http://wii.ign.com/articles/882/882877p1.html

UK, June 19, 2008 - As anyone old enough to own a Dreamcast and have a hundred quid lying around in the year 2000 will contest, Samba de Amigo is the best game ever made. That, fun fans, is official, demonstrable fact and a position we will happily back up with unrestrained physical violence aimed toward any detractors.

Needless to say, when SEGA announced it was set to yank the maraca-waggling franchise out of retirement and onto the Wii (or Dreamcast 2 as we like to call it), our minds were a bewildered mix of glorious delight and nervous trepidation. After all, developer Gearbox isn't exactly known for its proficiency in the rhythm-action field and, well, let's not forget NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, eh, SEGA?

Monkeys and boobies! What more could you possible want?

So here's the good news: we've played the latest build of Samba Wii and it's completely brilliant, even at this stage. In fact, we're already shunting this one to the top of our potential Game of the Year list in the UK office (well, this particular writer is and nobody else needs to know). It's that good, and so completely what we wanted from our brand new slab of Samba, this is probably the happiest day of 2008 so far.

So then, our single biggest fear for Samba Wii was quite simply whether the damn thing would actually work with the Wiimote and nunchuck controllers, given the horrors most third-party developers conjure when attempting to wrap their brains around Nintendo's untraditional input devices. When we first saw an early build of Samba Wii a couple of months ago, the answer was a resounding 'no', the game apparently calibrated specifically for use by seizure-prone octopi. How things have changed in that time though – sceptics can rest easy in the knowledge that both the Wiimote and nunchuck work incredibly well.

Hustle mode, introduced in Japan-only Samba de Amigo: Ver. 2000.

Admittedly, the nunchuck still isn't quite as sensitive as it should be, making for a slightly more vigorous shaking experience than is probably strictly necessary but there's absolutely no doubt that it works and, with Gearbox still tightening controls up prior to release, we've every confidence that Samba aficiandos and newcomers will be chuffed with the developer's control implementation. To give you some perspective, we played through all ten tracks currently in the game (SEGA expects a total of around 40 on the final disc) in a variety of modes all the way up to 'hard' difficulty and barely had a problem once. Bar the very occasional nunchuck sensitivity issue, Samba Wii happily kept up with our expertly-honed shaking skills, including that all-important contortionist limb-crossing every expert samba player has in their arsenal.

We're also happy to report that, despite initial worries, the linking cable in the default controller set-up is far from a constricting factor in frantic limb-flailing. Admittedly, if you've got the arm-span of a Boeing 747, you might run into problems but everyone else should be fine. In fact, it's far less intrusive than the original Dreamcast peripheral's dangling cable which had a tendency to either tangle around your feet or fly up after a particularly violent rattle and nut you in the face. Still, SEGA is including the option to play wire-free with two remotes so, if you really take umbrage, you're covered

Elsewhere, everything is pretty much as you'd expect – which, for once, is completely fine by us. This latest build features a sample of single-player and multiplayer modes, the latter consisting of Quick Play, Love Love and Battle games. Quick Play does exactly what it says, offering the chance to jump right into a song on one of three difficulty settings (although we're expecting options way above mere 'hard', so seasoned Samba pros shouldn't despair) and select between either Original or Hustle modes. Original features the classic rhythm-based shaking and posing, while Hustle throws in a more dance-based twist, tasking you with adopting and shimmying through a number of different dance poses. Personally, we're not huge fans of Hustle, given how it breaks up our obsessively well-practiced shaking. That said, it does make for an utterly ridiculous spectacle, which is always good for a laugh in group situations.

Love Love mode - scientifically proven to make somebody fancy you.

Co-operative Love Love mode makes a return, measuring how rhythmically matched you and a special pal are as you shake your way through a song. At the end, you're arbitrarily awarded a compatibility rating. In other words, if you've got the coordination of a drunken spider and the love of your life moves like post-embarrassment Britney Spears, you might want to stay well clear. Finally, for now at least, there's Battle mode which stole the most time during our hands-on - mainly because we're brilliant at Samba de Amigo, our friendly PR man isn't and we really, really like winning. In a nutshell, you and a friend embark on a frenzied shake-off, every successful on-beat rattle building up points on the bomb that sits in the middle of your half of the screen. Your goal is to hit the beat – miss and you'll lose a few points - until you reach 100. Succeed and you'll toss your bomb at your opponent, knocking a chunk off their health bar until someone's out. It's wildly ridiculous but strangely, competitively addictive at the same time – which sums multiplayer Samba de Amigo up pretty well, all in all.

This bedazzling backdrop means you're doing spectacularly well. We see it a lot.

There's still plenty SEGA's remaining tight-lipped about, admittedly, with Samba's classic roster of party games – including the likes of Whack-a-Mole – missing from the current build. What we do know is that Samba Wii will feature online options in some form or other, with SEGA prepared to go as far as talking about online leaderboards before clamming up following our more probing questions regarding downloadable content. Whatever ends up in this Wii version though, we're both relieved and genuinely giddy that Gearbox has that classic Samba gameplay in the bag already. Sure, we miss those plastic maracas but the Wiimote-based alternative is incredibly solid and as entertaining as ever. Visually, it's also a riot, with those classic pulsating Samba backdrops full of life and colour, plus things are looking promising on the song roster front too. With ten tracks currently confirmed – including the Macarena, Aserejé (AKA The Ketchup Song) and Papa Loves Mamba – SEGA promises the remaining 30-ish songs will consist of samba classics and more modern offerings. Just so long as El Ritmo Tropical makes a return, we're happy, frankly.

Really though, all you need to know is that, eight years on, the little monkey fella's unique brand of high-energy beat-matching is as daftly compelling as ever and this Wii version, even without those plastic maracas, works a treat. SEGA still has a ton to reveal but, based on the quality of this latest build, it looks like Samba de Amigo fans and newcomers are in for something a bit special come September. Frankly, and we mean this quite sincerely, if this isn't the party game of 2008, we'll eat our sombreros.

Read the bolded part I hope it never disappoints

thats good im looking foward to it

PARTY GAME of 2008, not GOTY of 2008, very different.

Quality support from Sega confirmed?

Sounds fun. Not completely writing this one off anymore.

Would need to try it first but it does look fun.

I overlooked this game. If it gets good scores I will try it out.

Wow... please let this be as awesome as it sounds.

wow, just wow lol