DJ Max Trilogy is one of the best music games I have played, if not the best music game I have played. The reason is because the game has a lot of style and also since the PC has a high piracy rate, tackles the problem really well without any SecuROM crap. It doesn't use Steam either so I wouldn't worry about that. DJ Max Trilogy was developed by Pentavision Entertainment and published by Neowiz Games in Korea and released on 25th December 2008. Nice christmas present isn't it? The game has 120 songs with 20 exclusive to Trilogy and others coming from DJ Max Online, Portable 1 and 2, and some have slipped in from the DJ Max Metro Project as well (Clazziquai, Black Square and Technika). The graphics for the game are... well nonexsistant. I wouldn't call them amazing as it's just music videos that aren't even video half the time but they look good and when you're playing the game you don't particularily want a strobe lighting video taking your attention away from the important part of the game being the part where you play it, which casually brings us onto gameplay. You have 5 game modes with 2 locked once you first start playing the game. 4K is the easiest in which you play with 4 keys, 6K is the middle ground where you play with 6 keys, and if you're really cool, go for 8K which is the most difficult as you have 8 keys to press constantly in most songs. The song list is immense... once you've unlocked it. The game suffers from the "korean grind" issue of requiring you to work your arse off for EVERYTHING which does make the rewards quite a bit more satisfying. For most songs you just unlock them by leveling up, but sometimes you have to buy them, complete missions and such. The shop also contains Gears (what the notes come down), Notes (what the notes themselves look like) and also Characters (Avatars). Each one has an impact on your stats and the more they cost, the more stats they are going to affect. The main 4 modes are Stage Mode (Arcade Mode), Mission Mode, Free Mode and Network. Stage Mode is literally the arcade mode of this game. You go through it to unlock songs and such, after you've unlocked them by either buying them or just playing the game. I like how simple it is to unlock most things as well, which is just keep playing. You unlock 7Keys and 8Keys this way as well so it makes a lot of sense. Network, I haven't tried out yet because I'm crap at this game and no-one ever seems to be online whenever I click Network. But Mission mode is fun and challenging, while Free Mode does exactly what it says on the tin.
The notecharts come in many difficulties, from NM (Normal Mode) to SC (Super Crazy). However there are not nearly enough notecharts for some songs, while others get overload on notecharts. This annoys me as they should all have at least a harder note chart otherwise some songs get old... quick.
For gameplay in action, here's a video to show you what it is (goes up to 720p on the youtube HD scale).
That sums up the gameplay. Now onto the audio, and thank god it's good and diverse otherwise I'd be annoyed that I'm playing a music game without any good music! All of the music is very well produced, and despite it all being by korean people you've never heard of, some songs like Oblivion, Syriana and End of the Moonlight, will get stuck in your head. All 120 songs together make a nice mix of tunes from hip-hop to k-pop to clucking animals (no seriously). The silliness of some tunes is just hilarious. Good to know that the game has a sense of humour then.
In summary, DJ Max Trilogy is a fun music game, which suffers from the korean grind issue, but some people won't view it as a bad thing.
Now onto that case of how Pentavision got a nice 0% piracy rate for this game. A VERY high security USB Stick. Not only does it store your profile on it, you need it to start the game up and run it as well. Nice going Penta, you kept those pirates at bay. Every developer has their own way, but only Pentavision has got their game to be bought only. If you want to buy it, hit up Play-asia or your preferred import store that sells korean games.
Update: New songs have been added to the game and a new feature turning off autocorrect! This game is pretty much perfect now, but the score won't change.