I hate dancing.  I've never been a fan of it.  Of course, then women came along and if we wanted to get with them we would have to put up with it.  So, eventually, since the idea of being close to a woman sounded appealing, so did the idea of dancing.  This is very similar to my reaction of a little game I recently picked up called Space Channel 5; which contrary to popular belief, is NOT a "Dance, Dance, Revolution" knock off.  Space Channel 5 has quite a bit of character and a silly sharp wit that is unmatched in it's particular genre.  Where as the point of DDR is to, well, dance; SC5 takes that idea and game play and applies it to a wonderful story with excellent characters. 

          You play as an enthusiastic reporter (Ulala) in the year 2499 trying to get her first big break into the entertainment industry.  Fortunately for her, and her TV station (Space Channel 5) they've caught an important lead that could definitely increase the channel's TV ratings.  A space port on Earth has been taken over by these funky looking little aliens who are attacking all the pedestrians and workers with ray guns.  What might these ray guns do you might ask...make them dance of course!  It's up to Ulala and a few friends to take care of the situation and get to the bottom of the alien attack. 

         The game play is fairly simple.  Whoever you're dancing against will call out and perform a set of moves.  After they're finished, it's Ulala's turn to take a crack at it.  While it may seem overly simple, I've found that whenever I've had a friend give the game a try, it's seemingly difficult because you REALLY need to listen to and time it to the music.  It's a very precise craft that can be mastered after a few runs through.  If you perform the moves well, your TV stations ratings go up; and if you suck it up, they go down.  You also have a sort of "rating quota" you have to meet for each mission.  Now while that's pretty much the whole concept of the game, there's lots of little things that make it shine.

          As the game progresses the characters really grow on you.  There's even a very special guest along the way (I won't spoil it for ya'!).  It's the characters that make Space Channel 5 an excellent game and it's the characters that set it apart from virtually every game I've ever played.  That's not to say though that the characters are the only entertaining portion of the game.  I haven't even gotten to the music!

          SC5 doesn't merely rehash worn out techno riffs; the music is done quite professionally and it sounds fabulous.  I've caught myself humming the beats on several different occasions.  The only game that could even possibly rival SC5's style of music is that of Jet Grind (and Jet Set) Radio.  Since this technically is a dancing game, the music plays a huge part, and it NEVER gets old.  That in itself is an accomplishment.  At the end I was left just wanting more and more, which is unfortunate because you can beat the game relatively quickly.         

               Space Channel 5 is NOT a long game.  However, the replay value is very nice.  Each time you play it through after you've beaten it, the scenarios are slightly different.  Different locations, and different dance combinations.  I believe that the bosses stay the same, but it's none the less refreshing to play over and over again because of it's addicting and entertaining nature.