Beat Mania - PlayStation

Although Beat Mania is touted as a DJ Simulator, you will not find yourself wowing the punters at some sleazy Ibizan nightclub after playing this title. That’s not to say that it won’t give you hours of entertainment. On the contrary, as soon as Beat Mania arrived in the office, it seemed everybody wanted to have a go, and eventually everybody did. The sight of the bigger than usual packaging and the keyboard/turntable peripheral was way too hard to resist.

Plugged in and ready to rock the house, THE dance anthem of 1999, Moloko’s ‘Bring It Back’ kicked in, and only after a ritual disembowelling of this fine tune, we decided to have a look at the instruction booklet. Not just a novelty item, there is a method to Beat Mania’s madness. Geed on by the game’s resident DJ, you have to play along with the series of songs presented to you. A vertical scrolling bar tells you which note on the keyboard you should hit, while every now and again, you’ll be asked to do a little scratching with the turntable. Do all of this in time with the music, and the crowd will ‘give you love’, as they say in DJ circles.

At first, Beat Mania is a tricky customer to get to grips with. No matter how many times you may have heard the tunes herein, playing along to them, rather than excitedly dancing at your local discotheque, may demonstrate how rhythmically inept we humans are. More than a modicum of hand-to-eye co-ordination is essential. Spectators are entertained too, with a gallery of gaudy visuals on screen, featuring funky drummers and spotted cows!

Beat Mania is a great night in with friends just waiting to happen, so hook the PSX up to your hi-fi and get on down in the comfort of your own home. Strobe lights not included.
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