Developer: Harmonix Music Systems, Inc
Publisher: Harmonix Music Systems, Inc
Rrp: £6.99/£9.99 (Steam), £6.99/£8.99 (Humblebundle)
Released: 16th October 2014
Available on Steam and Humblebundle
Played Using: A Xbox 360 Control Pad
From the creators of Rockband comes a SHMUP with a difference, a rhythm based shooter! No! Wait! Don’t scroll away just yet! I can promise that it is actually different from other rhythm based games.
You play as Poe, a dream exorcist living in the city of SanLo. It’s your job to find and destroy the demons, or kami, that possess people. One day all the people of SanLo fall into a endless sleep and it seems only you have the power to wake them.
You aren’t required to match the beat of the song, instead the beat dictates how often your ghosts and weapon activate (more on the ghosts later). Your main weapon is a sword called ‘Heartstrings’, this sword fires a shot in time to the beat in whatever direction you are pointing Poe. Bear in mind that the shots from your sword do go in time to the beat, meaning that there is some element of timing involved.
Like with most SHMUP’s only Poe’s core (a little green dot) is vulnerable to damage, as long as that dot doesn’t get hit your life will never diminish. Of course, the screen quickly gets covered in things to avoid, so that’s much easier said than done.
At the start of the game you have two ghosts and collect more as you play through. These ghosts can be used in ‘idols’ that appear as you play through a level. Idols come in two flavors, fast or slow, and a ghosts behavior will change depending on which idol you place it in. For example; Mercy (the green ghost) will send out a short ranged healing pulse in the slow idol that heals a lot of damage, but in the fast idol Mercy fires out many little healing… missiles, that heal a little damage. Now if you want you can place the same ghost in two idols at the same time, of course it means you’ll not get the benefit of the other ghosts you have.
While not normally my style of music I actually rather enjoyed the strange hip hop/electronic soundtrack. I should also add I really suck at this genre, but even though I am truly terrible I did like Harmonix’s efforts.
The art style is clean and clear sticking to only using a few colours at a time, meaning that the player is less likely to get confused by the backgrounds. I do have to issue a warning however those who suffer from epilepsy may want to steer clear if this game as there are lots of flashing lights.
Harmonix did good with this title. Its fun, short, pretty cheap and provides a lot of challenge, especially in later levels. I’m not sure I would be willing to pay the full ‘deluxe price’ to get the soundtrack as well since having looked at it there are only eight tracks. Or perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the number of tracks Miracle of Sound puts in an album….
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Symphony
Savant: Ascent
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
