Posted by NeoGutsman on January 26, 2010 at 15:27:26 EST.
DJ Max Fever is now available for download via the PSN ($19.99). I bought it on Friday and have been enjoying the speedier load times. It's even faster than Clazzi' or Black Square with Data Install. I noticed at least one bug fix, so hopefully more bugs are also squashed in this version. Click for more info on this version:
Load time: Songs load in less than half the time they did before. One direct test I did measured from the time I clicked on a song to the time the song's game screen appeared: "Never Say" loaded in 16 seconds via UMD versus 7 seconds in the download version. There are some other songs which seem to load even faster than that.
Below are further observations on the PSN version:
Need to start new game save: The DD version doesn't recognize the original UMD save, which is both disappointing and encouraging. Disappointing because I am level 96 or so and I don't want to have to unlock tons of stuff again, but encouraging because needing a new save might indicate that so many bugs were fixed that the old save is incompatible. I'm level 10 now, so I must admit that it's actually fun to start over. I'm much better at the games now, so it's not gameplay versus skill-building, it's just flat-out gameplay for me.
Wallpaper glitch is still present: Unlocking wallpapers works fine, but saving them to your memory card still corrupts the images and squishes them vertically. None of the other DJ Max games do this, and it's disappointing that this is still present.
Auto-Correct: Yep, as far as I can tell it's still in there with no way to turn it off. I personally didn't have a problem with it initially, and in some ways I still don't. But there are times now when I do want it off so that I can be sure I'm truly getting better at a song or not.
Content The game seems to be exactly the same as the original UMD release content-wise. I was hoping for a hint of more songs, but nothing in the already unlocked starter songs (~48 to start with) or MV Edition section hinted at any other carryovers from DJMP 1 or 2. I'll keep playing to see if anything unexpected unlocks though.
Software Manual: The PSN version includes a digital software manual (highlight the game icon, press Triangle, then click on Software Manual). One thing I never knew was that holding down Select while the game loads allows you to change the game's language. Oh, and the manual still makes reference to an Awards screen that was only present in DJ Max Portable 2 (which is what the core of Fever is based upon).
Sin the Last Scene and Astro Fight videos play properly: These two videos end soon after they are played in the UMD version. They play all the way through in the PSN version.
Overall impressions: This is still a great bargain for a DJ Max Portable game ($19.99), particularly for people who are new to the series. The speedier load times are welcome, too. Here's hoping that the couple of seemingly fixed things I mentioned above are a good sign of other things fixed.
Follow Ups:
