Product Description

All Star Cheer Squad is an aspirational game that captures the fun and action from the Cheer world. Players immerse themselves into the world of competitive cheerleading through creativity, customization, style and teamwork. Players create their own avatar, learn cheer/dance moves, compete against individual team members and ultimately compete against other squads

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1647 in Video Games
• Brand: THQ
• Model: 30155
• Published on: 2008-10
• Released on: 2008-10-27
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Nintendo Wii
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .52" h x 5.27" w x 7.50" l, .36 pounds

Features

• Use the Wii Fit Board to balance and perform stunts
• Use the Wii remote and nunchuck to perform dozens of real-world cheer/dance moves
• Compete in squad and one-on-one cheer-offs
• Customize the look of your team including body, facial features, hair and outfits
• Learn new moves and choreograph your own cheer routines to music

Amazon.com Product Description
In All Star Cheer Squad, players will follow a year in the life of a cheerleader as you learn new cheers, participate in practices and create your own routines in the hopes of making the squad and eventually becoming its captain. High-energy gameplay includes squad competitions and one-on-one cheer-offs, where players will use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to perform dozens of real-world cheer and dance moves.

Go ahead, Bring It!

Choose to be a girl, boy or neither. View larger.

The right look for your cheer. View larger.

Use the Wii-mote for upper body. View larger.

And Balance Board for the lower. View larger.

In order to ensure that All Star Cheer Squad has the latest cheer action and top routines, world-renowned cheerleading choreographer Tony G, best known for his work in the "Bring It On" movies, has signed on as chief consultant for the game. All Star Cheer Squad will also incorporate use of the Wii Balance Board to get the player's entire body involved in the game and add to the ultimate cheerleading experience. Players will be able to customize the look of their cheerleader and squad including body, facial features, hair and outfits.

Show the Squad What you Are Made Of
The backstory that plays out in All Star Cheer revolves around player's attempts to make the 'Fox Squad' cheer roster. Although a top squad, they have suffered a tough setback when one of their top captains has been sidelined by injury. The show must go on though. Players goal in singleplayer modes is first to make the squad, later progressing up its ranks and finally putting what you've learned to good use as a choreographer.

Key Game Features:

• 1-4 player support.
• Use the Wii remote and nun-chuck to perform dozens of real-world cheer/dance moves.
• Full body cheer experience using the Wii Balance Board (optional).
• Compete and cooperate in squad and one-on-one cheer-offs.
• Customize the look of your team including facial features, hair, style & color, make-up and outfits.
• Learn new moves and choreograph your own cheer routines to music.
• Grow your all-star squad to be the best and lead them to the championship as Cheer Captain.

Varied Gameplay
Gameplay within All Star Cheer Squad consists of players mimicking the stream of on-screen prompts, representing individual moves within a cheer routine, and accumulating points according to their accuracy. Action is registered through the use of various controllers. Ideally the game simulates a the range of body motion--both upper and lower--that a cheerleader utilizes. With this in mind, to take advantage of the game's full potential players should use both the combination of a Wii Remote with attached Nunchuck controller for upper body movement, and a Wii Balance Board for lower body movement. But this configuration is not mandatory for play. A Wii Remote with Nunchuck will suffice. Play options consist of:

Singleplayer - Singleplayer action in All Star Cheer Squad comes in two varieties: Quick play and Career Mode. Career Mode on the other hand contains the lion's share of the singleplayer experience as well as the storyline of the game. As players begin this mode they choose the gender and basic customization options of their character like initial attire, facial features, etc. From there they are introduced to the current members of Fox Squad. Considered as an unproven rookie the players must try out and make the squad to gain respect and a spot on the team. If successful more advanced routines and moves as well as unique custom items will be unlocked, which will earn you credibility and provide the opportunity to move up in the hierarchy of the squad, eventually all the way to captain. Quickplay is a standard tutorial mode where players can practice basic and not so basic moves that will come in handy regardless of the player's experience and comfort level with the Wii Remote, Nunchuck and the Wii Balance Board.

