The Black Eyed Peas Experience Got That Boom Boom Pow!

We've all played dancing games before: Dance Central, Just Dance, and let's not forget Dance Dance Revolution!  Then sometimes a dancing game comes along and just turns it into something totally different.  This "game" is more of an actual "experience," however.  The name of that game is The Black Eyed Peas Experience (BEP.)  With all the other dance games out there, are those chickens jackin' their style?


   I kept seeing the commercial for the newest Rhythm / Dance game The Black Eyed Peas Experience, which will be called BEP from now on, almost every other commercial to the point that I constantly had Boom Boom Pow stuck in my head.  That's not a great thing at all, but I finally caved and got the game for Kinect.  Without further ado, I said, Let's Get it Started.

   I put the game into my Xbox and had my girlfriend next to me.  I was more than ready to Rock That Body, but I wasn't really ready for all of the Black Eyed Peas' music to blast it's way and settle into my mind.  We got ready and put on the "Dance Party" mode, which let us both play.  And by play, we mean they threw us in there and expected us to just Pump It.  I couldn't figure out those crazy moves in time and thought I was Out of My Head.  I mean, the least they can do is offer a tutorial.  Come on, Ubisoft, Meet Me Halfway.

  After flailing through the first song on the list, Boom Boom Pow, we went on to My Humps.  The dances were pretty ridiculous and what they show in those commercials are totally different than how you will actually look when "dancing."  You can refer to the picture below for more information.

                        What you think you look like                 What you actually look like

  The graphics were a little bland, I thought.  While the sets, clubs, or whatever the hell that was we were dancing in was pretty awesome and futuristic, everything else seemed like it could be a bit more polished.  The Black Eyed Peas did look like themselves, though, which is more than some other games can say.

  Overall, I'd play it again.  I can only play it in small bursts. It really wears you out.  It should be called the Black Eyed Peas Workout with some of those "dances" you do (my favorite was the Happy Feet.)  Not only because of this, I just can't listen to the Black Eyed Peas over and over for a long period of time. Don't hold it against me, Fergie!

Now, here's the bricky-bricky-breakdown:
 
Artistic Style:  It's very futuristic, which I would definitely expect from the Black Eyed Peas.  All of the members are in their costumes, which is a plus.  The "regular" people are very average, though. Some of the stages look really great, though!


Gameplay: The Kinect doesn't really get your moves when they are made.  I'm pretty sure if you simply spazzed out in front of the sensor, you'd get Incredible! all of the time.  In fact, a lot of the "moves" end up looking like spazzes.  Get ready for a lot of dancing.


Soundtrack: It's the Black Eyed Peas.  If you like 30 of their songs, it's a hit.  If not, you shouldn't even be playing this game.


Innovation:  There's not a lot here that hasn't been done before.  Well, besides the Black Eyed Peas getting their dances motion captured and put onto a video game.


Re-Playability: Moderately High.  You can keep playing to try to get the elusive "S" rank if you can stand the Black Eyed Peas' music that long, that is.

Overall Game Quality Score: 7.1



Have you played the Black Eyed Peas Experience yet?  What's your favorite Black Eyed Peas Song? Tell us in the comments below!