This game gives players the ability to go wild with the dancing and maraca shaking gameplay.
This game has a lot of songs that are either Mexican, Latin, or very hyper. "The Theme of Rocky" from the Rocky movies, "Soul Bossa Nova" from the Austin Powers movies and most of the other songs from the original Samba de Amigo game.
While playing the game, you shake your maracas, perform dances and pose for the audience. Each stage has at least one of Amigo's friends and a crazy background. If you are in the D range, everything is dark and slow. C range is when things look abnormal, with dancing buildings and crazy props. B range is when everyone goes wild and on a dancing frenzy. A range sends everyone into a hippie like rainbow portal where the background disappears but when everyone is more hyper than a cheetah drinking coffee. There are 6 circles on the screen, showing where to shake the wii remote. Red is at the top, yellow is in the middle and green is at the bottom.
Passing a level is very easy, just don't be below a C when you finish the song or else Samba will cry… Getting a perfect score is hard, but not impossible.
Easy levels won't include the green circle and will have only a few poses, not to mention less notes and slower gameplay. After that, it gets harder and faster.
Shaking your wii remotes like crazy can be exhausting, but it's good to know that this game gives you more exercise than Wii Fit.
There are many modes of gameplay, but normally, it's either normal or hustle. Hustle makes you dance more than in normal mode.
The game also has minigames, half are them are maraca related while others are short but original. They don't seem that interesting.
The 'story' mode is called career, possibly because the game doesn't really need a story, but the enclosed instruction book says this…
Samba de Amigo was a monkey living in a mountain town with a poor family; wearing dirty clothing made out of rags stitched together (sounds like Mexico). One day, he discovered that he is an amazing maraca player and uses his talent to 'wow' people everywhere. He becomes 'The king of Maracas' but still lives in poverty. Despite Amgio's family being poor, his younger sister, Amiga, was already a celebrity. She decides to allow Amigo to show his talents to the world. He too becomes a celebrity.
Here are the other characters
Linda- a samba dancer (rumored to be the hottest in town) who likes dancing and staying in shape. She likes veggie diets.
Bingo and Bongo- twin bears that are actually older than they look. They are comedians that are always seen in large robot bears. They like marshmallows.
Rio- A cat guy that, although is a man, looks like a girl. He plays the trumpet and likes onions.
Chumba and Wamba- Chumba is a retired street gang boss that now is a mandolin player. He's the short, fat cheetah with a scar. Wamba is the bartender and owner of a tavern while still being an expert conga drum player. He's the tall thin cheetah.
There are also some other characters you see in the game including a stick figure, cactus people and the sun… yes, the sun.
… so, since all the characters are famous and rich, the only thing they need to do is keep their fame. In career mode, you play most of the songs in the game, but at different levels. Career mode is only for unlocking songs and special modes to the game, other than that, it's just normal gameplay.
For those who still are having trouble, make sure your wii or wii remotes are in good conditions, adjust your sensor bar or practice. The training mode shows the basics and helps you understand how to use the remotes. I noticed that the training mode narrator might be the voice of Amigo, who sounds like an ordinary kid.
Even if this game is getting an average score, remember this… this game is about $10 less than most wii games, which would explain its simple but fun gameplay. For the price, it deserves more respect. But if the game's price was the same as all other wii games, it can only be worth a rent unless you have friends that will face off in multiplayer.