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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Music Developer: Smackdown Productions Publisher: Ignition Entertainment |
When an energy drink is added to a title of a video game, it is questionable about the quality of the game players will get. In “Red Bull
BC One,” crudely rendered digital b-boys bust moves on the top screen of the Nintendo DS while the player connects the dots on the
bottom screen. It is a out of the ordinary little game that is dressed like a break dance title, but it doesn’t have the game play to back up
the overall trash talk. The game mechanics don’t have anything to do with the activity they are supposed to be based on. While Red
Bull has a great soundtrack and its core mechanics could work in a different game, the disorganized themes will likely leave both b-boy
fans and regular gamers mildly dissatisfied with this particular package.
For those who don’t know what Red Bull BC One is in real life, it is an annual international break dancing event sponsored by the
energy drink company Red Bull. It is an individual b-boy competition and the main event is a knockout tournament featuring sixteen b-
boys competing in one on one battles decided by a panel of five judges. The winners of worldwide regional knockout tournaments
preceding the main event, along with the prior year’s top finishers as well as wild card selections, comprise the final group of 16. The
main evet was first help in Biel, Switzerland in 2004 and it has been held annually since. In 2005 the event took place in Berlin
Germany, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil, 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa and the 2008 main event was held in Paris, France. The 2009
event will take place in New York City.
For gamers, luckily there aren’t a large amount of advertisements littering the game environments and menus of “Red Bull BC One” the
game. The game plays out through a variety of one on one b-boy battles that are each set up with some of the cheesiest, most childish
trash talking to ever be heard. Some of the lines are even recycled for later opponents in the game.
In order to get their character to perform in each competition, players use their stylus to connect dots on the touch screen and form a
variety of shapes. At first players will start by connecting simple rectangles and triangles on screen, but soon the patterns that players
will have to draw on the screen will become much more elaborate and more difficult to draw. Each series of shapes must be
completed within a specific time limit or players will lose a chance. Players will also mess up if they try to connect the line to a dot that
they have already touched or to the wrong shape altogether. When players successful complete an outline of a specific shape they will
trigger a break move, but since player’s eyes are going to be fixed on the touch screen, they will miss most of the performance on the
screen. One nice feature to the game is the ability for players to freestyle and connects the dots in additional ways if they are able to
complete the shapes and have some extra time remaining on the clock. This will earn the player bonus points. For each match, a point
amount must be earned in order to proceed to the next level.
The music that players will experience in the game is all danceable hip-hop, but most of it sounds like two different producers did the
music heard in the menu and the in game songs. The in-game music is a little bit cheesier than the menu music, but overall the music
in “Red Bull BC One” creates one of the greatest soundtracks that players will want to grab a pair of headphones and listen to, for a hip-
hop game about b-boys. Players will also notice that a large majority of the sound effects that can be heard in the game are all
recognizable hip-hop samples.
The dancers in “Red Bull BC One” have a really weird; early ‘90s look to them. They are all a little bit blocky and lack any real detail. It is
hard to tell if the developers of the game were going for something that looked really edgy, but it reminds players of the first Virtua
Fighter game. Though that specific look may have been very impressive back in 1993, it looks a little bit too old school for most players.
Again, players won’t have much time to notice the graphics of the game because of the fact that they are too busy connecting the dots,
but a more appealing visual design would have made the game a much more engaging game altogether.
Though it may be a lot of fun to watch break dancing, and “Red Bull BC One” has a core game play element of connect the dots
mechanic that is quite fun, but together they two create a very confusing game that doesn’t have much to do with the culture of the activity
of b-boy battles. It is as if Red Bull wants to try to extend its brand into videogames but didn’t know how to translate break dancing into a
control scheme, so this random design was tacked onto the game. The “connect the dots” mechanic could be any generic puzzle
game. “Red Bull BC One” sounds great and plays alright, but it feels a little awkward and unneeded.
BC One,” crudely rendered digital b-boys bust moves on the top screen of the Nintendo DS while the player connects the dots on the
bottom screen. It is a out of the ordinary little game that is dressed like a break dance title, but it doesn’t have the game play to back up
the overall trash talk. The game mechanics don’t have anything to do with the activity they are supposed to be based on. While Red
Bull has a great soundtrack and its core mechanics could work in a different game, the disorganized themes will likely leave both b-boy
fans and regular gamers mildly dissatisfied with this particular package.
For those who don’t know what Red Bull BC One is in real life, it is an annual international break dancing event sponsored by the
energy drink company Red Bull. It is an individual b-boy competition and the main event is a knockout tournament featuring sixteen b-
boys competing in one on one battles decided by a panel of five judges. The winners of worldwide regional knockout tournaments
preceding the main event, along with the prior year’s top finishers as well as wild card selections, comprise the final group of 16. The
main evet was first help in Biel, Switzerland in 2004 and it has been held annually since. In 2005 the event took place in Berlin
Germany, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil, 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa and the 2008 main event was held in Paris, France. The 2009
event will take place in New York City.
For gamers, luckily there aren’t a large amount of advertisements littering the game environments and menus of “Red Bull BC One” the
game. The game plays out through a variety of one on one b-boy battles that are each set up with some of the cheesiest, most childish
trash talking to ever be heard. Some of the lines are even recycled for later opponents in the game.
In order to get their character to perform in each competition, players use their stylus to connect dots on the touch screen and form a
variety of shapes. At first players will start by connecting simple rectangles and triangles on screen, but soon the patterns that players
will have to draw on the screen will become much more elaborate and more difficult to draw. Each series of shapes must be
completed within a specific time limit or players will lose a chance. Players will also mess up if they try to connect the line to a dot that
they have already touched or to the wrong shape altogether. When players successful complete an outline of a specific shape they will
trigger a break move, but since player’s eyes are going to be fixed on the touch screen, they will miss most of the performance on the
screen. One nice feature to the game is the ability for players to freestyle and connects the dots in additional ways if they are able to
complete the shapes and have some extra time remaining on the clock. This will earn the player bonus points. For each match, a point
amount must be earned in order to proceed to the next level.
The music that players will experience in the game is all danceable hip-hop, but most of it sounds like two different producers did the
music heard in the menu and the in game songs. The in-game music is a little bit cheesier than the menu music, but overall the music
in “Red Bull BC One” creates one of the greatest soundtracks that players will want to grab a pair of headphones and listen to, for a hip-
hop game about b-boys. Players will also notice that a large majority of the sound effects that can be heard in the game are all
recognizable hip-hop samples.
The dancers in “Red Bull BC One” have a really weird; early ‘90s look to them. They are all a little bit blocky and lack any real detail. It is
hard to tell if the developers of the game were going for something that looked really edgy, but it reminds players of the first Virtua
Fighter game. Though that specific look may have been very impressive back in 1993, it looks a little bit too old school for most players.
Again, players won’t have much time to notice the graphics of the game because of the fact that they are too busy connecting the dots,
but a more appealing visual design would have made the game a much more engaging game altogether.
Though it may be a lot of fun to watch break dancing, and “Red Bull BC One” has a core game play element of connect the dots
mechanic that is quite fun, but together they two create a very confusing game that doesn’t have much to do with the culture of the activity
of b-boy battles. It is as if Red Bull wants to try to extend its brand into videogames but didn’t know how to translate break dancing into a
control scheme, so this random design was tacked onto the game. The “connect the dots” mechanic could be any generic puzzle
game. “Red Bull BC One” sounds great and plays alright, but it feels a little awkward and unneeded.
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