The game market's a weird place. On one hand, you might stumble across a game that's accessible to just about everyone and becomes a big hit overnight. But on the other, there's a game release that's built strictly for a hardcore fanbase or those who are curious to try something new with the genre, although that might not necessarily mean instant appeal from the get-go. Konami was trying to go for the former with the release of their game Beatmania, but, unfortunately, the game instead caters to the latter.

If the same sounds familiar, it should. Konami's been working on Beatmania games in Japan for home systems and arcades since the late 90's, putting together an interface and lacing it with a controller scheme that resembles a mixing board, with a turntable and several black and white buttons scattered across. This game marks the debut of the series in the US, eight years later. It's a little late in coming, but one can't help but think that the game misses on two counts- its timing of release, and its somewhat tightened play style.

I say timing of release because I know many of you are into the likes of Guitar Hero, Redoctane's successful answer to Konami's Guitar Freaks series in Japan. That game knew how to introduce a friendly interface that was easy to get into. Konami's Beatmania is a bit more complex, due to a fast-scrolling bar with minimal dashes that leave little room for error. And then you have the play style in itself, which definitely seems better fitted for the more progressive players. Those who master this series well into the ground (and seem to have some kind of musical instrument in their hand) will approach this with grit.

That's not to say the game plays bad. It plays fine once you get into it and get training down right, and soon you're getting the hang of the scheme and building combos. You probably won't be building massive triple-digit combos anytime soon, but with time, you may find yourself getting to know this play system and getting some enjoyment out of it.

But a couple of snags keep Beatmania from being a prime DJ. The first off is the visual presentation in itself. It's already hard enough as it is trying to keep an eye on a fast-scrolling bar with little marks here and there, but a virtual display comes into play with flashing lights, scrolling words, weird animation and more. I'm all for insane design in a music game (after all, it lends to the flavor), but this gets borderline hard to watch if you're distracted easily. If you're used to it, though, the game looks fine.

But there is absolutely no forgiving the game's terrible music selection. Made up mostly of prime techno beats, the occasional offbeat tune, and a fathomable take on the Metal Gear Solid theme, it just isn't really that fun to play with. Most music games manage to have good party tunes, but this seems to play out like the soundtrack to a party that you just don't get, or fit in with. Seeing as how many Beatmania releases surfaced in the past, I find it hard to believe that Konami considered this soundtrack instead of an obviously better one.

If you can get past these hurdles and deal with its numerous flaws, you'll find yourself getting into the game's numerous modes, and enjoying the sturdy controller. It's a nice unit with the turntable and the buttons, although the buttons occasionally get stuck if you're not too careful. The game also offers a multiplayer mode, where you can take on a friend in DJ-spinning mastery, but that requires dropping some serious coin on a second mixing board controller, if you can track one down. Suffice to say, you might have to find a friend who owns a copy of the game to get that.

Beatmania does deserve some kind of US release, and I'm glad to see Konami take a chance on it, but it seems the effort went to waste on a couple of bad decisions, namely the overactive visual layout and the music selection from hell. Perhaps Konami will consider a sequel release with the kind of music that has you feeling vibes naturally and not forcing yourself to try and get into them, as well as something leaning more towards a casual crowd. After all, part of the appeal of music is to reach out to new people, and you aren't going to do that making them struggle.