax black square is the djmax veteran's dream.


Djmax black square's gameplay mechanics remain mostly the same as before, with some new tweaks. The game play modes are nothing special, it has 4B, 5B, 6B, 4BFX and 6BFX. 6BFX is an outer cover, really, its just 8b in djmax portable 2. And like in clazzi, during gameplay the fever bar is to the side, but as usual you can shift it to the center. Your choice. Also, now theres a new green note feature. When you hit the green note, you get extra points, which is cool, but if you miss, the BGM stops for awhile. Its kinda.... weird to play without BGM so your job as the player to hit the green note. It only comes once in a few notes so its nothing to worry about. The song selection in black square is suberb, there are many amazing songs in here, fury, desperado, space of soul and more, the song list doesnt fail to impress, plus the difficulty set here is for veterans, so songs will feel at least a bit challenging, compared to clazzi. Difficulty in club tour wise, you can expect something like djmax portable 2 extreme missions, the last few ones.




Flaws wise, djmax portable black square wont have much. The only BIG ASS FLAW with it is....wait for it....yes....auto correct. AUTO CORRECT SUCKS, its a damn retarded thing they decided to put into the game. What issit for? I dont know, it just sucks. Basically, its like this, whenever during gameplay, a note comes down on the right, you hit a button on the left, you should have missed, but the game counts it as a hit. Wtf? So yes, you can basically spam through a lvl 14 song, making it sound terrible as hell and missing like fk, but still come through alive. Its so stupid really, it ruins the game. And well the other flaw may be that it will be abit too difficult for newcomers.


Black sqaure is overall a success, to me anyway. The difficulty is great, there are even songs I cant clear now ( im looking at you, beat you down MX). Those are decently good at music games can give this a spin and enjoy it. Newcomers to the series shouldnt start here, its too hard, but theres always easy mode.




Happy gaming!