Multiplayer - All Star Cheer Squad supports 2-4 players either cooperative or competitive multiplayer. Team up and work together as a unit and the goal is to get the highest overall routine score as a squad by following the on-screen prompts as you face down a bevy of AI supplied competition. As squads progress through the mode, moves routines and their synchronization with music become more and more difficult, complex and frantic. Players who instead choose to go the route of competitive multiplayer face off against friends in a versus mode where not only do they need to follow the in-game prompts, to hope to win in a tight battle they must shoot for perfect execution of moves. String together three perfect moves and your team receives a 'call out." These can be used to add points to your score, trip up the opposing cheer line when their turn comes, protect your own line in this case. Whichever team has the highest score at the end of the game wins.

Any way you choose to play it All Star Cheer Squad is an aspirational game that captures the fun and action of the real life Cheer world. Immerse yourself in the creativity, customization, style and teamwork All Star Cheer Squad. And don't forget to Bring it on!

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Customer Reviews

So far this game is just plain tedious
I want to start by saying that I've only played this game for a few hours, but so far I'm not impressed. I bought the game because I am having so much fun with the other cheer game, We Cheer and thought this might be even better since it uses the balance board. So far I'm disappointed.

The biggest annoyance so far is that the screens take so long to load from one practice or routine to another. After waiting 20 to 25 seconds for the first part to load you get three screens acknowledging that you're using a balance board, warning you not to jump on it and some other warning and then you have to step off while it calibrates and then back on and wait again. This takes another 40 to 45 seconds. And you have to do this between each practice, tryout or routine screen. It doesn't remember the balance board like the Wii Fit does where you only need to do it one time.

If during a practice or routine you want to go back and do it over, you have to go through listening to the cheerleaders explanations and go through all the screens, clicking the A button instead of just going to the routine or practice that you want to do over. There doesn't seem to be any way to click through the first part. So you end up standing around waiting much more than actually moving and playing the game.

The main reason I bought this game was for exercise, but there is a lot less moving around than with the other We Cheer game. Most of the time you're just moving the Wiimote and nunchuck in patterns which don't always register correctly. Sometimes wrong moves register as correct and sometimes vice verse. The use of the balance board doesn't make much sense so far because since you can't jump on it or hop from one foot to the other you're basically putting pressure on one foot or the other, not really doing the moves on the screen. And having to wait for the balance board to calibrate every 3 or 4 minutes when you go to another routine makes it hardly worth the time waiting for that to register.

One other problem is that if you were to actually mimic the arm movements the cord on the nunchuck isn't long enough to put your arms out to the sides unless you're a very small person, so you would need a wireless nunchuck. A better solution would have been to use 2 Wiimotes like the We Cheer game. So far, there is much less movement in this game.

The music is ok, but a lot of the same thing. The graphics are ok, you can see them in the description here. You can unlock some different outfits and routines. It follows a year in the life of a cheerleader and you can make up your own routines at some point in the game. I'm going to spend some more time and give the game a chance but I have to tell you that in the first hours I've felt mostly annoyance at the slow loading times and impatience, waiting for the game to get better. So far it isn't fun and finding the motivation to go back to it feels like a chore.

I hope to see some other reviews here, telling me I'm doing something wrong and there's a way to skip through all the delays. I really wanted to like this game.

Got the CordLESS moves? Get `em and Cheer your squad straight to the top!
Until I got further into this game, I thought it was a real clunker. Now I'm appreciating all it has to offer. If you want to do AUTHENTIC cheerleader routines of the kind you`d be scored on in real life? This game gives it to you. The hook in this game is watching yourself actually become a better living-room cheerleader, building learned moves upon learned moves, being forced to pass practises and competition before you can go on. Warning: you may find yourself becoming quite the competitive cheerleader...

Back story: I did try-outs and got to 'week three' with a corded-nunchuk, then deleted my game, bought a cordLESS nunchuk and started all over again. My scores all went up about 25%, not to mention the fun of it increased infinately.

