As the groovy, 22-year old space reporter Ulala, its your job to save the galaxy and increase the viewer rating of your show by out-dancing your opponents. Its basically an elaborate version of "Simon Says" in which the opponent lays down a dance move, and you have to copy it.

It all moves in time to the music's funky dance beats, which are the perfect accompaniment to the retro-futuristic visual style of the game. If you do well with the dancing, you'll rescue humans who will follow behind you, eventually creating a train of choreographed dancers. Do poorly and the music will turn ugly, your dancers will hang their heads, and your ratings will drop. It is a hilarious concept that is pulled off beautifully.

Thankfully, there are plenty of noticable differences from the original. Most of them are problems the original game had that are now cleaned up:

• Ulala and friends are a lot more energetic and full of motion, instead of the stiff mechanical dancing of the original.
• Some of the timing issues for button input have been fixed.
• The enviornments are now 3D areas, instead of the pre-rendered Computer Animated areas of the first game. Although the levels don't look quite as spectacular as the original, it was a very needed change. The camera is now free to go wherever it wants, instead of being chained down to the pre-determined CG angles.
• Saving characters really adds to the music. Instead of only lasting for a measure or two like the previous game, Cheer Leaders now cheer with the chorus, dogs bark on the beat, and children sing along. Really cool stuff.

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This image will probably instantly turn off the "Macho-Gamer."

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One of the reasons why this game is so fantastic is simply the presentation of it all. This game doesn't hold back from bringing in synchronized umbrella dancing, reflective purple disco suits, comical characters to save (bird-watchers?), and a special appearance by Space Michael Jackson himself (complete with Thriller dance-moves and singing "Hoooo!").

The additon of instruments is also very cool. Throughout various points in the game, Ulala will play instruments instead of dancing - such as an electric guitar duel and drum battle. There's also lyrics you can sing along with at times - which are sometimes fun, but generally feel a little forced on top of the music.

On a technical level, Part 2 is superior in every way possible, but it always seems to be missing something. It was difficult to put my finger on it - but I think I've figured it out.

The music: While it still uses her incredible main theme throughout the game - the music just doesn't stand up to the original. It seems they've decided to use less "real instruments" and go for synthesized ones instead. Let me tell you, as much as I love my synths, synthesized horn trios will never be as good as the real thing.

The levels: They're all very enjoyable, but many of them feel like they couldn't get away from the previous game. Perhaps they could never imagine an end boss any different from the previous game, so they made one similar to it. Whatever the case, too much of it feels too closely related to the original - making some of the levels feel like re-hashes, and making me compare levels between the two games rather than seeing them as separate ones.

The length: Although it's six missions long instead of the previous four, it's still just too darn short. They've thrown in some nice features such as unlocking new suits to wear, its just hard to keep playing the same four hour game over and over again.

The difficulty: It never really gets hard - it just starts easy and only gets slightly challenging. Plust, it's a little bit inconsistant. Some of the last levels have far too easy patterns to repeat - making you wonder why they couldn't think of anything else to put there. A difficulty level is still needed.

If only I could take the technical side of Part 2 and mix it with the original game - it would be the perfect Space Channel 5 game. Unfortunately, both halves of this story have their pros and cons, leaving you with a problem picking a favorite and still wanting something more.

Verdict: One of my favorites.