Break Dance
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Copyright/Publisher: Epyx, Rereleased By: Americana, Release Year: 1986,
Genre: Mixed Sports, Number Of Players: 1 or 2
Breakdance harks back to the days when a lot of people thought it was fun to selfinflict injuries
of all kinds - including brain damage - to the sound of trendy, aptly named 'break' music.
There are four games and in the first the objective is to clock up a high score by closely following
the steps of Hot Feet - the 'hottest breaker in the neighbourhood' - whose moves get
progressively more complex as the score rises - a bit like 'Simon says'.
A practice mode is available for you to gain familiarity with the various moves (achieved by
manipulation of the joystick). Speed of reaction is not important, but accuracy is. If a player
makes a wrong move, the message 'Wack Out' appears and the score is reset to zero.
The second game takes the first a stage further. The ferocious Rocket Crew, are invading your
'turf'. Various breakdance moves must be copied in order to scare them off before they throw
you into the river. The gang's dancers must be taken on in successive breaking battles, until
finally they are all defeated.
'Perfections Dance Puzzle' is the third exercise, like a more complex version of the first
game, but with a time limit. The player competes with Boogaloo Brewster, King of breakdancing.
Basically, it's a one to one battle where the opponent performs a whole sequence of moves that have
to be worked out and followed against the clock.
The fourth game is non-competitive. You choreograph an entire routine and perform it on stage.
There are two screens. The first is a menu screen from which all the moves for the dance are chosen,
allowing fourteen possible moves usable in any combination and repeated any number of times up to
a maximum sequence of 251 moves. Each time a move is chosen, a dancer appears on the lower
part of the screen to demonstrate it.
When a routine is complete, the 'Go Dance' option changes the screen to a stage. The joystick
is used to move the character around the stage while the moves are being performed, and the
movements can be speeded up ot slowed down. Dances can be saved out to tape and reloaded for
later use.
The fifth part of the game, the 'Grand Loop', is a successive combination of the first four
stages, giving the the game a sense of logical progression. All the break-dances are
accompanied by what the instruction booklet calls breakdancin' music. Finally, the instructions
give a guide to performing some of the real moves mentioned in the game.
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S.M. |
This is a strange game, to say the least. It isn't all that difficult to play but, despite an
awful soundtrack, it can be quite good fun - if you have a good sense of humour. However, the
multiload aspect is annoying and I can't imagine anybody wanting to save routines. It's something
to watch rather than play.
If you like this sort of thing, then you can hardly complain at the price. I found it funny for
a few minutes but tedium set in soon thereafter.
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Julian Rignall |
Four separate games on one cassette for only three quid! Well golly gosh! There's only one big
problem - three of the games are awfully dull and very much the same. The best bit is the
choreography, and that's only because the 'breakers' look totally stupid as they do their
stuff. Dull graphics, dull sound, dull game...'nuff said.
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Gary Penn |
On the whole, Breakdance is boring. Three of the four games are essentially variations of the
'Simon Says' theme, and all of them are rather dull. However, the choreographed dancing is
a great laugh and is the only fun bit in the package. Even so, Breakdance isn't a very good
example of a budget game and I can't wholeheartedly recommend it.
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