clickbliss

DJMAX RESPECT Review

By: RJ (@rga_02)

• DJMAX Respect
  
• Developer - Neowiz
• PlayStation 4
  

In the press email for DJMax RESPECT, it says “This really is like the “Dark Souls” of music games, so don’t be disheartened when at first you don’t succeed.”

The game is difficult, but I think it would be disheartening to compare it to Dark Souls. DJMax is its own thing, and it deserves more respect than a comparison.

DJMax as a series has been around for around 15 years ago. Usually confined to the depths of the PSP with releases limited to the Asian region, folks out in the West really never had a chance to play the series with an exception of the few select titles. Then it looks like the series as a whole was going to disappear with key figures from Neowiz leaving to form their own company.

Then out of nowhere, DJMax RESPECT was announced, but would it hold up to its previous titles?

Short answer, yes and even more.

RESPECT is the ultimate DJMax. It takes everything you love - or hate - from previous titles and makes it even better.

DJMax’s gameplay is lane based. The notes fall from the top of the screen to the bottom and you have to hit the button corresponding to the note. For those who aren’t in the loop, this is similar to games such as Guitar Hero. The songs can be played in four different difficulties including four, five, six or eight button modes.

Now there has been a lot of talk saying that this game is much more difficult than previous titles or other rhythm games out there. Me being me, I scoffed at that idea, but just to play it safe and get into the groove of the game I decided to try six-button mode.

I failed immediately.

I decided to try in five-button mode. Ditto.

Then I tried four-button mode, where I managed to full combo a song but still ended up with a B-rank. At this point, my ego was inflated and I tried another song at the same difficulty level and I failed that. This game didn’t have the artificial difficulty of Dark Souls, it was legitimately difficult.

With DJMax you have to try and work your way to get better. For players who don’t have the time or just want to play casually, you can ease your way into the game by slowing down the speed of the notes – but I wouldn’t recommend that as it would mess up your tempo. With that in mind, there is nothing more satisfying with working your way to the top. The game gives back so much to you in return for your patience.

The game boasts over 100 songs. Most of them come from the older PSP titles but there are a lot of original songs to boot. The songs range from K-Pop (no KARA though) to House, so there is a wide range of genres to appease everyone out there.

There are also some cosmetics to unlock, which range from different bars to difficulty modifiers such as fading notes.

RESPECT also offers a variety of modes to keep you entertained. There is a traditional arcade mode where you have to complete three songs in a row. Freestyle mode is where you can play any song that you unlocked as you desire. A Mission mode where you have to do certain tasks during a song. Lastly, there is an online mode as well.

If you give this game the respect it deserves it will hand it back to you. It deserves more than a Dark Souls comparison, in the end, it is just DJMax game and it lives up to that moniker well.

Read Amr’s review here.