I never cared for rhythm games in the past, thinking the people hopping around on games such as Dance Dance Revolution were a tad insane and crazy to be doing that in public. Course, then I got my hands on Elite Beat Agents, and suddenly I was addicted to the rhythm. I then ported over the original Elite Beat Agents called Osu Tatakae Ouendan and it was the same thing. And now, this week I'm in a new rhythm kick with Guitar Hero 2, so imagine my double surprise when Microsoft announced the rhythm fireworks game Boom Boom Rocket would be coming. Then imagine my surprise when I remembered that not all rhythm games are created equally, and the utter disappointment that set in after that.

Boom Boom Rocket is a rhythm fireworks game, and if you think that sounds awfully familiar to Fantavision for the PS2, then you would get a cookie cause you'd be right. In Boom Boom Rocket, the camera pans across a night sky in the city, where a bright pink neon light hangs in the air. From the bottom of the screen you'll see different colors rise in the air (you can also assign these colors to have button name presses or coordinating arrows so you don't get too messed up). With the colors rising into the air (some straight and some in arcs) it is your job to press that corresponding button right when it touches your pink line; if you do this correctly the color will explode into a fireworks package. And you know what…that is it! Sure, by successfully hitting successive notes you'll build up a multiplier and a meter that when detonated will let future notes explode into even bigger fireworks shows, but nothing about the gameplay changes beyond that. And to think this game came from the people who did the seemingly infinitely replayable Geometry Wars for the 360 too!

The main mode of the game is the single player game, which has you picking one of the ten songs (yes, only ten – sad I know) and then picking one of the three difficulties and working on getting the best score possible and ascending the leaderboards. Of course, beyond the Standard Game, you've got Endurance Game (repeat the same song over and over as it gets faster until you lose – a Survival mode basically), Practice Game, Freestyle (you just push any buttons to watch fireworks explode and you go "ooooh" and "aaaah"), and Visualizer where you let the game put fireworks to your music as you do nothing.

You've at least got a multiplayer game to also keep you busy, but who in their right minds creates an Xbox Live arcade game and doesn't let you play against people over the system you just released the game for? Local play is fine and dandy, but all arcade games on Live should have the ability to be played online. Period.

The graphics are okay – basically imagine those of Geometry Wars but apply them to Boom Boom Rocket. Essentially the game is one mostly black screen (with a few lighted windows in the back to show not just black screen but a "night skyline") and the pop of colors. However, though they could've done some amazingly cool fireworks explosions, everything that explodes is rather tame and not really cool at all. I've seen better firework shows put on by the local minor league baseball team.

The sound work isn't great either. The songs sound good, but they aren't cool to play – they're all old songs that classic pianists and composers and such played way back in the day. And just because you rename the song "Hall of the Mountain King" to "Hall of the Mountain Dude" doesn't make it any better – it just makes you sadder. But hey, at least the music sounds good, even if they are boring songs. As for the explosions, little pops and bursts to me our not explosions. I want to hear the things that have little kids holding their ears in real life, not the sound of someone slapping their arm to pop a mosquito that just landed there.

We had hopes for Boom Boom Rocket and couldn't wait to get our hands on it, and then we couldn't wait to get rid of it, get this review out, and forget like the whole experience ever happened. Don't waste your Microsoft Points or money on this game – put it to one of the three listed in the intro paragraph. Trust me, you'll have a better time paying off part of those games than buying this one.

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