As a fan of rhythm dance games, I am really happy an indie offering has appeared. What makes this special is the ability to perform moves off the beat or simply encouraging free style expression which is unheard of. While I can understand the aesthetics and music are not for everyone, I really found this one of its charming points as well as highlighting mixed race minors as competent dancers, not just adults in media.

That being said, the game does not really have much depth to make it replayable or enjoyable to master. I think has three major interwoven issues that makes this the case. First, the scoring system primarily favors spamming character specific combos leading to a fixed style to achieve the highest rating which devalues expression or creative routes. Instead of character specific combos, I think a move combo multiplier with a stamina system or something similar to reward longer combos while making them harder will fit better. Second, the tracks are quite short and with a fixed structure (dance-beat tap-dance) which limits variety severely. I think different mini-games would have easily addressed this issue as well as varying structures like imagine holding button or sequences. Third, the moves themselves have no or little execution requirement meaning they are mechanically unsatisfying or lack intentionality. Taking from fighting games, I would really like the moves to have motion inputs or sequences rather than all characters having 1 button access to all moves. The spin moves are one example which I really like but everyone just has them so it loses its appeal.

These three issues are born from the understandable scope as an indie game. Explaining further, if the tracks were longer, character combos would stale much quicker and easier requiring more moves. If freestyle expression was more valued and moves were more complex, it would be hard to judge high scores per track as a single player game. It boils down how to incentivize players not to simply mash and be more mindful about the performance. Sadly, I think the damning thing is that I did not want to replay the game even with multiple characters and acquiring 5 stars on every track. Not all games need to have complex mechanics, but this needs more to be memorable.

While I cannot comment on the multiplayer and I do have some other minor grievances with the motion control, I do recommend this game on a sale or as a chill experience to vibe with.

A cute and stylish game about break dancing. The main gameplay follows the usual music game campaign mode where you're a nobody with talent who needs to face off against all the established faces at venues of increasing prestige.

The gameplay is surprisingly technical as you can employ a variety of authentic dancing styles varying speed and intensity to pull off stylish moves and dunk on the opponent. Personally I found it maybe a bit too authentic. The game rewards you for doing different moves, but it's not really clear how the scoring ties to what you're doing other than that repetition is frowned upon.

The soundtrack is provided by the incredible Kid Koala who I've listened to a long time back, while the animation by Jon Jon is sketchy and captures the youthful vibes the game is going for. Sadly the gameplay isn't very engaging - there's no motivation to pull off specific moves, it all runs on creativity and freestyling which may work in front of an audience, but by yourself it just feels like spinning the wheels for the sake of it.

It's a creative effort and tries something new, but isn't very substantive for those outside the breakdancing scene. This feels like one that's only going to be appreciated by the audience it portrays.