B-Boy review

Tuesday 19 September 2006
Even though it's officially the best party skill in the world, breakdancing's never really caught on in the same way as other extreme sports. Maybe it's that - unlike, say, skateboarding - you can't buy anything that automatically makes you a 'breakdancer'.

Maybe it's that finding surfaces that won't grate the top of your head off when you spin on them is becoming increasingly difficult in English nightclubs. Or maybe, just maybe, it's that breakdancing is really hard to translate into a videogame.

Not that Sony haven't tried. B-Boy's actually an excellent attempt at translating the complexities of 'power moves' (stuff like swipes and halos) versus the need for 'flavour' (staying on the beat) that faces real B-Boys - tapping the shoulder buttons on the beat keeps your rhythm up, but for the big points you need to transition between moves on the special blue beats, and do tiny micro-games to pull off the harder moves.

Above: Get enough momentum going and your legs will leave trails in the air, just like in real life