I really wanted to like EA's Boogie for the Wii. I really, really did. I had high expectations for this game. I wanted to dance and sing my heart out. While I'm no pop star, I had really hoped to strut my stuff in the privacy of my own living room. Instead, what I did was sit on my sofa lazily swinging my Wii remote this way and that way, trying to keep more of a tempo to the song than actually dancing and trying to "hold a note" as long as the little meter on my screen needed me to instead of singing myself silly. Where is the fun in that?

Oh, how sad I am. The potential was there. This should have been a great game. This should have been the love child of Dance Dance Revolution and Karaoke Revolution. This should have been what people were playing at parties. This should have been what made grown men sing "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Fergalicious" in front of other grown men. It should have been what made moms shake their groove things right next to their daughters. What went wrong? I honestly think they tried to make this into more than it should have been. There should have been no story mode. There should have been no overly complicated plot involving a ninja sensei cat creature and aliens from other planets. What was the story about you ask? Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I was just trying to unlock more songs and instead I unlocked clothing and accessories, another aspect that didn't need as much attention.

I could sit here and go through all the mechanics of game play to give you an idea of what the "feel" of the game is. But what would be the point? To break it down for you purists out there who wouldn't consider it complete without it - you move or "bob" the Wii remote in a certain direction to make your character dance. You get points for dancing. As you hit all the right moves, a.k.a. stay on beat with the song, your character can perform special moves, which also have to be done to the beat of the song or they don't work and kill your meter. The singing is scored kind of like Doney Konga was - hit the right "note" at the right time and voila - higher score. The game comes with the microphone that you need to use, but it's responsible for the games high price. The singing aspect wasn't horrible, but the song selection left a little to be desired.

There are two aspects to the game, story mode and a free play mode. The story, as I have previously mentioned, is shallow and unappealing to pay attention to. There are five characters' stories to play through. Each character consists of five "levels" of singing or dancing you must beat. You have to beat a certain score to pass on to the next level. It unlocks stuff when you complete each story. In the free mode you get to sing or dance to the song of your choice and with the character of your choice.

What I would change about the game? In a word, everything. This game would need to be remade from scratch in order to have any promise. It would have been much more fun had you gotten to build your own look alike character, or use your Mii from the Wii console. The dancing should have involved more dancing somehow and the singing should have been more fun - without so much of the meters and scores. Perhaps, just an added "free" mode where the purpose was to purely sing like in a Karaoke bar? I don't know exactly what could have made Boogie more fun to play - it isn't my job to develop games. I could speculate all day long. What I do know is that no one is going to want to pay the $60 it costs to buy it and be disappointed like I was. You'd have more fun turning your iPod on and dancing around the living room to that music, to whatever beat you want and however out of tune you want. No beats to keep, no tunes to match. No striving for perfection. After all, isn't that really the point of karaoke - to make complete fools out of our imperfections, having fun all the way? More thoughts follow.

More Thoughts on the Game's Rating

What is with the ‘E10' rating on this game?! I don't want my daughter dancing around my living room singing ‘I'm a Slave 4 U" or singing anything about all the boys in the yard thinking anything about any part of her. And what if my son starts to inquire why they are calling that girl a "brick house?" Or worse, goes to school and tells his teacher she is a brick house when I am forced to lie and tell him that calling someone a brick house means you think they are really cool and smart. I know my daughter is a mere 5 months old and my son only 3 and I want to protect them from the wicked ways of the world or what not, but come on! They gave Donkey Konga 2 a ‘T' rating for far less than this. Just who makes up this ratings board of people?! What were they thinking? Were they thinking at all? Not to mention the fact that most younger kids can't read to sing the lyrics anyway... it at least needed a T rating... oh well...

Oct 8, 2007 | 2 comments
Lauren Rasco