Samba de Amigo (Wii) Review
Samba de Amigo is one of those Wii games that people dreamed about happening when the Wii Remote and its unique functionality were first announced. A baton like controller that has motion sensitivity? Why not get two of them and bring the Dreamcast classic to the Wii? Well, thats exactly what Gearbox Software have done, the same Gearbox who are responsible for the Brothers in Arms games. Developed with SEGAs approval (of course), Samba de Amigo works well with the Wii to a degree, but there is a bigger problem in the Wiis hardware than the game itself.
Just in case you dont know about Samba de Amigo, its another one of those rhythm games in which players have to perfom some form of action, whether it be strumming, stepping or shaking to the rhythm in music. But Samba de Amigo is not any rhythm game, in fact it was around way before the advent of Guitar Hero & Rock Band, back in a time where specialised peripherals were commonplace. Back in 1999, when the original was release, Samba de Amigo came packaged with special Maraca controllers, but now the maracas are purely cosmetic with the Wii Remote powering the game. Believe it or not, it works! (To a point, though.)
The premise of Samba de Amigo is the same as other rhythm games shaking your booth and arms to music presented in game. However, there are a number of different modes included in the package. Modes from the original are here, as well as some new modes specifically tailored for the Wii version. The game can be played with either a Wiimore and Nunchuck, or two Wiimotes. Both control methods work very well with the game, but the Nunchucks tether might hinder your boogying. If you are lucky enough to pick up a set of Maracas with the Wimote, youll want to invest in another Wii Remote to experience the game at its fullest.
Regardless of what mode you are playing, in Samba de Amigo the gameplay is simple. Notes emanate from the center of your side of the screen (unfortunately, regardless of whether you are playing solo or not, you only get half a screen to yourself at all times). These notes travel and will hit either a high, middle or low note, in which you must either raise your arms, put them out to the side or drop them down towards your feet, respectively. On easier songs, you only have to hit in one position with each arm, but with harder difficulties it gets much more frantic with notes hitting multiple positions as well as random poses that you must hold being thrown in to mix things up. There are also red notes which appear very quickly, and requires you to shake the control as fast as you can to get more points.
While this sounds easy, you wont be able to jump into the game and play the game as simple as it sounds. The games tutorial mode, however, explains everything quite well and is a must see for people who havent played Samba de Amigo before, although this sadly loses the pickup and play nature of the title.
While the game provides a decent challenge in the lower two difficulties, Samba de Amigo really does work against itself on the higher difficulty levels. Although the modes provide a very decent challenge, they require the game to be played very clinically to reach each note. This really takes away the fun of the erratic movements that youll be having fun with on lower levels, and replaces them with drone like precision. You see, on easy mode you can go wild to pass levels, but on hard mode you have to play the game without style and without limbering up a bit! But thankfully, most of the games songs and bonuses can be unlocked without having to play the entire games, but if youre up to an insane (and perhaps frustrating) challenge then go the whole hog.
Samba de Amigo oozes style on the Wii, with the backdrops in which the game takes place being extremely busy with a ton of things going on at once. Of course, its a music game and the graphics dont really matter but the interface is clean, as is the play area.
So that brings me to the music, and being a music game you would hope the games music was up to snuff and thankfully, it is. The first thing we should establish here is that most of the tracks are covers, but as youll find out in the bonus clips of the game, a lot of effort has been put into recreating the music but with that Samba flavour in addition to the original tracks. The game features some typical Latin music youd expect, including the stuff in the original game, plus some extra tracks exclusive to the Wii version. It may seem pretty unconvincing when you boot up the game and dont recognise the songs by name, but we are almost certain you will by just listening, so dont fret.
The game really comes alive though, when you add a friend into the fray. Not only does the action fill up the entire screen, but since the game is pretty lax on being wrong, you can play as crazy as you like. Youll be able to pick up and play the game pretty simple and most people by now should have at least two Wiimotes and two nunchucks as a bare minimum to join in. There is a range of mini games and different modes to mix up multiplayer, aside from the main game to keep things going.
In talking about keeping things going, Samba de Amigo also supports downloadable content from the Wifi Connection, a unique trait for the system. For 500 points, you can pick up a three pack of songs, with one being available at the time of writing. SEGA assures us that there are two more planned for release, but some fridge cleaning will need to be done as they take up approximately 200 blocks of memory each.
Samba de Amigo adds another good addition to the Wiis already robust range. Its a competent single player game and a better multiplayer game. Sadly the game is let down by the technology driving it, specifically in the Wiimotes, and stops the game from ever reaching its full potential. However, were pretty sure you wont notice after a length play session that will no doubt induce arm numbing fun!
