|
PSP
Pump It Up Exceed Portable
- New Import, In Stock |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
NCS Game Synopsis
«©NCSX»
In the
arcades and on the home consoles, Andamiro's Pump
it Up game featured choreographed moves where
players stepped in time to the tempo and rhythm of a
song. The PSP transplant of PIU Exceed foregoes all
that and you're left with finger-smacking five buttons to
the cues on screen instead of shuffling your feet
around like a rabid dancer.
Since the original
Pump it Up is a physically demanding game
and the PSP version isn't, it's best to view the
portable version in the same vein as a game such
as DJ Max Portable. That is, a rhythm game where
onscreen cues must be hit with proper timing and
coordination. There's nothing more and nothing
less to it since PIU purists won't be moving their
feet to this release. That said, PIU Exceed is an
enjoyable rhythm game with a large selection of
K-pop and remixes of classical music pieces thrown
in for good measure.
In the early going in Home Mode which allows for multiple misses
without kicking you out of the game, all eight of
the playable songs are from Andamiro's internal
music production crew known as Banya. The music
selection screen is appropriately dubbed "Banya
Channel" where songs are selected from a rotary
array where the name of the song and some artwork
is displayed for each track. In addition to the 8
available songs, another 19 may be unlocked upon
fulfilling game conditions.
In Arcade Mode, players have 1 minute to select a song from the
available roster of 34 songs and a few unlockable
tracks that aren't ready for play yet. Unlike the
forgiving Home Mode, miss too many cues in Arcade
Mode and the game ends with a thunderous slam
|
|
|
NCS Game Notes
» The
intro shows a bunch of disparate images from
fighter jets to anime girls to atomic explosions
in fast cut sequence before the PIU Exceed logo
pops up. Leave it alone and the title screen
appears with a spinning metaalic logo of "Exceed"
which revolves to show "Pump It Up" in graffiti
lettering on the opposite side. Leave it alone
some more and an "Arcade Score Top 20" shows the
best ranked players followed by some impressive
demo play where hundreds of "Perfects" are chained
together.
» Start the game and the following options appear:
ARCADE MODE..................."Clear 4
Songs for an Internet Ranking"
SUDDEN DEATH MODE......"One Mistake and
it's Game Over"
HOME MODE......................"Use
Unlimited Retries to Polish Your Moves"
OPTIONS............................Set
sound volume, toggle arcade/home mode, choose
language (ENGLISH/KOREAN), view credits
STATISTICS........................View the
Top 20 rankings for Arcade and Survival, Song
Statistics, and Step Mileage
DATA FILE..........................Save,
Load, or Delete save game data
» Start the Arcade Mode and an assortment of 34
songs may be selected with the name and BPM listed
on top of special artwork for each song.
» When the action starts, an animated video plays
with blaring music and cues that start rising up
on the left portion of the screen. Watch the cues
as they hit the cue delimiters on the top left
side of the screen for perfect scoring. If you
miss a number of cues, the game slams the door
shut and ends the game immediately - kicking you
back to the title screen. For newbies, NCS
recommends the Home Mode which is more forgiving
and gives players a chance to test their portable
Pump It Up skills.
» The cues and their triggers are as follows
Southwest facing arrow - D-Pad Down
Southeast facing arrow - X-Button
Northeast facing arrow - R-Trigger
Northwest facing arrow - L-Trigger
Center Square Gem Icon - SQUARE
» In Home Mode, only the "NORMAL Beginner Mode" is
available at the outset but the following may be
unlocked if you're talented enough:
▪ HARD Professional Mode
▪ CRAZY Stepper Mode
▪ FREESTYLE Performance Mode
▪ NIGHTMARE Burning Mode
Game Songs (all from Banya) in Home Mode include:
▪ Pump Me Amadeus BPM 170
▪ Blazing BPM 158
▪ Final Audition 3 U.F. BPM 130.5
▪ Get Up! BPM 180
▪ X-Treme BPM 162
▪ Winter BPM 168
▪ Mr Larplus BPM 190
▪ Beethoven Virus BPM 162
The theme of the video in the song, "Blazing" is a gunfighter who
makes good against evil and "Final Audition 3 U.F."
features some rocking aerial combat footage.
» There's a cover version of Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me"
sung by Debbie Scott and a song that sort of sounds
like "I Saw the Sign" from Ace of Base.
» It's easy to score a perfect "A" on songs like
"Final Audition 3" where the BPM runs at a lenient
130.50 but tempt fate with "Mr. Larplus" which
scrolls along at BPM 190 and things become
challenging.
» Cues are ranked as:
Perfect
Great
Good
Bad
Miss
Max Combo
» After a game, a letter grade is also assigned
from A to F.
» Each stage requires deft reflexes and superb
motor skills but failing that, memorization is
normally good tactical planning to conquer higher
level songs.
» PIU Exceed requires an update to firmware 2.81
in order to play. The firmware is available on the
game UMD and will prompt for the user to update
once the disc is inserted into the PSP.
» Loading times are fairly lengthy and often. In
the Now Loading screen, light revolves around the
spokes of a 12-spoke radial object on the
lower-right corner of the screen. At least there's
something to watch while waiting for the UMD to
load.
» If you miss consecutive cues, you can chain the
misses together if you're looking to create a
100-miss combo.
» NCS gets offers for the PS2 and Xbox versions of
Pump it Up Exceed with Controller for $25 all the
time. We might stock some just to hold in our
inventory for the next decade...
|
|
This document and photos are ©NCSX 2006. All rights
reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of
this document may be made without express written
consent of National Console Support, Inc. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