The Great:
--300 basic cheer moves, dance, flare, squats, kicks, jumps, etc., you can use string together in any timing you want to create your own routines! Incredible for coaches or people who want to map their own. Unseen before variation catalogue of movements and potential for creative expression in cheerleading choreography.
--The game accurately displays a great majority of basic and advanced cheer moves, dances, jumps.
--Practices, routines, and championships you attempt all have an movie icon for instant replay. Which is great if you want to redo a routine over and over for exercise or learning purposes!
--Potential for use as an advanced, full-body cheerleading workout or personal cheerleader trainer tool. With a *cordLESS* nunchuk you work up a sweat!
--MANY routines to work through and learn, and redo over and over just for fun and exercise.
--The storyline (after it's snobby, cruel start) is engaging and you really get motivated to try and beat the other squads and take your squad to first place wins.
--The genuine sense that you are actively part of a cheerleading squad, working, learning, and training, competing.
--Unlike We Cheer (which is just pure fun and dancing good times), ASCS breaks down all the moves slowly and increases them as you advance and pass tryouts, practices, and competitions. Where as We Cheer is a throw-your-self-in dance blitz, ASCS forces you to get a "C" to pass. You really feel like a real cheerleader, working. I know it sounds nuts, but I feel a genuine sense of being on a squad as I'm trying. I fail sometimes but mostly I pass thru with at least a `C' grade.
--The competitions are a blast! I think I'm going to need a cheerleader outfit.
--This WILL teach you to actually CHEER like a real cheerleader. Not a disco or a club-dancing cheerleader, but an authentic cheerleader.

The Bad:
--The Menu is half hidden after tryouts and annoying.
--Like most rhythm games on the wii, not every move registers. So it goes, on the first gen wii games. I score lower than I think I should. I can forgive that.
--Real cheerleading is not about coordinating your wii remote and nunchuk and hitting a, b, c, and z buttons in weird combinations that have zero to do with cheering. They overcomplicated what should have remained perfectly simply holding two wii motes like We Cheer, or just the nunchuk and wiimote like Hannah Montana Spotlight World Tour-- neither of which does any button-ing at all. Perhaps the button pushing will become instinctual with the actual body movement over time. Possible. Will update on that.
--You can't open your arms wide or do any of the moments realistically with the cord whipping you in the face. And they show the cord in the instructional parts of the game, so idk if the cordless nunchuk had *not* been born when this game was conceived, but a cordLESS nunchuk has got to be the **ONLY** way this game can be played with realism. Underline `the only way'. Honestly. No exaggeration. Other wise it's a couch sitting game you mock mercilessly, and rightly so. With a corded nunchuk, you're what I deemed a `ninja cheerleader" whipping your arms around in patterns and trying not to take your own eyes out with slap-stinging cords. It's very uncheerleader-like with the cord. Like pitching pennies in a fountain with your wrist handcuffed is what it felt like.
--Wii board compatible -- which should be 100% ignored as it brings cheerleading action to a rooted position and forces you to stand in one spot - incredibly lame. Put the wii board away and forget it, to enjoy this full-body game of twists, turns, dances, and jumps.
--With a few exceptions, 31 monotonous, droning, no-energy cheer songs with little spirit. I love cheer songs! These annoyed me. I was surprised.
--Unbelievably long loading times-- 45 seconds plus between dances and menu choices.
--Each practice has some of the longest explanations for the blatantly obvious I`ve ever seen while listening to one of these most annoying voices ever. Thankfully, button "2" can speed you right thru the practice explanatations.
-- Horrible zooming in and out, and wide arcing camera angles, at times your cheerleader is totally missing from the screen for 5 or 6 seconds. It drives me nuts when I'm trying to see moves they are preforming. I wish they'd just shoot instructionals head on. I need to SEE not be impressed by use of camera tricks.
--Tiny cheerleaders! One screen they take up approx 25 percent of view, and less at other times. Ridiculous! They should have been bigger and I shouldn't have to squint to see what they are doing. They should have WAY zoomed in on them!

