Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Gevo Entertainment
System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Rhythm and Music
Release date: Available now
Review by: Christopher J. Troilo

I always think it´s interesting when trends and fads are so blatantly obvious, that the market becomes saturated with an object or an idea. What´s fascinating is that companies try to take a concept that seems to be universally loved, and try to target very specific niche audiences over and over again, until basically everyone is tired of it and they begin searching for something new.

We´ve seen this many times throughout the decades, with all things: food, fashion, television, movies and especially video games. In television, we have seen the rise (and many would argue fall) of reality TV. And now, as we enter what I like to call the segmentation and imitation phase”, you could find reality shows for almost any profession on the world, each trying to cater to a specific interest.

In the world of video games, we´ve seen the rise of the RPG, with the Final Fantasy series leading the way in making those popular. How many Final Fantasy knockoffs” do you think you could name in 30 seconds? Later, the craze was first person shooters, once Wolfenstein 3D and Doom entered the spotlight. Then we had a little stint of sports games when Madden and NBA Jam became popular. The list goes on and on, and we´ll be able to look back and show that a type of game (rather than one specific game) was leading the industry in terms of popularity and vying for innovation. So I don´t think it´s any surprise that when people look back at this period of gaming, people will most likely think if it as the time of music games.

Many people don´t even remember the first Guitar Hero; it seems so long ago and it was relatively unknown when it was first released. If you referenced its predecessors Frequency and Amplitude, also made by Harmonix, many would look at you askew. Today however, GH and Rock Band are pretty much household names if your house has video games in it. With it, everyone is trying to get their piece of the music simulation game pie. Since GH and Rock Band appear to have the market corner on older gamers, the industry has turned to a younger audience, trying to capitalize on their interest in America Idol, High School Musical and Hannah Montana. Unless your title has one of those words in it, you can almost guarantee you´re fighting for scraps from the table. Never-the-less you´re still bound to find plenty of competing titles, which is finally where Imagine Rock Star for the DS comes in.

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