Upon hearing about MTV Music Generator 3 a while back, I became instantly excited. Like many other wannabe deejays out there, I was thinking this would be the game to either make or break my spirits in trying to become the next Kanye West or Lil’ Jon (without all the screaming…well, maybe a little). Thankfully, Codemasters has not disappointed, because MTVMG3 is a great game (if that’s what you want to call it) that music enthusiasts should pick up without hesitation.

Gameplay

Since there isn’t a true gameplay aspect to MTV Music Generator 3, mainly because it’s a music producer, I’ll just highlight the overall functionality of the game’s features here. When you first turn on the game and try to get started, you’ll notice that you have to take an existing song then attempt to create a new song around it. It’s true that you’re making your own beats, but it’s a little misleading to some people who want to produce from scratch. Once the actual production starts, you won’t have a problem finding anything as all the menus and overlays are cleanly organized for you to navigate around. Not really gameplay elements, but they still help in enjoying the overall experience.

Graphics

The graphics in the game have a clean look, and that helps tremendously when it comes to finding everything you want to do. Since this game is only a music maker there’s not really much else to talk about here, but I guess, for some people, watching a musical masterpiece come together looks good in itself. Now, let’s get to the good stuff?the sound.

Sound

Now this is where the bread-and-butter of the game lies. Codemasters has done an excellent job of giving people the ability to create their own songs in a simple, yet effective manner. Like I mentioned earlier, your first job is to choose a song to start off with as a base. Finding one shouldn’t be a problem either, because they have enlisted the talents of established artists like Sean Paul, Snoop Dogg, Outkast, and others. Once you’ve done that, you’ll wind up in the studio. In here is where you’ll have everything you need to make songs with, including melodies, riffs, drum-sets, and bass lines. Also, one of the more important features in the game is the ability to sample a track from your own audio collection and use it for a song. After you’ve ripped your chosen sample to the hard drive (all samples are within the eight second legal limit), simply head back to the studio and place the material wherever and however you wish in the song. This is an incredible feature for the game and makes up for some of its shortcomings in other areas. That said, there are some small complaints here and there. If you don’t like to make your own melodies or rip songs, the only samples available for your work are the ones from the song you pick. Basically, if you wanted to mix together ?Get Busy’ and ?The Way You Move’ or have one big set of samples to choose from, you’re out of luck here. Another hindrance in the game is that, while you can make your own melodies and drum-sets, you can’t create your own bass lines. Why you are free to create all but this is beyond me, but it doesn’t completely spoil the experience and shouldn’t be reason enough to not try the game out. And, after all, the sound for this game is essentially the music you make for it, so however good or bad you make it is entirely up to you.

Value/Tilt

Once again, this is something left entirely in the hands of the gamers. With the numerous amount of things you can do, it might be a while, if ever the time actually comes, before you get bored enough with this one to put it down. You are limited to certain samples for some songs, but even with that, MTVMG3 has tremendous replay value to it simply because you’re not ?beating’ anything, there’s nothing to ?unlock’, and there’s no clock tower to ?shoot out’ to receive older versions (heh). Everything is immediately accessible to you and there’s simply so much stuff here to have a good time with. Heck, during my first time of playing, I was mixing samples and experimenting with different things just to see what was possible; hours flew by doing that alone. MTV Music Generator 3 is a great game suited for casual producers or for people who want to see if they can handle this before moving on to ?bigger’ things. For those people wanting a big set of samples to start off with, waiting a few months for Funkmaster Flex’s Digital Hitz Factory is a good move, but MTVMG3 is out right now and is only 30 dollars, so don’t hesitate for a second to pick this one up. Highly recommended.