One of the strongest aspects of Britney's Dance Beat is the graphics. While they have a tendency to look flat at times, the presentation goes a long way towards giving the game that over-the-top flashy stage look. The character animation is smoother than a bald Billy Dee Willaims. The designers even threw in a few extra goodies, such as flowing hair, moving wallet chains, and a video screen in the background showing clips from the Britney's videos.

Since this is Britney's game, it should be obvious that she would make at least one appearance. During the introduction, a CGI version of Britney welcomes you to the game. It's cool to see, however there's just something about the model that is liable to scare small children. The in-game model of Britney is excellent. The face is a little stiff looking, but it's still a good likeness.

You would think a game with a multi-platinum selling singer's name attached to it would have a good soundtrack. Any you would be right. What I can't understand is why there are so few songs. Let's do the math. In her short career, Britney has released three albums. Each CD has about 12 songs on them, making for a total of roughly 36 songs. So why are there only 5 songs in the entire game? Baby one more time, Stronger, Oops...I Did It again, Stronger, Slave 4 U and Overprotected - that's all you get. On the GBA version this was forgivable due to limited space, but the PS2 version is on a DVD, so space shouldn't be that big an issue. I'm not a big Britney fan and even I can name at least two or three songs off the top of my head that could be used - more if I actually cared to do some research.

'Game Concept by Britney Spears' - Page 14 of the BDB instruction book

If anything, Britney's Dance Beat proves that making a game is not as easy as it seems. BDB isn't necessarily a bad game, it's just not a very good one either. Running on the Bust-a-Groove engine, the entire point of the game is to work your way through 10 auditions in order to dance with Britney on stage. As the pointer hits a part of the dial, you press the corresponding direction. In order to spice things up, the button presses will sometimes move positions or have something added to them. This all depends on how well your opponent is doing. As you complete songs, you gain points which are used to unlock backstage passes. Unless you are a major fan, the videos are about as interesting as watching CSPAN. I would have rather had more songs than clips of Britney racing scooters with her little sister or goofing off before a show.

Considering the build-up it receives, dancing with Britney is a let down. I was expecting a neat stage set-up with crowds of people and lots of smoke and light effects - that would have been cool. Yet, all I got was my character dancing with Britney in one of the 'audition rooms' and then the fear-inducing CGI Britney congratulating me.

The single player game is very short and can be beaten in less that three hours, all depending on your rhythm and hand-eye coordination. A two-player mode is also offered, but since there are only five songs, the thrill is short lived.

The only word I have to describe BDB is cheap. For some reason or another you are always on the short end of the stick in regards to...well everything. After every 10-move combo, your opponent's dial is messed up in some way. Sometimes it's a new button press or one an icon moving to a different spot on the dial. However, even in the earliest stages, it seemed like the computer could throw these monkey-wrenches at you regardless of how well it is doing. Button presses appear out of nowhere then take frequent sojourns all over the dial - it's ridiculous. What's worse, whenever you get ahead of the computer, it decides to go into solo mode to help even things out. After some practice, you learn to anticipate things, but since this game is aimed towards younger players - the likelihood of them having that much patience is remote.

Britney's Dance Beat gives you three control options. The first uses the face buttons to perform dance moves. This option is for gamers with Jedi-like reflexes since the button combinations get very complicated - especially in the later auditions. Those with a little less dexterity can use the directional pad option. The preferred, and most fun, method is the dance pad option. Regardless of which option you choose, you won't get far unless you have good rhythm.

As much as I hate to admit it, part of me was interested in this game. I'm not a Britney fan, but it's an interesting concept for a dance game. However, the result is a big disappointment. The cheap AI, combined with a lack of songs and limited replay options, makes the game comes off as only half done. BDB is a fun rental, but if you're going for a good dancing game you're better off with something else.