Mad Maestro
Eidos offers gamers a Fresh take on music games.
Once upon a time, gamers used to marvel at the eclectic mix of titles that were released in the Japanese market and never saw the light of day in the US. However, as the industry has matured and publishers have become more adventurous, we've been lucky enough to see a few unique Japanese games make their way to the States. The music genre in particular has slowly been growing in diversity since Bust-A-Move first hit the PlayStation. Eidos Interactive will be doing its part to broaden the genre with its upcoming release Mad Maestro for the PlayStation 2. Released under the newly formed "Fresh Games" label, the game is a localized version of Bravo Music, a game that puts a new twist on the music game.
While the majority of music games have focused on contemporary music, ranging from Parappa the Rapper's hip-hop-influenced tunes to the Bust-A-Move series' dance fare, Mad Maestro heads into entirely new territory. The game focuses on a young conductor named Takt who's tapped by a fairy named Symphony to help prevent the destruction of a local concert hall. In order to gather a large enough crowd for Takt's performance, the pair head out to help assorted town denizens with the power of music. Due to Takt's profession, the tunes in the game are pieces of classical music--such as Wagner's "Flight of the Valkyries"--that are a definite departure from the more commercial fare you'd expect from a music-based video game.
While Mad Maestro's tunes may be a bit unorthodox, they actually work well within the context of the game. Rather than offer the traditional style of music game action, Mad Maestro actually serves up a different, but involving, experience that manages to be pretty addictive. As in all music games, the ultimate goal of each level is to keep up with the music, but the way you interact with the music in this game is very different. In your role as Takt, conductor extraordinaire, you're told to control three aspects of the music: the tempo, the volume, and the part of the piece being played. To do so, you'll rely on a unique control setup that will support the analog functionality of the PS2 controller's face buttons and make use of the D-pad as well. The timing between button presses will control the music's tempo, the pressure applied to the buttons will determine the music's volume, and the directional pad presses will cue the transition to the next part of the piece you're conducting. Although it may sound a bit complicated, it actually works pretty well in practice.
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- Eidos Interactive
- Desert Productions
- Rhythm / Music
- Release: Mar 12, 2002 »
- ESRB: Everyone
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