Where it all started, but with a spin!
Beatmania is, like every other music game, incredibly simple in concept, but much more difficult to successfully execute. Right off the bat you know this game is going to be a challenge. The gameplay here is pretty standard: 5 (or 7) buttons and a turntable will be the active commands for the game. Option-setting and difficulty are controlled by the Start and Select buttons, respectively. I'll be honest: if you're new to this (and even if you think youv'e gotten the hang of it) telling the difference between the buttons as the little symbols come flying at you can be hard because while the 7 are all lined up onscreen, they are staggered on the controller which comes bundled with the game. This can be a bit aggitating, but it's just something that one gets used to over time.
Gameplay breaks into a few different modes bu the main attractions here are Game and Free. The game mode will allow you to play Arcade-style, in either "beatmania" (5-button) or "beatmania IIDX" (7-button, multi-difficulty) modes. The differences are in the songs available and, obviously, the type of play in each version. Any song you complete (pass or fail) will be added to your Free mode and you can go back to play it without any constraints (whereas in the Game mode you can only play 3 songs before the game ends). Beatmania's graphics are not exactly amazing. Guitar Hero proved that a rhythm game can still be very visually pleasing. Beatmania is...not so much with the visual splendor. The key and turntable cues are pretty boring and the videos to the side of the screen aren't exactly anything you have time to pay attention to. Still, the menus are quite stylish and while it's not the most visually exciting thing on the block, it gets the job done as well as is necessary.
The controller that comes backed in with this $40 (was $60) pack is quite a solid piece of work. Based on your experience in the arcade, your handedness, or your general comfort you can remove the button piece and switch it around so that the turntable is either on your left or y our right. This is great because I, personally, am used to the old BM games with the turntables on the right on both sides of the machine (as opposed to the new IIDX games with the turntables on the out-sides of the machine).
Disappointing, surprisingly, is the audio in this musical game. It's not that the songs are of poor quality or even that there is much wrong with the music chosen for the game... the biggest problem is just that there is so little here. Beatmania has been around for years and years, and somehow of everything they could have put into this game, they used a meager near-50 song tracklist, composed only partially of old BM tracks. Many were new, and some of the new ones SUCKED. I would have killed for .59 or R5 to be on this game. Sadly, no such luck. Perhaps I'll import a Japanes IIDX game.
Still, for what is here in this game, it makes for a very viscerally pleasing and enjoyably challenging game that hardcore rhythm game fans will probably enjoy. For casual music game hobbyists, Beatmania may not be what they had hoped for (or expected) and they would do well to go play at a friend's house before considering shelling out the cash for this bundle. Also, it would be great if it were easier to find a second controller for some Double or Versus play....