PlayStation

Spice World

I enlisted in the help of a couple of female fans of the group to help me playtest this game one of whom was five and the other almost ten. Both really enjoyed constructing the re-mixes of the songs, but the younger of the girls found the co-ordination needed to do the dancing section of the game far to complicated and quickly lost interest in the game at this point. The nine year old found this easy and once we had memorised a few of the button combinations needed to perform the dance moves, quickly got through this section of the game. Both of the girls thought that the video editing was great fun and spent ages trying to record a bit where Gerry showed her butt (which they thought was hilarious!). The younger of the girls was captivated by the Spice Girls interview footage and watched it over and over again.

Mer än så är det inte och det är alldeles för lite trots att spelet har ett lägre pris än vanligt. Det hade varit roligare om spelet hade haft en handling, och framför allt om det hade krävt lite mer av spelaren.

I think that it was great to make this game; unfortunately, the game itself just does not offer enough. I think that die-hard Spice Girls fans will enjoy it, but there is just not enough. After you mix your song and go through the process once or twice, you will find that you have had enough of that. After watching the interviews, you will really have no reason to watch them again. Also, I wish the dancing was done so you actually had a little more control over what you were doing. I just never really felt like I knew what I was making my girl do. I will say that they did a great job creating the characters, they really looked like the Spice Girls and the accents were awesome, but in the end this may just not have enough substance to hold your attention for long.

Spice World is eigenlijk alleen voor de fan die simpelweg alles koopt waar 'Spice' op staat. Ik ben niet zo iemand en daarom vond ik deze game net zo interessant als een drie uur durende documentaire over het liefdesleven van de Oost-Chinese dwergsprinkhaan.

Being an admitted fan of the Spice Girls, I thought that the game was given a bad rep based purely on that it was indeed a Spice Girls game, and it would be "totally queer" for your typical alpha male testosterone filled manly man game reviewer to endorse anything so related. I thought it could be good. I gave Spice World a chance. Now I warn you against doing the same. Even if you are a fan of both the Spice Girls and video games in general, this game is not what you really really want. Zig a zig ah.

The once-catchy tunes have been mangled into a collection of painfully mismatched snippets. The normally humorous and loveable characters (who can resist Ginger's cheeky retorts or Posh's deadly stare?) have been transformed into personality-less cartoons, featuring only a few trademark idiosyncrasies. And if you're looking for any sort of storyline or gameplay whatsoever, forget it. Fifteen minutes of pressing a few buttons, and the whole thing's over. This PlayStation mess is only a piece of embarrassing cultural kitsch, a joke birthday present meant to be displayed on a shelf and played but once. Wait for the next album, the next movie, the next TV special, or whatever. But don't bother buying this game. Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh, and Sporty have all failed. Spice World is a flop.

Fans of the game will likely enjoy the Spice Network clips (video interviews and outtakes), and the initial oddity of controlling their favorite pop figures may be appealing, but the game itself should be considered a definite rent-only for even the most hardcore Spice Girls followers.