To master the game, you must master the beat! Enjoy great music, fun visuals, and intuitive gameplay to unlock rewards!
A Cuppa Joe
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Before I picked up Rhythm Heaven, I had already gotten a sneak peek at it owing to the fact that my friend owned a copy and had let me play it briefly.
My short-lived experience with my friend's copy had given me the initial impression that the game would be a fun little number - something fun and maybe even humorous (I got to play Moai Doo-Wop on my friend's copy and that is all I will say on the matter) to break the ho-hum activity of normal day-to-day routine and something that could fit into both a fifteen minute coffee break and an hourlong downtime.
Now that I own my own copy of Rhythm Heaven, I have to say that where my initial impression wasn't wrong, I was also a victim of underestimation.
With its catchy little tunes, humorous accompanying animations, and collection of unlockables ranging from game developer notes to rhythm minigames to copies of game songs that can be played on the in-game music player, Rhythm Heaven is a great charmer - offering a ton of minigame-style beat-astic fun along with other fun rhythm-related extras.
But as much of a charmer as the game is, my question to any prospective player is, "Can YOU stomp to the beat of the BEETS?"
In other words, do YOU have the sense of rhythm that you need to play through the game and unlock all the beat-astic goodies the game offers?
Because, to master the game, you need to first master the rhythm!
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On the Way to PERFECTION!
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So.
What makes Rhythm Heaven fun?
1) Catchy Tunes
Thank goodness because otherwise you might go nuts listening to one tune over and over and over again. On the other hand, don't blame me if you dream about stomping up beets because you played the game before going to bed.
2) Creative
I never thought that I would be singing along with a moai or snapping photos to the tune of go-cart racing or stomping up beets in vegetable garden much less trying to answer the mating call of a lizard. The ways the games incorporate rhythm are varied and creative which makes for a bunch of beat-astic games.
3) Short and Sweet
Each of the rhythm games are fairly short in length and can be exited out of at any time which lets you move between games at whatever pace you like. Of course you can always repeat your favorite game a hundred times in a row, but if you like variety, there's that, too.
4) Sense of Humor
Seriously, watch as you scream along in a choir of three, monkey around during a concert, and play singalong with a moai in the company of birds. Those animation sequences should make even the most stressed out person smile.
Rhythm Heaven is also - besides being fun to play - a pretty awesome game in terms of gameplay and gameplay content.
1) Intuitive Gameplay Flicking, tapping, sliding, holding, and rubbing to some sort of beat and rhythm are usually the instructions for the various games and it usually makes sense. This ease of gameplay takes out most of the frustration that might be related to complaints more commonly seen in other games like button combination hitting problems.
The only thing that didn't make sense to me was the game with the stupid lizards. But more on that later.
2) Tutorials
To aid in the gameplay, each game comes with a tutorial that can be accessed (or bypassed) each time the game is accessed. The tutorial walks you through what you will have to do for each particular game and will let you know if you are doing things right (or wrong).
3) Part 2!
After you complete Remix 6 which is the last official minigame before the credits roll, you get a chance to play some of the minigames you already played... but amped up to a new difficulty level! This bit adds a LOT of replay value to the game in my opinion along with a healthy dose of extra gameplay challenge.
4) In-game Music Player
There's a music player functionality/extra built into the game that can be used to play back the songs used in the different rhythm games once the songs are unlocked. I love music and being able to access the music outside of the game-playing environment is pretty cool.
5) Barista Bailout
Looking for some tips and hints? Go visit the in-game cafe and have a talk with the barista who will give you occasional gameplay tips and hints on when and where a chance for a Perfect will come up. The barista can also help you advance through the game if certain games are giving you difficulties. This applies to both the normal rhythm games and the remix games.
Speaking of Perfect...
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... Or Maybe Not
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Did I mention that you need Perfect scores to unlock things in the game?
Did I also mention that in order to get a chance to achieve a Perfect score in the first place, you need to first get a Superb score?
Did I also mention that the Superb score gives you a medal which then gives you the ability to unlock other things like minigames?
Ooops. So here we are at my biggest gripe - the biggest reason I docked the game the points I did in my rating.
For a game so simple to play and that fits so well into a coffee break, it offers some of the greatest frustrations when it comes to unlocking things.
Rhythm Heaven is a game where all of its unlockables (besides gameplay advancement as the barista can advance you if you're stuck) are rewards-based meaning you have to achieve certain scores to be rewarded with medals and Perfects which then can be used to unlock additional features in the game.
What does this mean? This means that this game is entirely ability-based.
It also means that if you don't have a good sense of rhythm, you might have a harder time earning your Superb rating medals which means an even harder time achieving your Perfects.
Consequently, you might have a harder time unlocking all the different features.
Fly like a Blue Bird or sink like a Moai.
Or... both. In my case, both, and I consider myself to have a decently good sense of rhythm.
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Another Cuppa Joe
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All in all, Rhythm Heaven is one heck of a charmer with all that it offers.
Keep a copy of the game for a quick pick-me-up during breaktimes or have yourself a rhythm marathon run-through or simply bust it out when you need a good laugh or want to listen to one of the tunes. I highly recommend Moai Doo-Wop for a laugh.
The learning curve isn't exactly steep as the gameplay itself is mostly intuitive, but if you have a poor sense of rhythm, then you might find advancing through the game to be frustrating at times.
If you can bear with it or look past the ability-based rewards system of this game, the game itself can still be quite fun.
Since the gameplay advancement itself doesn't fully rely on ability (as the barista can help you advance when you get stuck), even while unlocking things does, I think that overall, the difficulty level of this game is just right.