Pentavision has come a long way with music games. Starting with DJ Max online in 2004, DJ Max Portable in 2006, DJ Max Portable 2 in 2007 and DJ Max Portable Clazziquai in 2008.

So for the Christmas of 2008, Pentavision decided to unleash their most hardcore DJ Max Portable game ever. Here comes Black Square.

Before I start talking about DJ Max Portable Black Square, let me highlight the features of the previous DJ Max Portable games.

DJ Max Portable

• 4 buttons, 6 buttons and 8 buttons mode of music gameplay
• Club Repository Mode for extra challenge
• Features MVClip and OST mode which allows players to listen to music or watch the music videos without playing the song

DJ Max Portable 2

• Added 5 buttons mode gameplay
• Fever score multiplier introduced
• Mission mode introduced
• Multiplayer versus Network mode introduced
• Link Disc Mode with previous version to play DJ Max portable 1 songs introduced

DJ Max Portable Clazziquai Edition

• Auto Fever introduced
• Fever stacking introduced (Means you stack the fever to x3 or higher and use it one shot)
• Full motion background animation (More detailed and interactive music videos for songs)
• Sound Equalizer introduced (Allows players to use sound equalizer in game)
• Simplified Analog use (Players no longer need to turn the analog stick when rainbow note comes down, just hold it in one direction)
• Club Tour Mode that features Music Clubs, Music Repository Clubs and Mission Clubs which allows players to unlock game contents
• 8 buttons mode removed and new 6 button mode introduced, 4 buttons FX, which features the use of L-R triggers on top of the 4 buttons mode
• Speed change during Fever activation is allowed

So what’s so special or new about DJ Max Portable Black Square?

It brings back the hardcore gameplay from both DJ Max portable and portable 2 while using the same engine as Clazziquai Edition to improve gameplay.

So what are the changes from DJ Max Portable Clazziquai Edition?

• Fever now goes up to x7 multiplier
• Fever stacking is removed
• No speed change is allowed when fever is activated (ala DJ Max Portable  2 style)
• 8 buttons mode makes a return in this version as 6 buttons FX mode
• Club tour mode has 2 seasons, which adds more difficult mission club challenges (Max 100%, 0 Break, etc.)

Although there is not much changes from DJ Max Portable Clazziquai edition, but there are several things I would like to mention.

First of all, THE MENUS ARE SO COOL LOOKING!!!! Juse look at the images below!

Next, Pentavision has fixed many issues that were present in Clazziquai edition, such as the lag when the song begins and also the judgment being cranky and thus making high level songs a pain to play. Now when the song starts, a analog note will come down as a starter note which lets players prepare for the song and also know the speed multiplier they need just before the song starts.

Mission mode is also now harder, there are challenges like those that requires you to get 100% accuracy for the song, if not no breaks and many other challenges. Not to mention the rumored final stage in club tour requires you to play a 3 minutes long song in 6BFX mode, get 13,000 combo and 5,222,222 points to clear the stage.

Another element that pentavision introduced is the green coloured bonus note. When you hit them you get extra points added to your current pool of points, but if you miss these green notes, not allow do you lose the bonus points, but you will noticed that the song’s background music disappears until you hit the next bonus note.

With the fever maxing out at x7, it means we are going to see higher scores for songs from the previous versions, and not to mention that at x7 the song’s speed increases by x0.5, just like in DJ Max Portable 2.

Music:

Since DJ Max Portable Clazziquai edition is more suited to casual gamers and Black Square is more for hardcore players, the music between these 2 versions are very different.

Black Square features more Trance and Eurobeat songs such as:

Grave Consequence (Drum and Bass Trance)

Heart of Witch (Classical Trance)

Super Lovely (Eurobeat)

Hamsin (Trance) *Epic song from DJ Max Portable*

Son of Sun (Gabber) *The song featured in the final mission of club tour for Black Square*

There also many other songs like “Proposed, Flower, Wolf Part 2″, “Nightmare” from Portable 2, River Flow, Cypher Gate and etc.

Personal Thoughts:

For once, I feel that the songs are really hardcore and fast enough to keep on your toes all the time when you are playing, not to mention that they do not sound messy like “Brain Storm” from Portable 2, which sounded like a some random spam of beats.

Gameplay has improved a lot from Clazziquai edition. Now the judgment is more accurate and closer to Portable 2, which makes the game more enjoyable. The starter notes also helps with helping players prepare for the song and also to test the speed they should use for the song they are playing. But unfortunately, this game is not without downsides and disappointments. Firstly, hard mode is ridiculous. Although the judgment is more strict, but it’s not the judgment that makes the hard mode difficult. It’s the health penalty for every note you break. 3 breaks and it’s game over for you. This makes one feel that pentavision has cut corners to increasing the difficulty of the game by just increasing the health penalty and not making the judgement even stricter. Secondly, with the top part of the gear being translucent, it makes it difficult for you to see the notes coming down especially when the song is a “wtf-thumb-rape” song. Next, the club tour mode is absurb. I mean come on, look at those Max 100% missions. How do one get 100% accuracy in a 6 button level 8 song? It’s next to impossible! Another disappointment would the difficulty of the songs. For level 13, 14 and 15 songs, they are too easy. They are nothing compared to those level 13 songs from DJ Max Portable.

Although DJ Max Portable Black Square has a few flaws, but nevertheless it’s still a very enjoyable game for rhythmn games lovers. And for this spectacular game, I give it a 8 out 10.

But watch out you guys. The new PC version of DJ max will be coming soon. Keep a look out for DJ MAX Trilogy.

Do keep a look out for other game related articles and reviews by me. There will be more articles coming soon.