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Finally the first US test location of bemani’s (Konami’s rhythm games division) Ubeat is up and running, and I must say, I haven’t quite seen a game like this before. Rather than hitting a handful of buttons in response to on-screen commands, here the buttons and the screen are one and the same, though the massive controller is a 4×4 grid (for the math-challenged among you, that makes for 16 buttons to smash furiously). The player looks for a panel in the grid to light up in time with music, and then taps that panel.

While the idea is simple, the game gets devilishly complicated, as expected of any good bemani title. Early first-hands impressions are glowing, and the lines to play the machine were even bigger than those for the new Dance Dance Revolution X. Another positive is the tracklist, featuring such surprising picks as A-Ha – Take on Me, Aqua – Barbie Girl, and Scatman John – Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) (no, seriously, I’m not making this up). It would be great to see Konami win back its American fanbase of hardcore bemani players, and this game could be poised to do both that and seduce more casual gamers due to its poppy tracklist and flashy presentation. Hopefully the large number of panels won’t scare newcomers away.

[bemanistyle.com]