There's a lot to consider about this game for real and would-be *cheerleaders*. Casual players can probably quit reading right now and save money and effort and buy We Cheer or Boogie Superstar which is way less coordinated or mentally-demanding.

(Real cheerleading isn't easy, tho, folks, and they did a good representation of it's demands, mental and physical, in this game.)

Even after all the bad I heard of it, and after a lot of thought I decided to buy ASCS and am very glad I did because:

--This game teaches you many, many cheer moves, it has great repetitions, it really does TEACH, and it builds on itself.
--I like to create my own cheerleading routine originals. This one I can customize my own workout to my own songs.
--The cheer moves are totally authentic. My kids took cheerleading for two years and I this is what they did in real life.
--The routines with the cordless nunchuk really get your upper and lower body working. I try to match the leg movement as well off the wii board to get the full experience and work out.

In ASCS's defence, it worked very hard on reproducing detailed, authentic, and varied cheerleading motions to a game. It fails to impress immediately because it hides everything good about the game; for instance: that these cheerleaders do dance later on, and are capable of more than just looking like robotic clones directing traffic on an airstrip. I'm 40% done the game now, and I'm amazed at how much more fun it's become and how competitive I feel. Moves do get more dancy.

Now I'm really into it. And even my kids are too, and they seem to prefer it to We Cheer (tho We Cheer and ASCS are apples and oranges and completely different games with different adgendas and it`s unfair to compare them for this reason, as We Cheer is made for pure fun, and ASCS is made to teach you to cheer moves and give you as simulated cheer SQUAD experience, which it does.). I believe my kids have been more drawn to ASCS because it challenges you to build on your successes with it's practice-then-compete set-up. The more you play the more you challenge YOURSELF, despite it's slow load times and unnatural cheerleaders. Something about it makes you burn to keep going and succeed. Which surprised me.

Bottom line: The buried goodies of it are there to uncover for anyone who simmers with the desire for a cheerleader studio IN their living room. And I do. So I'm thrilled to have bought it and persevered enough to have begun to get to its usefulness factor and engaging, motivating storyline. If you're a after a genuine cheerleader experience, work to unlock the other 150 moves with a cordLESS nunchuk and you have a great cheerleading personal-trainer! I started to feel very sassy when new moves started unlocking. I can even forgive the unbelievable slow load times for good dance routines-- as complex cheerleading and dance dvds and games are rare and I`ve spent way too much money on dust collectors.

For a casual, fun-seeking player (as the term 'game' implies to us as consumers) it's too little too little too late, tho, which is a very valid experience for most buyers of the game, unfortunately. ASCS is a workhorse, and while that is not downgraded in my review at all, `gaming' implies fun and little frustration, and ASCS excels at frustrating in the beginning. It's got a lot of buried treasure but you have to persevere for it and they make it as annoying as possible at the start, so it`s no wonder people are irked. But after that, it really softens up and you totally get into winning competitions.

I give ASCS 5 stars as a cheerleading squad experience. It's clunky and stiff at the beginning but worth it to keep on going! I love it. But I do understand completely why it frustrated people to the max and why it's reviews were bad, and I had the exact same experience until I got more into the game. Games should sell themselves instantly out of the box, and this is not the case with ASCS. That said, the rewards of persevering with a cordless nunchuk are worthwhile and satisfying.

Go Fox Squad!

Not Impressed...selling it back
Ok, here is the thing. I am in college and love my wii, so when I saw an all star game I was so excited. I was an all star cheerleader, and I thought "how cool. What a good way to stay in shape!" However I am very very disapointed. I guess if you were a little kid or had really short arms it would be great. The game requires you to connect the numchuck to the remote to do the motions, however the cord connecting the two is so short, you can't even do the motions for real. I mean I was disapointed that I couldn't even make a high v.
Overall, great for kids who want to learn more about cheerleading or practice motions for tryouts for a team, but just not a good game for adults who want it to stay in shape.