MTV Music Generator 2.0
Score: 90% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Codemasters Developer: Jester Interactive Media: 1/0 Players: 1-4 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: For a music creation product such as MTV Music Generator 2.0, you would expect that this would be the whole review. Indeed, this is the most important aspect of the game - what it sounds like and what it looks like... The music that can be made with MTV Music Generator 2.0 can sound pretty good. You've got some good material to work with on the disc, and if you pick up the available USB Sampler from Joytech, you can sample in your own sounds and manipulate them to create your own unique, original sounds and songs. As I mentioned, the songs you can create are basically limited only by your imagination. You can create anything from Hip-Hop to Rock, House to R&B or from Trance to Pop. ...or you can mix elements of these to create your own original sound and possibly start your own genre! (hey - it could happen!) The bad side of the music samples is the voice-clips. It's just hard to make any real use of the voice clips. If you want to break into the biz, you'll need to use the USB microphone device to sample your own sounds in, anyway. The graphics, on the other hand, are magnificent. They're not necessarily putting the emotion engine through its paces, but there are some really cool effects that can be achieved. Finally some really neat 3D effects can be mixed to your music to make a really cool video. (Now, maybe the next version could allow for video input...? Perhaps after the hard drives are popular...?)
Gameplay: MTV Music Generator 2.0 is not so much a game as it is an application. However, if you like making and mixing music, it can provide hours of entertainment. Could this ever turn into something more than just a time-killer for you? Well, I'm not going to name any names, but I've heard somgs on the radio that sound like they could easily have been made using some of the loops in MTV Music Generator 2.0... so the question is - how serious are you about it? It's just a game, isn't it...
Difficulty: For those of you who have used MTV Music Generator before, you'll need to get used to a slightly different interface. The interface is now 'top down', instead of 'right to left'. This means that your music piece scrolls up as you play it, instead of from right to left. This can take a bit of getting used to. Also, since MTV: MG2.0 doesn't support a mouse, it's a bit more awkward to move around than on the PC version. All-in-all, MTV Music Generator 2.0 will take some practice to get proficient in it, but if you've got the patience, you can really make some cool tunes.
Game Mechanics: The graphics capabilities of the PS2 allow for some really cool and interesting videos. The video editor is a little less intuitive than the music sequencer, but with a little bit of experimentation, great results can be achieved. One small problem I noticed in the music editing area is a tendency to omit the first half measure (typically of a drum part) during playback. I find it's about 50-50; the first time I try to play the song, it doesn't play the first little piece, the next time it does. This is not a huge bother, but I felt that it deserved a mention.
-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins
Mister Mosquito Rez