According to Nexon, the North American distributor of this online game, Audition is an online dance battle game. It’s a clever mix of Parappa The Rapper and? Dance Dance Revolution. As it is with other music games, controls are simple to understand but tough to master. You make your character dance to the music by succesfully inputting a series of commands before the time runs out. Using 4 arrows or 8 arrows (including diagonals), you’ll need to type 1 to 9 keys before the measure ends. Aside from 8 keys, you can also choose to involve red arrows which you’ll need to input the opposite arrow. Difficulty depends on the speed of the song as well as the mode chosen.
The game features several modes: normal mode gives you 2 to 3 choices of commands, choreography requires you to input a specific command. Group modes include couple mode where you and your partner need to input commands perfectly in order to gain hearts, dynamic mode where each side competes to win the most points, b-boy mode where each team battles trying to input commands the other side won’t be able to counteract. Overall the game features a great variety of both songs and modes.
Since this is an online battle game, you create your avatar to represent you. Selections are limited but there is a wide variety of customizing your avatar. Everything from haircut to shoes can be purchased from the in-game store: they’re only cosmetic changes but it’s still a great way to distinguish you from everyone else. Winning (or doing well) each game gives you beats – the in-game currency. Or alternatively you can spend real money and get cash points which you use to buy clothes. This level of microtransaction is appropriate in this case since the game is available for free, and it’s purely optional: clothing only adds to the visual without offering performance enhancement.
In the end, your enjoyment of Audition will vary according to how much customization means to you. If you’re a fan of music rhythm game, you’ll enjoy this game. After all, since it’s free, it won’t take you long to get your money’s worth! Just download the game (about 700MBs) and try it out yourself.
Rating: 
? (4 out of 5)