Wii Review: Samba De Amigo

by Sam Naylor on October 29, 2008 at 11:45 am

Much anticipated by fans of the Dreamcast original, Samba De Amigo was tipped to be one of the few games on the Wii worth buying, especially as it’s one of the first games on the machine to feature downloadable content. Will the game shake up a storm, or will it just rattle on and on? Find out after the jump with the full review.

The first thing one might notice when booting up Samba De Amigo for the first time is the fantastic visuals. While they are obviously hindered by the hardware, they never fail to impress. I swear, there are colours in there I never even knew existed; it’s even more colourful than the Mario series on the Wii. This absolutely complements the theme of the game — it always feels like a beach party, even when playing in a house in the UK(!). There may be a few jagged edges here and there, and it doesn’t look nearly as good as Mario Galaxy, but it is still a joy to watch.

As you might expect from a music game, the soundtrack varies from awful to fantastic. Some songs are drab and boring, even with the colourful graphics, but there are some really great tunes hidden away in there. All of the songs are chosen specifically for their Samba/Mambo type qualities — those that weren’t already Mamborific have been re-recorded with the right vibe added. Even the Rocky theme has had an overhaul for Samba De Amigo.

There is a satisfying selection of songs, and the quality is excellent in all cases. Obviously, if you’re not a fan of Samba, steer clear of this game, as there is little else. That said, even as somebody who doesn’t particularly enjoy the music style, I found myself getting into the ‘groove’, so to speak. Perhaps the beach party atmosphere just won me over.

Unfortunately, Samba De Amigo has been brought down wholly by the gameplay itself. The way it works is identical to any music game: time the movements to get them in sync with the moving shapes on the screen. In Samba De Amigo, the shapes move outward from the middle of the on-screen circle, and one must shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuck in the right direction at the right time to score points.

To add to this, sometimes the game will ask you to “pose”. During this phase you will need to point the metaphorical maracas in the right directions. In theory, this system would work well (especially as it already did on the Dreamcast), but in practice it is just awful.

The Wii Remote is nowhere near accurate enough to perform these actions on the harder difficulties. Your shakes will fail to register on a regular basis, and when they do, it’ll be in the wrong direction. On the easier difficulty levels, this doesn’t really make much of a difference as you have time to correct yourself, and it’s very forgiving.

Once you’re tired of these difficulties, however, it becomes almost impossible to make progress. Imagine trying to complete “Through the Fire and Flames” on Guitar Hero on Expert by waggling the Wii Remote in different directions — that’s Samba De Amigo on the harder levels. Even a master of waggle would need more responsive hardware to finish that.

Besides the lack of Wii Remote accuracy, the hardware itself is another issue. The wire between the peripherals sometimes prevents you from performing the right pose, hitting the right notes in time, or at worst, it hits you in the eye. Whether you play the ‘gamer way’ (sitting on the sofa) or the ‘normal way’ (actually dancing), you’re eventually going to get pissed off at the wire hitting you in the face.

In terms of single player, Samba De Amigo has little to offer somebody looking for a long-lasting music game. While there are plenty of good songs to play and perfect, the awful controls will most likely mean attempts at perfect scores will be given up on early, unlike precision music games like DDR or Guitar Hero. Once the career mode is over, the is no incentive to go back and try it again, other than for those who absolutely need to maximise their score.

The same isn’t to be said for the multiplayer, though. There are plenty of different modes to play with friends, including battle and co-op, and even a selection of minigames. Most of the minigames are played identically to the main game, but one or two split away completely (but keep the ‘beach party’ theme). Volleyball, for instance, can even be played with the Wii Remote held sideways on the D-Pad.

The minigames aren’t exactly going to win any awards (in fact, some of them just aren’t worth playing at all), but it is nice to have them available for the variety. The multiplayer is really where Samba De Amigo excels: wind the difficulty right down to easy and just have a party of your own. Since everyone is suffering from the poor controls, nobody feels frustrated!

Samba De Amigo is a good game utterly let down by its awful controls. While the visuals and music are definitely up to par, the irritation caused by unresponsive controls ruins the experience almost totally. You’ll never want to play this in single player mode, but for multiplayer marathons, this is certainly a worthy choice.

My advice is to rent it for a party, pitch in with a load of buddies and buy it between you, or just get a friend to buy it for you. That way, you won’t have to suffer the punishment of paying full price for something that will only frustrate you, but you can still have fun with the music and visuals with your friends and family.

Verdict: No great shakes.