Samba De Amigo - hands on

An hour later, the party is full-on raging. Your entire family is now gathered around the TV, because nobody can walk past this game without stopping to watch you flail about like an idiot standing on an electrified grate. But don’t worry – nobody can watch this game for very long without wanting to have a go at it themselves, either alone or in pairs, and they’ll look just as goofy. The thing is, nobody cares – nor should they. Samba is just too much fun to worry about appearances. And the Wii version is gearing up to be just as innocently, earnestly seductive as the original arcade and Dreamcast versions.

That makes sense: This is, for the most part, the same game. Most of the 40 or so songs are recycled from a previous Samba, and many of the stages are familiar. But the appeal is fully intact, and knowing the songs takes nothing away from how much you enjoy them.

What does detract a bit, at least in this early build of the game, is that the controls aren’t quite tuned in yet. The earlier versions of the game came with a special set of big, red maracas. And while the Wii controls are much more convenient – the remotes even make shaky sounds – they aren’t quite as precise as the big plastic shakers were. But there’s still time to tune as the game is still months away. Everything else is locked and loaded.

In fact, Samba De Amigo feels like it was tailor-made for Wii. Its concepts can be grasped in 30 seconds, anyone from age four to ninety-four can play it, it’s colorful, family friendly, and unabashedly enthusiastic in that contagious, Nintendo-style way. It’s a perfect fit, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it again.

Apr 17, 2008