My favorite are the electronica tunes that pulse and undulate with hypnotic bass lines and dreamy string patches. There is everything from Japanese pop to full throttle rock. I was actually having a good time despite having played my share of rhythm-based games over the years. It was hard not to be impressed after the first few songs. Thankfully, the developers were aware that this kind of reaction would be common, and they unapologetically went about the business of making this a fun game with virtually flawless mechanics. Instead I was staring at what I believed to be another run-of-the-mill rhythm game.

I anticipated the game would focus more on actual DJ-related elements such as mixing beats, scratching, looping, and other such live-performance tricks. I must admit that I was a little disappointed in the gameplay at first. There is also the added feature of tailoring the difficulty to your skill level by not only selecting Easy, Medium, or Insane (as I like to call it), but also by slowing the speed down in each difficulty mode.

One more try! - that's the kind of addicting gameplay that is the hallmark of a good game. The difficulty increases significantly but it's cleverly ramped up in small increments, so that you're never overwhelmed, more like 'teased' and 'provoked.' It seems that the goal is always within reach. It follows the same gameplay formula where you hit a button in time to falling icons. It features tons of songs, more than 50 in all, with accompanying videos. If you're a rhythm game fan, and by that I mean games such as Dance Dance Revolution, PaRappa the Rapper, and even Guitar Hero, then you're not going to care how derivative DJ Max: Fever is as long as it delivers the goods.

DJ Max: Fever doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it does bring you the table to let you feast upon its delightful digital DJ decadence. With so many variations of specific niche genres these days, it's not much of an issue. I can't give it high marks for originality, and part of me wants to crucify it for being just another rhythm game, but it does get so many things right that it wouldn't be fair to dismiss this game just because of its copycat gameplay. However, it does have some charm and is enjoyable in its own right. It's a good game but it's a blatant rip-off of an existing game. Games such as DJ Max: Fever present reviewers with a bit of a conundrum.

Djmax portable 2 fever