Samba De Amigo review

Samba De Amigo was originally a Sega arcade game where you’d stand in front of the machine, pick up a pair of maracas and shake them about whilst the happy monkey danced around behind. It then appeared on the Dreamcast complete with expensive peripherals that could detect where you were shaking them. Of course, the Wii should be perfect for this latest version - or so you’d think, more about that later.

So what do you get in the game? Well, you get the classic arcade version and a solo game where you play through a variety of stages, unlocking new songs and extras such as maracca sounds as you go. Simply shake the maracas in time to the music and either high or low depending on where the balls hit the circles. To make you look even more silly you must also pose and hustle when told to by the silhouetted man. As well as single player you can play with a friend either in Battle Mode where you must use perfect combos to send bombs flying onto your opponent’s side of the screen, or in Love Love Mode which measures how in time you both are and measures your love rating. It’s a bit pointless to be honest.

Then there are the mini games such as hitting a piñata with a stick, whacking moles and playing volleyball. These aren’t much fun to play at all and just involve shaking your remote as quick as you can. Volleyball is actually unplayable. Unfortunately the controls are rather shaky if you pardon the pun. The problem comes that at the moment, the accelerometers just aren’t accurate enough to know exactly where you’re shaking, resulting in dropped combo points when it doesn’t register properly. Music-based games have also come a long way and unfortunately you just look and feel a bit cooler playing Guitar Hero or Rockband.

It’s a fun party game but I’d only recommend this to the casual gamers. Samba De Amigo gets 6 out of 10.

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