K-On! PSP Game Review~

I bet you're wondering how the game is. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

- The game is fully voiced.

- Practically every song is included, Character songs, Insert Songs, Songs only spoken about in the TV Series and of course, OPs and EDs. Sadly, I do believe that the songs are shortened for the game, but are longer than TV Size.

- Cinematics are superb. We not only have regular set pieces like School/Clubroom, but we also get places like the Mall, Disco Stage, Canyon (ala Fuwa Fuwa Time), etc... Not only that, only a couple of the videos are them just standing around. Many have them posing, swirling, dancing just like a really Music Video. Only problem is that you can't really pay much attention to them as you really need to focus on the notes. (^.^;)

- For each and every song, you can choose to play as any of the five band members, giving you a completely different rhythm pattern for you to play. 1 song = 5 different challenges.

- Each character has their own unique play style. Mio's play style actually uses your left hand (D-pad), which I thought was pretty clever. Yui (down/right/O/X), etc... You can really feel their personality come across and adds new twists to songs.

- Gameplay is already challenging at the early levels, but fast and furious later on that really serves to keep you on your toes. Er, thumb tips? Note: There are 2 modes for each song, Normal and Hard. Hard mode for each song is unlocked after completing that particular song once.

- The instrument track of the character that you are playing will be separate from the song, meaning that missed notes will actually sound legitimate.

- 5 ways to tell how well you are doing. Amazing - Good - Normal - Bad - Terrible. Moving to each 'state' will be preceded by an animation of your selected character either jumping in joy or weeping in despair. Amazing and Good will have a colored frame around the screen (ala Cagayake Girls). Bad and Terrible will have horizontal blue lines descending from the top of the screen.

- The characters will actually mess up in the performance video if you miss notes. (^.^;)

- Food powerups like the Mochi (Autoplay) and the Ichigo Milk (allows you to hit any button no matter the note) really help get you through the crazy difficult portions. I nearly died trying to pass Guitar ni Kubittake... There are foods like the Strawberry Cheesecake that make the notes more complicated and ones like tarts that change the animation. Select a food before each level and hit L or R to activate for a short period of time.

- 5 PLAYER CO-OP!!! Didn't fiddle around too much with this feature, but you can link up with 4 other people and perform like a true band, each player taking the role of a different character. Not sure if online-play is supported.

- You can change and customize nearly every aspect of every character individually. A whole host of Hairstyles, Clothes and Accessories are at your disposal from Tied Hair to Track Suits to Home Clothes to Nekomimi. You can even have them perform in their creepy Animal costumes, head gear and all. (^.^;)

- There is a Music Video Mode called 'Sing' where you can make your own Music Video customizing everything from camera angles (character's left/right, focus on instrument) to spoken lines to actions (V signs/Waves) Windows Movie Maker style. It's kinda complicated and haven't really figured it out entirely yet.

- Gallery 'Album' consisting of screenshots, audio clips and voice clips is available.

- There is a 'Voice Clock' mode that features 8 characters! (Yui, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi, Azusa, Sawako, Nodoka, Ui) Basically, it's a clock that at the push of a button, has the current time read out by the selected character!. Freaking sweet. (^.^) You can set an Alarm and your Birth Date as well for special voice clips! Not to mention, the voices are done really well (no stuttering and very natural sounding).

Overall, from what I've seen so far, really superb game that offers a myriad of options and extras for the fans. Highly recommended for K-On! fans and fans of Rhythm games alike! Do take a look if you haven't already done so.