SDO VS Audition

Today, I shall talk about and compare two online dancing games I've played before, Super Dancer Online (SDO) and Audition.

Firstly, development and maintenance. I do not know which country developed SDO, but is maintained by a gaming company in Malaysia. Audition, on the other hand, (and I'm refering to AuditionSEA) is developed in Korea and maintained in Singapore. With that, obviously Audition gives more customer support and stuff. Yes, this is nationalism and discrimination all brewed and mixed together in a dangerous but efficient ratio.

Whatever. Anyway, since both games are dancing games, songs obviously are important. Audition, being developed in Korea, has, as far as I can tell, a bunch of Korean songs. Yup, Korean songs. Correct me if I am mistaken, but I seem to notice Korean songs and only Korean songs. SDO, on the other hand, has a mixture of English, Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Hokkien, Korean and probably a few others. Want some examples? Let's see... She Bangs by Ricky Martin and Bad Day by Daniel Powter in English, 霍元甲 by 周杰倫 and 大舌头 by 吴克群 in Chinese, Kenapa and Kembali Senyum in Malay (which I have no clue about other than their song titles), 爱拼才会赢 in Hokkien, Girls on Top by BoA in Korean. And Japanese? Eternal Pose, 15th ending in One Piece! <3 Refer to here and here for more information. Both lead to posts in my blogs. So anyway, obviously songs in SDO are better.

Next, graphics. Both uses 3D engines, with 3D characters and 3D locations. Locations both seem equally match. SDO has locations with minor details included, while Audition is not that "bulky" as in weaker 3D engines. Characters wise, both games are good, but I'll give Audition the thumbs up, as buying clothes in SDO is difficult if you don't pay. -.-

Gameplay wise, SDO pwns Audition, no other words. SDO is like Dance Dance Revolution. During a certain beat or tune in song, an arrow pops up and you press the button. Simple. The arrows perfectly follow the rhythm and the tune. Like during the "Huo Huo Huo Huo Huo Huo Huo Huo" part in Huo Yuan Jia, you have to press the arrowkeys in exactly the way Jay Chou sings, something like ". . .. . .. .". I took a while to master that. -.- Audition, on the other hand, does not follow the rhythm of the song. You choose a set of arrowkeys out of three apparently random arrowkeys, press them, then wait for a sliding thing to reach the center and press space bar, similar to how Tidus' Overdrive in Final Fantasy X works. No following of rhythm. No following of beat. Just a "freaking press the buttons, wait for the slider to go to the middle, hit the space bar and repeat" game. Yawn.

Conclusion: SDO > Audition.

Honestly, I enjoyed SDO ever since Dave introduced it to me, and have still been enjoying it now. Audition, on the other hand, made me wasted six to seven hours downloading it, and I uninstalled it and sent it to the trash bin right after tolerating through one game, which I got bored 25% through.

Come over to the light, brothers and sisters. Stop playing Audition! SDO pwns!