Sound Shapes introduces an interesting concept but the delivery isnt quite as good as it could be.
User Rating: 8 | Sound Shapes PS3
Sound Shapes is a hard game to describe. In its core is a mix of a platformer and rhythm game. If on the platforming side the gameplay mechanics leave much to desire on the rhythm side it can be quite a spectacle to behold. Its a simple and very easy platformer that can be completed within a couple hours but adds alot of replayability by compelling the player to compete for the best time in the online boards, complete some very hard challenges that are unlocked after beating the main campaign and, definitely the most important feature, user created content. Definitely inspired by LittleBigPlanet and other similar games, Sound Shapes gives us a deep but intuitive creation tools to build some levels and share them online. But lets talk about the gameplay. As I already mentioned, the actual gameplay mechanics are very simple: the player controls a sticky orb that attaches at most surfaces and its killed by everything coloured RED. The sticky stuff can be turned off by a simple button press that makes your orb move faster and jump higher. This add some strategy to beat the later levels but the early ones or even the middle ones are so simple that you can beat them in one sitting without ever dying or change these modes. In these levels what makes them peculiar though is the clever way in how the game uses music to control the scenery, including enemies, moving platforms, traps, etc and makes the player "use" rhythm to foresee how these environments will "act" next. Very clever and fun, independently of music tastes.
Sound Shapes sure is unique. Its gameplay can be very simplistic but the way it is used nullfies its shortcomings. A very though out game that I recommend to those craving for relaxing and unique experiences.
