Love it or hate it, K-Pop is a popular music genre that isn’t going anywhere any time soon. K-Pop is has become undeniably popular not only in Asia, but also in other parts of the world. In fact, there is even a reality show in search of the next K-Pop star. But for those who’d like to experience just a bit of what it’s like to be a K-Pop star without having to audition for contests or perform in front of a live audience, now there’s also a game. Emerging from closed beta and recently entering open beta, MStar Online is a K-Pop themed rhythm game playable via the Garena client, and if you want to be a K-pop star, it’s definitely a game to try.
Gameplay: Your regular rhythm game. Oh, and K-Pop. Lots of it.
MStar Online is launched from the Garena Plus Messenger. Once you download and install the game, it will proceed to install the Garena Plus Messenger if you don’t already have it. When I first tried installing the game, MStar Online wasn’t available and I had to switch my Garena Plus Messenger location setting to Singapore before I could play.
If you’ve played rhythm games like Audition or Project DIVA before then apart from learning the controls, you basically have most of what you need to play MStar Online. The idea is to press a series of keys in time according to the rhythm of a certain song to make your character dance accordingly, much like in Project DIVA. The player may be asked to press a single key or a combination of keys per instance. Being able to hit the keys in time continuously earns you points; you gain no points when you miss notes. Each player dances on stage along with other players. You may compete in singles or in couples. At the end of every song, the scores are tallied and compared. The one with the highest score wins that round and gets the most rewards. On that front, MStar is a lot like other rhythm games, which I believe is okay.
So what makes MStar Online different? Well, as I said earlier, it’s K-Pop. Lots of it. All songs in the game are popular song titles by famous K-Pop stars or groups including Super Junior, Girls Generation, and Shinee. It also allows players to vote for the player with the best outfit during each performance (aside from themselves).
And speaking of outfits, I’m a sucker for character customization so I will admit I enjoyed that part. MStar Online allows customization for a lot of character details including the shape of the nose, the prominence of the cheekbones, the distance between the eyes, the location of the eyebrows, and even the color of the fingernails. I also enjoyed lurking around the shop and trying out different cosmetics. The outfits in the shop are themed in a variety of K-Pop styles perfect for every Korean pop music fan.
Visuals and Audio: So much color and more K-Pop
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