As much as I’ve been enjoying telling the world where I am, what I’m doing, and how delicious the food is where I’m at through Foursquare, Facebook Places, or Booyah!’s MyTown, I always felt something else could be done with my check-ins. What if you can make a game out of check-ins? That’s exactly what Booyah! set out to do when it began working on its next project, DJ Rivals.
DJ Rivals is a mix between a check-in app and a music rhythm game where you take your customized character to various locations within your town, or any other town you can think of in the US, to take on DJ Drones that have infiltrated the location. Once you clear the location of drones, you’ll earn the right to become that location’s House DJ which allows you to collect money from that location even while you’re away. Not only can you fight DJ Drones, but you can also jump into the Arena to take on Player DJs. Player DJs are DJs that other players have created that you can battle against. It’s not a true 1-on-1 versus mode as the player you’re fighting is controlled by the game’s AI, but it doesn’t matter as the battle really varies on what kind of gear your opponent is equipped with.
The way you battle in DJ Rivals is you select an attack from one of your three attack slots. Each attack has its own way of performing them in order to initiate the attack successfully. If you miss an input, the amount of damage you deal to your opponent is reduced. Every time a battle starts, a 30-second song plays and then loops once it reaches its end. The music plays a huge part in the game as the only way you can successfully initiate an attack is by following the song’s beat.
As you complete battles, you’ll earn experience points (XP) that will allow your character to level up once a specific amount of XP is reached. Once that happens, you can add points to your stats that will improve their attacks, health, and a number of other stats. You’ll also be able to purchase a number of gear that are only accessible at a certain level. Once you reach the necessary level, and have enough cash, you can purchase new attacks, DJ decks, and some other items to help make you a tougher DJ.
One thing I found to be annoying is how the game limits the player on how many battles you can perform within a certain period of time. Granted, as you level up your character’s stamina and adrenaline so you can battle more Drones or Player DJs, but as you level up and become a stronger DJ, the amount it costs to fight Drones & Player DJs increases as well. If I want to play a game, I want to enjoy it for however much time I have to play. I don’t like feeling like a little kid being told I’ve played for too long once I reach my limit. All that does is it makes me want to go play another iOS game until I can go back to DJ Rivals to play some more…. if I remember to go back to it.
FINAL THOUGHT: Booyah! did a great job marrying a check-in app with a music rhythm game. The only downside of the game is how it puts a halt on the action when things are just starting to get good. When you consider it’s a completely free game, then that downside can be forgiven with how fun and engaging the game can be.
DJ Rivals (Free) – [iTunes Link]
