Developer: PeroPero Games
Publisher: X.D Network Inc
Rrp: £2.99 (Steam)
Released: 20th June 2019
Available on: Steam
Played Using: Xbox 360 Control Pad
Approximate game length: 5 Hours ish
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but just in case I somehow haven’t; I am not good at rhythm games. That being said I almost always have a good time playing them, I just can’t hold the timing for some reason.
It has to be said that Muse Dash has an interesting control scheme for the control pad because it essentially makes most of the controller pointless. In this game the entirety of the left side of the control pad is for upper attacks and the right is for lower attacks (with exception the right trigger).
The character on screen runs of her own accord and its up to you to decide when to do a high or low attack.
As your character runs enemies will come toward that you will need to defeat. If they pass you by, well, nothing really happens other than losing your combo bonus but if they hit you they’ll take some of your life. If you hit zero life your character will faint and you’ll have to start the song all over again.
Defeating the enemies builds up your fever meter and if you time it correctly and get a ‘perfect’ attack the meter will fill up more than a standard hit. Once the fever meter is full it will flash to let you know you can activate ‘Fever mode’. This is done by pressing the right trigger and will increase the point values of the enemies you defeat for the short time that it’s active.
Now I keep referring to the character on screen as exactly that rather than give it a name, well there is a reason for that. There are actually three characters you can play as, you start with Rin (the blonde haired girl with a guitar) and as you play you unlock Buro and Marija. Each of these characters have their own passive abilities as well as set of skins to unlock as you level up that also have passive abilities.
Levelling up unlocks new songs but also gives the collectable items which are used to unlock other characters skins as well as helpers that are called Elfins.
These Elfins grant extra passive bonuses, such as taking less damage.
You can complete songs in three modes easy, hard and master (although all three of those aren’t always available). These will increase the number of enemies that appear as well as the variety.
Each song also has a challenge you can complete, completing these challenges gives more experience. The challenges also change with the level of difficulty. It should be noted that the challenges listed with the songs aren’t the only ones that can be completed, there are also global challenges, that apply to all songs.
I can’t not say this about this game, the animators of the character models in the character select screen have paid… special attention to some aspects of the models. Breasts sway, asses bounce and panties get flashed. Fan service is all well and good but its just strange that for the most part of the game you won’t actually see any of this animation, it just feels a bit needless.
Overall not a bad little game but if I do have to level one criticism at it then it would be the DLC’s to get all the DLC’s for this game you’d have to spend £25.99 that’s eight times more than the game itself!
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
A City Sleeps
Symphony
Thumper
