{"id":867,"date":"2020-06-16T09:04:20","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T13:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=867"},"modified":"2022-07-17T17:08:34","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T21:08:34","slug":"in-the-groove-2q2019-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2020\/06\/16\/in-the-groove-2q2019-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Groove \u2014 2Q2019<\/span> issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Groovy com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion in rhythm game market<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just when Kon\u00ada\u00admi thought it had the mar\u00adket cor\u00adnered on rhythm games along came In the Groove. The series took the for\u00admu\u00adla of timed arrows, music and dance charts and finessed it into bet\u00adter charts and sen\u00adsi\u00adble rat\u00adings; or, you know, things Kon\u00ada\u00admi lacked after eight games. In the Groove didn\u2019t nec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adi\u00adly per\u00adfect the mar\u00adket prod\u00aduct but it intro\u00adduced com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion in a nice pack\u00adage that still holds up today.<\/span><\/p>\n

ITG<\/span> has the same for\u00admu\u00adla as Dance Dance Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion: Arrows are timed to a song to rise (or drop, depend\u00ading on the song mod\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion used) to meet hold\u00aders. You\u2019re judged on the tim\u00ading of your steps and either pass the song or fail based on the cumu\u00adla\u00adtive score and effect of your tim\u00ading. Let\u2019s not get it twist\u00aded, though: DDR<\/span> and ITG<\/span> are the same thing. Giv\u00aden that ITG<\/span> cribs a lot of its ele\u00adments from the orig\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtor of the rhythm dance game genre, you aren\u2019t like\u00adly to see any\u00adthing new or mind-blow\u00ading when it comes to ITG<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where ITG<\/span> shines par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly, how\u00adev\u00ader, is the inter\u00adface and the song choic\u00ades. There\u2019s a lot to like in those dif\u00adfer\u00adences. The song wheel inter\u00adface \u2014 which presents songs for play \u2014 is crisp as are the song titles. The graph\u00adics appear to mim\u00adic the best parts of the DDR<\/span> inter\u00adface, which is help\u00adful since DDR<\/span> made an ill-advised change to its look short\u00adly after. It\u2019s also the intri\u00adcate details such as being able to see a song\u2019s BPM<\/span> while choos\u00ading song mods.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Groove\u2019s musi\u00adcal selec\u00adtion is no slouch, either. Many songs sound like some\u00adthing in DDR<\/span>\u2019s cat\u00ada\u00adlog; for exam\u00adple, there\u2019s a series of remix\u00ades that imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly calls to mind the Para\u00adnoia sig\u00adna\u00adture series of DDR<\/span>. There\u2019s a lot to like with a vari\u00adety of gen\u00adres represented.<\/span><\/p>\n

ITG<\/span> shines also in its acces\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty: If you can play DDR<\/span>, you\u2019ll be able to pick up ITG<\/span>. It\u2019s not hard to under\u00adstand since it\u2019s using the same engine as DDR<\/span>. How\u00adev\u00ader, the main playa\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty draw comes in its song charts. ITG<\/span>\u2019s song charts make sense and are intu\u00aditive and aren\u2019t hap\u00adhaz\u00adard\u00adly done or pun\u00adish\u00ading. The dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty sys\u00adtem also makes sense \u2014 intro\u00adduc\u00ading charts with a high\u00ader dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty than the stan\u00addard 10 lev\u00adel sys\u00adtem that DDR<\/span> used at the time \u2014 which is a must have in a danc\u00ading game.<\/span><\/p>\n

While ITG<\/span> is a wel\u00adcome change of pace from DDR<\/span>, there are some nit\u00adpicks that both\u00ader me about the series in gen\u00ader\u00adal. First, some of the song mods avail\u00adable aren\u2019t the most help\u00adful. I\u2019m not keen on sil\u00adly mods like mines being a default in songs. Thank\u00adful\u00adly, there\u2019s an option to turn off the mod, but it shouldn\u2019t be a default part of songs at any dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty. And, like\u00adwise, the use of three and four arrows simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly \u2014 which requires a hand to hit at all arrows at once \u2014 is obnox\u00adious. If a song requires it, I usu\u00adal\u00adly steer clear of it. That\u2019s not good for the song list and replay val\u00adue if I\u2019m skip\u00adping tracks, and it\u2019s damp\u00adens my enthu\u00adsi\u00adasm for an oth\u00ader\u00adwise great soundtrack.<\/span><\/p>\n

ITG<\/span> gets its point across with inter\u00adest\u00ading game\u00adplay addi\u00adtions, a good sound\u00adtrack and crisp inter\u00adface. With a few more iter\u00ada\u00adtions of the series after its intro\u00adduc\u00adtion, ITG<\/span> is great as an alter\u00adna\u00adtive on the rhythm game dance floor.<\/span><\/p>\n