The Black Eyed Peas Experience Reviews

  • phatal1typhatal1tyThis gamer has had their achievements removed from the site
    22 Nov 2011 22 Nov 2011
    16 2 1
    The Black Eyed Peas Experience

    Gameplay:
    The game has two main components a Dance Party mode which is where you can dance solo or dance battle with friends and able to peruse the small setlist at your leisure.

    The other half is the Solo career mode otherwise dubbed "Deluxe Experience mode" this is where each song is broken down in to four dances, the first three teach up to 3 moves (one unlocking the next) and the final dance is full routine. While this is a nice hand holding way of doing things, hearing any Black Eyed Peas song four times in a row back to back will test your will power to live. So its a good thing you can do these at your own pace.
    You are randomly offered challenges (ala rockband style) during the career mode to unlock even more outfits and accessories for your in game avatar these are optional but why anyone would decline I'm not sure as there seems to be no consequence for failing.

    There is also a choreograph mode which seems like a good idea... with fairly brilliant execution and the ability to share routines it schools Just dance 3 how to do it right. The dance move search while novel doesn't really work. But as an end user I'm not looking for this function or needing it.

    Handling
    The thought of another artist specific Kinect based dance game published by Ubisoft was enough to turn my stomach after Michael Jackson; The Experience but I was pleasantly surprised this was alot closer in handling to Dance Masters which I thought was very fair and tracked very well for a kinect launch title.
    One year later and a change of developer The Black Eyed Peas have pretty much made up for all of Michael Jacksons short comings. this time it breaks down each move (maybe more than necessary) and shows you what you need to do to get it right.
    I would say this is bordering on easy as its very forgiving and with about 9 moves to a full routine its very simplistic (perhaps overly so). I can S rank just about any song sight reading, and A rank without putting in effort.

    The vocal portion not mentioned till now since its really not even worth a mention doesn't really work and doesn't really count.. it doesn't add anything to the gameplay and pretty pointless... there is vocal track as soon as you turn on a mic but with no pitch indication its hard to use and with most games rap doesn't translate all that well in music games as a whole.
    its pretty disappointing as this is developed by iNis who bought us Lips one of the best and most underrated karaoke games around

    Graphics, Sound and Camera/Control:
    This game much like MJ is pleasant to look at, even pretty at times... the cut scenes are cool, out there and entertaining
    But more importantly the on screen dancers and cue cards for upcoming movements are spot on this time... I would go as far to say it out does dance central in terms of clarity and execution.
    It even shows the back of your in game avatar for those who find it hard to translate mirror image movements
    The one minor gripe I have is the menu system at first it wasn't clear but once (though some trial and error and learning) you pick it up its becomes obvious and functional even.
    The sound... well its Black eyed peas, after two hours with this game I realized I'm not really a fan of their music... as there were about four tracks I went in knowing and the rest I was fairly impartial to nothing stood out to me as anything I needed to have on my Ipod. (YMMV)

    Content:
    So to compensate for the seemingly short setlist there is alot of make work dance routines and with the amount needed to grind out the achievements and the sporadic challenges this seems like a decent length but without the added element of gamerscore the game finds itself lacking anything to sink your teeth in to.
    With only a handful of backgrounds its doesn't come close to Michael Jackson on stage design.

    Multiplayer:
    The drop in/drop out seems to work just fine, nothing ground or game breaking I would recommend staggering yourselves when playing coop as the room required can be quite large for some routines.
    The PR tag lines are a little misleading as its 2 player dance + 2 player vocal tracks... while that is mathematically equal to 4 player co-op its not the 4 player dancing side by side that it sounds like.

    Achievements:
    While the majority of the Achievements are in Deluxe Experience mode this was a much better thought out list than most dance games, the flaw is the grind factor... with the short setlist this makes it seem twice as long as it really is (**edit i will update later as to the length of the game for 1k**)

    Conclusion:
    If you like the Black eyed peas this should be a fairly easy decision to buy. As far as the rest of us this is easy enough to justify an eventual pick up and it really is quite well made with good looking interface (once you overcome the awkward menu) Its overly simplistic but fun routines.
    And for new comers in to the Kinect dance I would say this is an nice entry level game if you don't mind the single artist setlist
  • Darth TromDarth Trom712,624
    20 Nov 2011
    4 5 1
    Black Eyed Peas: The Experience

    7 out of 10 rating

    A surprisingly well done game by Ubisoft. After spending many hours this past week working on progress and achievements, I have found myself enjoying the game. Of course, if you do not enjoy the Black Eyed Peas music or dancing to Kinect games, this game will not appeal to you as that is entirely what this game is.

    Pro's
    1. Opening title screen sets the mood to dance.
    2. Variety of Black Eyed Peas songs from their roots to now.
    3. Good graphics (on par with Dance Central).
    4. Good dance tutorials / break it downs (with a special slo-mo feature) to help you learn the moves before you dive into the whole song.
    5. Fun dance material. Easily a good and fun workout as it will get your heart going to some upbeat music.
    6. Creative challenges to add to the progress you already get by going through the game.
    7. Attainable achievements if you are willing to put in time (over 600 points with more to pop in my first week).
    8. Overall good body recognition system (not perfect, but much better than some other dance and exercise games).
    9. Can be done in coop mode with up to four people playing in party... 2 in dance and 2 on vocals.

    Con's
    1. Difficult to figure out how to line up challenges (seems pretty random on how they get chosen as you cannot line up your own challenges; you have to wait for them)
    2. On the Karaoke side, there is no pitch runway to show you the highness/lowness of the pitch. You are only given a follow-the-bouncing ball runway. Very difficult to sing along if you don't know the melody.
    3. Although I am having fun, there is only one type of game play and four venues. This could get old for some dancers.

    This could be a great game to get if you are looking for good cardio gaming material, or if you have a partner who has fun dancing.
    5.0