Freak Out
PlayStation 2 £39.99 Treasure/Virgin ***
And now for something completely different. Freak Out is a welcome reminder that not all games have to involve guns, driving, sport or intense strategy.
In fact you can imagine a prospective publisher's reticence after listening to the developer's pitch. "So let me get this straight. You have to control a girl armed with a possessed scarf that can stretch any part of the environment, including the floor? And by using this demonic accessory you can grip on to enemies and twang them into submission? Er, so no fast cars then?"
But amazingly this bonkers premise works, at least in the short term, and offers a refreshingly different PS 2 title. Ignore the unintentionally hilarious back story and you will soon be admiring the sugar-coated action.
The graphics are unique, offering a mix of gaudy shades and a level select area that borrows heavily from Aha's Take on Me video. Of course, if you are old enough to remember this mid-80s synth classic then you are probably the right age for Freak Out.
The novelty of lassooing big-breasted assailants and duelling with cute, yet deadly, boss characters, is best appreciated when you are old enough to put three sugars in your double espresso (well it obviously helped the game designers). The controls are also worthy of praise, replacing tedious button combinations with judicious use of the shoulder buttons and both analogue sticks. Unfortunately, Freak Out is over all too soon - maybe eight hours or so - although any longer and the novel, but simplistic, twang 'n' release gameplay becomes tiresome. It will probably sell about 12 copies in the UK - PlayStation gamers are a notoriously conservative bunch - but Freak Out deserves more.
After all, it is not every day you get something so distinctive on any platform, let alone the PlayStation 2. (GH)
ModernGroove: Ministry of Sound Edition
PlayStation 2 £19.99 Ubisoft ***
Given how long it took products such as Codemaster's Music to reach the Play Station, it was surprising to see this arrive on PS2 so soon. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Sound name gives it considerable street credibility and, being something of a failed musician myself, I opened it with a good deal of optimism.
Sadly, ModernGroove is nothing like Music. It is not a sample sequencer, as I assumed, but an enhanced CD showcasing the Ministry's resident DJs and favoured artists. The idea, I assume, is to produce a standard dance compilation disc that also doubles as a funky lightshow.
As far as music is concerned, you do get more than 60 tracks of house, trance and garage, mixed to a superb quality and nicely balanced between the styles. You also get the undoubted mixing talents of Paul Jackson, Tall Paul and others (plus their multimedia biographies, should you be swayed by that "DJ is the new musician" malarkey.)
As with any compilation CD, however, only a few tracks rise above the background noise, and you would be hard pushed to find a single hit among them. The other half of the package is the Visual Mixer, which is altogether more interactive and a whole lot of fun. The idea of a light synthesiser which responds to music has been done many times before (as far back as the late 80s), but ModernGroove does go to town with the options.
500 animated 3D objects, 1,200 unique images, 200 original video clips and 32 user-controllable real- time effects, are all smoothly combined to produce a visual accompaniment to almost any musical style. Even better, using the joypads' two sticks you can rotate, flip or morph most of these effects in realtime. There's even a karaoke mode, where you can superimpose lyrics and your own "Bo Selecta" messages. All in all, an unusual and creative product, but one that skirts around the real issue.
What I expected from ModernGroove was all the above plus a method of remixing the tracks themselves - a true dance workstation, in fact. With that, it might have been an essential purchase. Without it, I might just hang around for the sequel. (MA)
