Space Channel 5 is a simple game. The story goes like this: Ulala is the star correspondant for Space Channel 5, and she broadcasts her news show while busting phat dance moves. She’s the epitome of style, if the aforementioned Ko-Gal style is your thing. The Morolians, who look far too cute to call "evil," have arrived on Earth to take over the planet. Our only hope is that Ulala can get to the bottom of things and save our groovy booties.

Gameplay progresses along the lines of UmJammer Lammy or Pa-Rappa the Rappa. It’s all a game of Simon Says. You encounter an enemy who executes a series of moves, perhaps "Up, Left, Down, Down, Shoot," and then you have to duplicate the moves. However, unlike Sony’s star groove games, Space Channel 5 is all about the rhythm. You must execute the moves in the exact rhythm they are presented in. To further complicate things, you have two shoot buttons. One button saves hostages, the other vaporizes aliens. It gets tricky when you’re doing both.

As you progress through the game you save various hostages, celebrities, and bosses. You can flip through the cast of characters once you’ve saved them or destroyed them and get various personal details like their fave color or ice cream. Yes, it’s a little weird. Most of the celebrities you save will be fictitious, but there is one big addition to the American version of the game: Space Michael Jackson makes an appearance in the last level. He’s perfectly rendered in the cartoony style of the game, and his dance moves are totally on point. And Ulala herself comes with some celebrity built in. Apollo Smile, the accomplished underground techno-pop star and self-described anime girl, voices Ulala and sounds great. If you think Apollo Smile is fresh to the scene in Space Channel 5, think again. There’s a lot of her work out there to find, and it’s all way cool.

Once you’ve beaten the game, which sports less than ten levels, you can replay it to explore alternate routes. Other than that, there isn’t a lot built in to enhance the replay. Still, you can play Space Channel 5 a whole lot. The game is backed by slammin’ techno beats that are surprisingly dynamic. Ravers and techno fans should especially take note – this game is like all the good things about Ecstacy with none of the dehydration or unfulfilling dirty sex. And your momma won’t have to worry about you eating holes in your brain.

Still, in spite of its simplicity, Space Channel 5 manages to work in some hefty social messages. Well, maybe social isn’t the right word. Late in the game, Ulala begins to realize that she and the other news correspondants are being manipulated by the management that controls the big-budget media corporation. Wow, shades of Time-Warner/AOL! Eventually her quest is not really to destroy the Moralians, but to find Truth (note the capital "T"). While most of the folks who play Space Channel 5 have probably never thought about the biased aspects of news coverage, Ulala and her crew provide an oddly appropriate introduction to some Chomsky-esque media critique. The game doesn’t take the thesis to its satisfactory conclusion, but everybody who plays it really should go out and rent Manufacturing Consent immediately afterward.