DJ Max Technika Tune wins the award for best timing of the year. Thanks to Psy's breakout hit "Gangnam Style," South Korean pop is suddenly all the rage. From weddings to water parks, it's as if the entire Western world has woken up to the wonders of K-pop. That bodes well for Pentavision's first PS Vita release, a game overflowing with Korea's finest musicians.
While this may be its first PS Vita experience, DJ Max is no stranger to Sony handhelds. Between the three proper sequels and a handful of spin-offs (Clazziquai Edition, Black Square, Hot Tunes, etc.), Pentavision managed to release seven DJ Max games on the PSP. These games have a reputation for their blistering speeds and frustrating difficulty. After spending the last seven years improving my skills on Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I was ready for whatever DJ Max Technika Tune wanted to throw at me.
What I got wasn't the fast-paced, button mashing rhythm game I've heard so many horror stories about. Instead I got a much more leisurely experience played entirely with the Vita's two touch screens. The result is a more accessible rhythm game; something that won't leave your fingers bloodied and bruised.
As far as I can tell, this PS Vita game is a port of the popular arcade cabinet DJ Max Technika 3. It mixes in the greatest hits from the three arcade games, as well as adding eight songs new to the series. There are 67 individual tracks available, ranging from trance, pop rock, Euro dance, techno, Irish dance, p-funk, cute pop, house, hip hop and, of course, K-pop. The music is innocent enough; simple pop songs that only last two or three minutes. Even with all of the different genres, it won't take long to decide whether you're hip to the Korean music scene.
At first glance, DJ Max Technika Tune looks an awful lot like Lumines. There's a bright vertical line slowly moving across the screen from left to right. But look again, because there's a second bright vertical line slowly moving from right to left. For whatever reason, this game splits the screen into two sections -- one on top going one way and another screen going the opposite direction. This gives you a lot to think about as you go about your business tapping the screen and making beautiful (or at least poppy) music.
Like so many rhythm games before it, the idea is to touch the note at the exact time the vertical line passes by. Another note will have players dragging their fingers through a wavy pattern. Some notes need to be held down for a certain amount of time, while others require a tap of the back touch screen. The hardest difficulty is a chaotic mess of double notes, extended notes, wavy notes and every other type of note the developers could come up with.
The basic rhythm game rules apply here. Keeping the note streak going will add up to big points at the end of the song. There's also a "Fever" meter that slowly fills-up with each correct note. All this will be instantly familiar for anybody who has played Guitar Hero, Rock Band or the countless also-rans.
Technika Tune does offer a few wrinkles to the format. For one thing, the player can select from a series of unlockable avatars. These characters will give the player a special perk, such as awarding more experience points or health. The perk that allows you to miss a note without losing a combo seemed like the way to go, but that's just personal preference. On top of the added perks, players will be able to customize certain elements of the board, including the direction the two vertical lines swipe across the screen.
After spending so much time playing games on the less-than-ideal Nintendo DS and 3DS screens, I was delighted to see how well DJ Max worked on the PS Vita. No matter how many notes the game threw at me, I never felt like I was battling the screen. Even the back touch screen works well, though it's mostly reduced to simple taps. It's worth noting that players can turn the back touch screen on and off at will.
The presentation has a level of polish that you only get from releasing multiple sequels. The transitions are exciting and the interface is extremely easy to navigate. And much like Lips and SingStar, the music video plays behind the action the entire time. These videos range from girl bands to animated features. There's pod racing, anime singers, fairy tales and action-packed fight sequences. It's all looks fantastic on the PS Vita's screen. But the good looks come at a price, because many of the busier videos can make it hard to concentrate on the music notes.
As a long time Rock Band aficionado, I'm baffled by some of DJ Max's decisions. The game gives players a leaderboard, but comparing song scores with online friends is next to impossible. There's also no multiplayer mode, the most popular mode in most rhythm games. And even with an impressive collection of music and videos, the game's steep price point will likely scare some people off.
With three difficulty modes to choose from and 67 songs to perfect, there's a lot to do and see in DJ Max. However, your level of interest may hinge on how much you like Korean music. As it turns out, I don't like K-pop at all. Not even a little. It made my ears want to rip themselves off my head. But that doesn't change the fact that the core mechanics are fun and the presentation is second to none. It may be expensive, but there's enough content here to make it easy to recommend DJ Max Technika Tune for the PS Vita.
