DJ Max Fever review

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Amp Divorax
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DJ Max Fever review

Post by Amp Divorax » Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:58 am

Due to the fact that Q1 is ending and a domestic release of DJ MAX Trilogy most likely won't happen, I finally broke down, bought a PSP, (Too many good games that I cannot ignore, nuff said) and got DJ MAX Fever. I'm going to keep this brief and I figure I should mention what I think is both good and bad about the game.

The Good:
- Runs at 60 fps at the PSP standard 480x272 resolution with no slowdowns that I can see.
- Serves as a good domestic debut by using songs from Portable 1 and Portable 2.
- Rather than bringing in licensed songs, Pentavision opted to keep it faithful to the feel of the series. (Hey Konami of Americunts, I hope you are watching!)
- No major sync issues whatsoever in the game.
- The learning curve is not that hard for most people with prior experience with music games.
- At first I didn't like the fever concept, but I've grown to like the way it's implemented cause unlike GF/RB's multipliers it does emphasize good precision. This mechanic also does introduce a element of strategy in songs in terms of when to use fever for the best score.

The Bad:
- Like Black Square before it, this release has a few bugs and shows a lack of QA testing. (A patch is SUPPOSEDLY in the works for this.)
- Difficulty modes: For those not in the know, 8 key mode is not accessible on Easy, has to be unlocked on Normal, and is available immediately on Hard mode. The biggest issue though is that all the modes are different when it comes to timing windows. (More info on this at http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/detail.p ... =525258784)
- The grinding for unlocks is RIDICULOUS. Given that they changed this in Black Square I thought they would have acknowledged it in this release, but they didn't.
- While it does have a battle mode, it sadly isn't online. (Note: Online gameplay can be done with Xlink Kai)
- Xtreme Challenge mode: Mission Modes always felt tedious at best and due to songlist errors 2 missions cannot be completed without cheating.
- The auto correct system: As this game is based on the Black Square engine, the auto correct system is intact. However, it gives full credit instead of deducting 20% from the judgement like it did in Black Square. As a result of this, scores on here will be notibly higher than on Portable 2.
- Glitches: This is what ruins the game for me. NB Rangers 8b crashes the game when selected. Challenge mode is supposed to be in this release, but doesn't show up at all. When Your Own Miracle is triggered in regular gameplay (96% or higher apparently) the song unlocks won't trigger, but unlocks based on level and number of songs played will trigger which also was in Portable 2.

Despite it's flaws, this is quite possibly the best domestic music game that has come out in the last 5 years. For those people who do have the Korean version though, unless Platinum Crew happens I can't recommend it to them.
Last edited by Amp Divorax on Sat May 30, 2009 7:10 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Re: DJ Max Fever review

Post by ImuyumI » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:32 am

Trilogy does change speed, but worse than DJ Max Fever. At 4x & 5x on Fever, it just goes up .5. On Trilogy, I believe it goes up .5 on 4x & 1 on 5x, but most of the stuff is usually played on 5x anyway, so it doesn't matter except for the exceptions.

Also, DJ Max loves to make people grind. That's why people love to use save states.

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Re: DJ Max Fever review

Post by Amp Divorax » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:33 pm

ImuyumI wrote:Trilogy does change speed, but worse than DJ Max Fever. At 4x & 5x on Fever, it just goes up .5. On Trilogy, I believe it goes up .5 on 4x & 1 on 5x, but most of the stuff is usually played on 5x anyway, so it doesn't matter except for the exceptions.

Also, DJ Max loves to make people grind. That's why people love to use save states.
The speed change was not evident to me in the Trilogy videos I have seen. (However, at the same time since those videos are only 30 fps it may not be too noticible.)
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Re: DJ Max Fever review

Post by Amp Divorax » Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:38 am

After further examination, the issue I had with how fever handles speeds at 4x and 5x has been stricken from the record as it is an established gameplay system. (Albeit a slightly weird one, but I digress.)
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Re: DJ Max Fever review

Post by Amp Divorax » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:07 am

Good news: A fixed verson of DJ Max Fever will be available next month.
Bad news: It's only gonna be on Playstation Network.

Um.... PM Studios? I hope you didn't forsake the thousands of us who already bought the game legit and have something for us.
Memorable 2016 quotes:
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