Full Review

11 November 2006 - If B-Boy means nothing to you, then you probably won’t be interested in playing the game. But, if you’ve ever wondered about that whole hip-hop battle dance off thing, now is your chance to drop some moves without breaking your neck – or a sweat even.

B-Boy basically presents a breakdance battle game – just like many beat ‘em ups, you face characters in various competitions and show them what you’ve got. Only this time it is dancing, and it takes a little more than just slapping all the buttons. (Although to be fair, you can get quite some way with this technique.) You head out, bust some moves and see what happens. There are particular skills required in each contest, so there is some form to what you are doing.

You can customise your character to an impressive level, and then head off for training is your stylish warehouse pad. You can practice moves, check out the move book and fiddle with your laptop. The laptop is the key to the world, providing email, where you can watch video guides for various things, and receive an impressive amount of feedback. It also has your calendar where you fix up contests along with other features.

But what of the game itself? Well, Mrs Pocket-lint commented that it “was a bit gay”, not homosexual, but her question was really “what sort of guy will choose to dance, rather than beat the hell out of his mates?”. Succinct and to the point. Dancing is all very well, but if you really want to be part of the B-Boy scene, then you can find it for real; it is more difficult to find somewhere where you can put GTA into action (although not impossible).

On the gripes side, your dancer seems to be almost devoid of character, and the stereotypical hip-hop face offs become a little stale when you have seen the players getting in each other’s faces for a while. The laptop as a means of navigation is also a little primitive and could have been better thought out – it does the job, but there is little to get excited about.

The real killer here, and a BAFTA nominated killer, is the soundtrack. A lot of work has been put into making this sound right, and there are tracks to please any fan. As a piece of a lifestyle, it delivers some of the visuals and tunes, but overall, the game lacks the excitement of really being there and for us, not enough to compete for your hard earned money.

VERDICT
Overall though, a commendable effort, an original approach to producing something other than a gangster game and oozing with style from the b-boy scene. If you want to string together moves without killing yourself, this is probably the best way to do it.