While Sound Shape looks and sounds great, there's just not enough meat in this paddy to make a lasting impression
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start with what Sound Shapes is really about. In Sound Shapes, you play as a little eyeball-looking blob. You traverse levels from a 2D perspective, collect coins and avoid enemies, while trying to reach the goal at the end of the level. It's all pretty standard stuff. The catch is that every coin represents a note (or sound, if you will) in the background music. So every time you collect a coin, a new sound is added to the music. When you start a level, there's barely any music. But note by note, more and more music is added. A little bass here, a bit of banjo there, some vocals there. It's actually pretty cool and made me want to collect every coin in each level, just to hear what the music would end up sounding like.
Not only is Sound Shapes a joy to listen to, it also looks absolutely lovely. Everything looks meticulously hand drawn, with bright, warm and vibrant colors. It kinda looks like a mix between Loco Roco, Doodle Jump and, yes, Queasy Games' previous game Everyday Shooter. Overall, there's a great variety, both visually and musically. You see, every world (or "album", as they're referred to here) is done by a different, real-life musical artist. So you have levels with music by Deadmau5, Jim Guthrie (of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP fame) and even Beck. In fact, Beck's album is probably the best one (there's five in total, not counting the brief tutorial album). Here, sounds and vocals gel together perfectly, in a way that directly influences the gameplay. When Beck sings "Turn a little, hurt a little", the platforms in the level actually change, according to what he's singing. So in this case, the platform turns to the side, sliding the player off, or it turns red, which kills you. There's tons of little details like this all over the game, which is pretty cool.
Sound Shapes also has a level editor, where you're free to make your own levels, using parts of music or environs from the five albums in the game. I'm not a big fan of making levels myself, but I found it quick and easy to make some passable levels (especially on the Vita, which is what I did), so if that's your kinda thing, then Sound Shapes shouldn't be too shabby. There's already a ton of community levels available, and since music is a big part of the game, you'll find your share of Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy/Legend of Zelda-based levels, which try to recreate both levels and music from those games. They're rarely that good.
Thus far it seems like I like this game quite a lot, but sadly, that's not the case. You see, in the opening paragraph I wrote how style over substance sometimes can be a good thing, and how sometimes sub-par gameplay can be forgiven (I don't even wanna admit how much I played Under the Skin on PS2, simply because I liked the art style). That isn't the case with Sound Shapes. Sure, the game looks good and it has some snazzy music and decent ideas, but that doesn't mean that the game is ever that fun to actually play. The controls, for one, never felt right. Which says a lot, since you only use two buttons in the game (one to jump, and one to "run", so to speak). There were dozens of times where I found myself not making a jump, or missing a platform or hitting an enemy, and I still can't figure out why. I just kept on trying, until I finally did it and went on, none the wiser. It's also a super short game, with only 19 two-to-four-minute levels in total. That's only about an hour! Sure, there's community levels to keep you occupied, but with the gameplay being so limited, you'll tire of it pretty quickly. At least I did.
Ultimately, Sound Shapes is a mediocre platformer, with a fairly decent gimmick. Style can take you far, but not nearly far enough.