You fail at DJ Max by missing those falling bars which the game calls notes. Every time you miss one you not only break your combo streak and kill your score a bit but you also drop your health bar a bit. The health bar, located on the left side of the screen, decreases the more you miss notes. When the bar falls to zero you’ll head on over to the game over screen which is a fate you are likely to visit over and over and over again. Luckily long combos replenish your health bar and give players the chance to redeem themselves before it’s too late.

The other modes available in the main game include Club DJing which is where you play a selection of a few songs in a row. Then there’s Free Style where the game throws songs at you until you fail. There is a gallery mode where you can see media that you’ve unlocked by completing challenges in the main modes and there’s a ranking chart for old fashioned bragging rights. Lastly there are some options settings that let you control where the rectangular game is positioned on the screen, what button layout you want to use, and also lets you save your accomplishments.

The 58 songs included in the game, which includes some remixes, range from pop to rock to R&B and most everything in between. Most all the songs will likely be new to you as many are licensed from Korean artists and some have been made in house by the developers at Pentavision. While some are in Korean and even Japanese the vast majority of the songs are actually in English. You can also read all the lyrics to the English songs in the manual. Besides the music the real treat that this game provides in the sound department is the ability to blend in many kinds of instruments that correspond to every button you press. In one song it can change from a guitar to an electric keyboard to a drum. DJ Max is built around sound and music and totally succeeds in using them well.

In games like this graphics are usually second fiddle but DJ Max has seen to make that a thing of the past. While the actual gameplay pieces and board are pretty average everything going on in the background, in the menus, and in the anime music videos is incredible. The drawing and animation is just top notch and really makes me excited for the future when Korea develops into a major international game creator. Everything flows together nicely and the graphical continuity really makes the game feel like one solid entity. From time to time I’ve actually caught myself watching the background of the game not caring what was going on with the gameplay and then going to the music video section to watch the video instead of playing.