Overdue Review: Musical Triple Feature (Multiple Platforms)

Butler has been biding his time while he waits for Portal 2 with some indie titles that have some interesting musical tricks up their sleeves.  Mini-reviews await beyond the jump!

Music and rhythm games are something that seem to have had their moment pass by for the most part in the last few years.  Rock Band and Guitar Hero are becoming stale grind-fests where the best content is held to be sold to you later as DLC, DJ Hero gives you carpal tunnel syndrome, no one plays Beat Mania, and let's be real, if you still play Dance Dance Revolution, you probably haven't left the house in years.  But what about games that utilize music (either yours or pre-arranged pieces) to do something different than simply have you pretend to play the instruments involved or shake your groove thang?  I reviewed a title about a year ago called Beat Hazard that accomplishes this marvelously, and thanks to some well timed sales and overwhelming boredom, now have a few semi-similar titles to submit for your approval.  First up...

Bit Trip Beat 

Developed by: Gaijin Games

Play it on: Wii, PC, Mac

This game is what you would get if Pong and Guitar Hero conceived a baby while listening to an insane amount of chip-tunes.  There's not any kind of plot to speak of (or if there is, it is one absolutely lost on me), simply 3 levels, each revolving around a different original electronic composition.  About half of the music simply plays in the background, but the other half is created using the paddle on the left side of the screen to hit objects flying at you from the right.  If you hit enough objects (generally dots, though they become lines in later levels) the music changes from 8-bit style blips and beeps to a fuller and richer sound.  Miss too many objects, however, and you drop down to the sound level below you, and if you continue to miss them, the song ("level") ends.  Each song is pretty fantastically composed, and it certainly didn't take me long to get a handle on the flow of each, but there is a definite difference between having a handle on the songs and mastering them, which is what keeps me coming back.  Towards the end of the game, the visuals become fairly intense and it can be quite difficult to keep track of what is going on, but the seamless integration of the game's music into the gameplay keeps the madness on screen organized to enough of a degree that this is far from a deal breaker.

Audio Surf

Developed by: Invisible Handlebar

Play it on: PC

This is easily the most flawed title on this list.  You can tell that Invisible Handlebar was really trying to make something ambitious, but seem to have bit off a bit more than they could ultimately chew.  The game is a "racer" where you navigate tracks and match groups of colored blocks for points.  These tracks and block layouts, however, are created from your music library.  The hills and valleys are created by the overall sonic intensity and speed of the song (slow parts go uphill, fast parts down), and the tile patterns seem to follow the very general rhythm of the song.  With the exception of one game mode, your goal is to match colored tiles on a grid in front of you, trying to single out the brighter colors for more points.  You can play as different racers who have special abilities that in theory really change up your play style with different special abilities (shuffling the colors on your grid, picking up blocks to store for later etc.) and there are different iterations of each in 3 difficulty levels.  Still with me? I don't blame you.  This game is Convoluted with a capital "fuck you".    You may have noticed that I italicized "very" a few sentences back when mentioning how generally the tiles match the track.  I see very little correlation with color or position and the song that I am playing, which in my mind defeats the purpose of this game incorporating my music library at all.  Had Invisible Handlebar tried an approach more akin to Bit Trip Beat, with each song being prearranged, yet intricate to figure out, I feel like I would have enjoyed this game more.  As it stands, the fact that it claims to use my own music, yet simply feels like a confusing puzzler where I get to choose the background song keeps me from being able to endorse this game with any enthusiasm.  It is an interesting experiment, but one that could do with some serious refining.

Rez HD

Developed by: Q Entertainment, Hexadrive

Play it on: Xbox Live Arcade

This is far and away the most "overdue" of the titles on this list, as it has been available in the US since 2002 as a PS2 game (then subsequently rereleased on Xbox 360 with a sound and graphical update).  At this point, I'm sure half of you are thinking "Jesus, he's only now getting around to playing this game?" while the other half of you are wondering what in the hell a "Rez" is.  This game is often described as a rail shooter, but I find that to be a gross oversimplification.  Much like the other titles on this list, there is no real plot to speak of.  You control a spaceman-type-guy flying through a weird geometric void (apparently a computer, but that is the most plot you ever get) shooting down ships based on Russian avant garde artwork (specifically, that of Vassily Kandinsky).  Instead of shooting the enemies directly, however, you highlight the targets you want to shoot down, selecting up to 8 at a time.  Depending on the combos you rack up, different sounds and tones are produced which augment the music and visuals.  Basically, this game is what would happen if your console took some LSD and listened to a lot of Daft Punk.  It should be noted that Kandinsky was a synesthete who saw music as color, and Rez is an attempt at approximating the sensation.  If that doesn't sound awesome to you, what in the hell is your problem?  This game is definitely short, but assuredly the most fun you can have outside of being lent a turtle by a man in a top hat for an hour.