Like most of you out there, my first introduction into musical videogames was with Parappa the Rappa. I remember putting in the demo disc and trying to keep up with Mr. Onion that world famous rapper, and to be honest I sucked at it at first. One boring night we headed off to Blockbuster and rented the full game, and the rest is history. "Ribbit Ribbit, I cannot hold it, last toilet that I found I almost broke it", wed say over and over, never failing to chuckle. While I didnt enjoy the sequel much, I still enjoy the genre. That is why I was looking forward to TVDJ, Sonys foray into the rhythm-music scene.

The gameplay of this title is going to be difficult to convey, but Ill do my best. The events take place at the Cartoon Channel, which has been suffering from low ratings as of late. It is up to you to splice scenes from a cartoon together, and raise the channel's ratings. The game begins with a tutorial mode, which is helpful, except for the duck character screaming at the top of his lungs. The basic controls are as follows: Triangle is one block, square is two, O is three, and X is four. As the cartoon runs, your cursor moves from left to right, and you must hit the appropriate button to fill in the space. This must be done in rhythm, because when you hit a button the rainbow block shoots up, and you must hit another button right when it lands. To keep you from hitting X all the way through the game, you must raise the meter on the left side of the screen. There is a particular level that you must achieve before the end of the cartoon, or you have to do it all over. By using different combinations, not only will you change what happens in the cartoon; youll raise the level in the meter. Since you are so busy focusing on what is going on in the bottom of the screen you will not be able to see the cartoon you are creating as you play. Fortunately when you are done, a complete replay is shown for your enjoyment, and your ratings for that show are presented.


As the cartoon runs, your cursor moves from left to right, and you must hit the appropriate button to fill in the space.

This game utilizes the same Cell-Shading technique found in Jet Grind Radio, and it looks fantastic. For those of you that dont know what Cell-Shading is, Ill be happy to tell you. Simply put, its a technique that draws black lines around a character composed of polygons; this creates the illusion of a hand drawn character. While you can still tell that you are watching a video game, there are moments where it looks just as good as a real cartoon. Each character is drawn nicely, and vibrant colors are used to detail the environments. While the levels you go through arent all that original, theres an old west shoot-out, a car chase, and a Pepe Le Pew inspired level, they are well done and once again, brightly colored.

The sound in the game has its high points as well. Even though the game is entirely in Japanese, the actors are able to convey fear, happiness, love, and sadness just by changing the inflection of their voices, thus making the game enjoyable for the average importer. The ducks voice was so annoying it made we want to find Mike Tyson and ask him to bite my ears off. Lucky for me he played a small role outside of the tutorial. Since this game is similar to Parappa, you might be thinking outstanding music would be a necessity in this title. The truth is, the rhythm that you press the buttons in does not follow that of the music, so the music is not as important as one might think. The music on a whole is decidedly average. The only song that stood out in my mind was the Wild West song. Overall I feel like the audio in this game is above average, but could have been improved in some areas.

While this game sounds like it might be great, there is one glaring issue that holds this game back; challenge. Simply put, there is none. Thats right, Ive had a more difficult time peeling and orange than what I had playing this game. From the time I put the disc in, to the time I finished 30 minutes had elapsed. That includes the tutorial, and trying to navigate the all-Japanese menus. There is no excuse for making a game this short, and if this title makes it across the Pacific, Sony had better seriously consider adding some new levels. Im not sure what demographic this game is being marketed to in Japan, but I have a feeling the only ones getting a challenge are the ones who ride the short bus to school. What was beginning to be a very enjoyable gaming experience was essentially ruined because I was not able to play long enough to get into the game. If this one makes it stateside you may want to check it out as a rental, but as it stands now its not worth $50 to import.