Camp it up with some classics...
During each song, in which you’re tasked with achieving a ranking higher than ‘C’, there are six circles that represent six different maraca positions on screen. Rhythm balls flow across the screen and when they hit these circles you need to shake your maraca or maracas in time to the music whilst moving them to the correct position.Despite being able to rack up combos and multipliers by shaking your maracas accurately, there's little depth to the gameplay and providing you have an ear for music you'll soon be swaying your hips and rattling those rumba shakers like a sexy Spanish senoritta. Although the simplicity does make Samba De Amigo instantly accessible and probably an attractive prospect to those with younger kids (it will get them off your back for a few hours), it does mean that those who are familiar with the genre may feel unchallenged, or quite simply, bored rather quickly.
Nevertheless, there are a number of highlights worthy of a mention. There are some great songs which you can really 'get down' to and give you that 'feel good' factor in the process, including Rihanna's 'Pon de Replay' and 'Hot, Hot, Hot'. There are also some decent gameplay features, such as when you have to hit a rolling note and shake your maracas feverishly or when you have to copy a pose shown on screen, for example, by holding both of your maracas at arms length or with arms raised. By giving you a short dance (arm movement) routine to mimic, it's also a chance to 'camp it up' and show off, if anyone's watching. There's no denying that watching members of your family try and get their groove on is very amusing.
Samba de Amigo does a good job at getting you into the groove by encouraging you to move and sway to the music, but in the same breath it punishes you for any over exuberance due to its over sensitive controls, sometimes registering maraca shakes even when you make the slightest movement. Unfortunately, when the majority of the tracks are extremely up-beat, its pretty difficult to keep totally still during the breaks when you’re not supposed to be shaking your instrument.
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