A unique take on the rhythm genre that has plenty of fresh ideas and perspective. It’s far from perfect though and mostly suffers from implementation issues that shoot itself in the leg like Cheddar Bob. Every facet will impress you, and then at the same time disappoint you. It’s an experience to play this game, offering plenty of challenge and sublime moments of accomplishment. The issue is that I see this being a game you’ll either love or hate, with little to be found in the middle.

The most important aspect is the gameplay, and this offers a combination of 140’s rhythm platforming elements and DDR’s rhythm based direction action phases. Everything is mostly solid, with the occasional bug where the beat and action/platformer phases don’t sync up properly. Upon death or reset though these usually rectify themselves. This section is the main reason for my recommendation, as there are only very minor issues.

The visuals are one of the most prolific section that I can think of that is a double-edged sword. They are beautifully colorful, with a great aesthetic pleasure to it. The use of visuals gives a very psychedelic persona to the whole experience. Yet, these same qualities end up being the downside as well. During peak action times the screen gets overrun with various effects and color swaps that end up looking more like screen vomit than anything else. It distracts from the gameplay at a variety of times and is just too much at times.

Next is the control options. Both the keyboard and controller controls feel very tight. The keyboard is by far the better option though, with the timings and input lag between commands being decreased. This is mostly due to the full reset control scheme that must be adhered to. When using the Klangs, the right joystick must go to a full neutral position before the next command can be input. This offers a few extra millisecond lags as the keyboard only relies on a key to fully reset. Movement controls are better with the controller though. Certain sections see you flying around on a board, of sorts, and the keyboard limits you to only 8 directions. The controller joystick has no such limitations. Then there’s no remapping allowed for either scheme. Old controllers beware though, there are no sensitivity options for the joystick so even the slightest offset from neutral will have you running at full speed.

Third, the difficulty is skewed at many sections of the game. This game is hard, and the dev states that this was intentional. The hardship of this is manageable on the main setting throughout the entire game. As well you can change the difficulty on the fly with no real penalties applied. The issue is that there is no ramping of the difficulty once you get past the p1rate b4y level. There are sections in the early areas that are more difficult than other later sections. Now the end levels are by far the most difficult, but there are random ups and downs in this context. As well, the controller issues explained above can add to the difficulty in what feels like an artificial way.

A few things that this hit totally on the head are the music and story aspects of the game. The former has maybe a song or two that I wasn’t a fan of. While the latter is perfectly flippant, and comical for what it is. There is a subtlety to the story that one must look for in some of the fine-tuned details that add depth. Either way they felt totally at home within the context of the game.

I enjoyed this game, it was an interesting experience. If it didn’t sabotage itself through implementation issues, I would easily give it a much higher score than the 7.5 I’d rate it currently. As it stands though, I still think this is a title that deserves to be checked out. It’s a challenging and fun experience that I think most rhythm gamers will thoroughly enjoy. Though maybe watch the videos on the community page to get a sense of some of the faster paced action elements.

A unique take on the rhythm genre that has plenty of fresh ideas and perspective. It’s far from perfect though and mostly suffers from implementation issues that shoot itself in the leg like Cheddar Bob. Every facet will impress you, and then at the same time disappoint you. It’s an experience to play this game, offering plenty of challenge and sublime moments of accomplishment. The issue is that I see this being a game you’ll either love or hate, with little to be found in the middle. The most important aspect is the gameplay, and this offers a combination of 140’s rhythm platforming elements and DDR’s rhythm based direction action phases. Everything is mostly solid, with the occasional bug where the beat and action/platformer phases don’t sync up properly. Upon death or reset though these usually rectify themselves. This section is the main reason for my recommendation, as there are only very minor issues. The visuals are one of the most prolific section that I can think of that is a double-edged sword. They are beautifully colorful, with a great aesthetic pleasure to it. The use of visuals gives a very psychedelic persona to the whole experience. Yet, these same qualities end up being the downside as well. During peak action times the screen gets overrun with various effects and color swaps that end up looking more like screen vomit than anything else. It distracts from the gameplay at a variety of times and is just too much at times. Next is the control options. Both the keyboard and controller controls feel very tight. The keyboard is by far the better option though, with the timings and input lag between commands being decreased. This is mostly due to the full reset control scheme that must be adhered to. When using the Klangs, the right joystick must go to a full neutral position before the next command can be input. This offers a few extra millisecond lags as the keyboard only relies on a key to fully reset. Movement controls are better with the controller though. Certain sections see you flying around on a board, of sorts, and the keyboard limits you to only 8 directions. The controller joystick has no such limitations. Then there’s no remapping allowed for either scheme. Old controllers beware though, there are no sensitivity options for the joystick so even the slightest offset from neutral will have you running at full speed. Third, the difficulty is skewed at many sections of the game. This game is hard, and the dev states that this was intentional. The hardship of this is manageable on the main setting throughout the entire game. As well you can change the difficulty on the fly with no real penalties applied. The issue is that there is no ramping of the difficulty once you get past the p1rate b4y level. There are sections in the early areas that are more difficult than other later sections. Now the end levels are by far the most difficult, but there are random ups and downs in this context. As well, the controller issues explained above can add to the difficulty in what feels like an artificial way. A few things that this hit totally on the head are the music and story aspects of the game. The former has maybe a song or two that I wasn’t a fan of. While the latter is perfectly flippant, and comical for what it is. There is a subtlety to the story that one must look for in some of the fine-tuned details that add depth. Either way they felt totally at home within the context of the game. I enjoyed this game, it was an interesting experience. If it didn’t sabotage itself through implementation issues, I would easily give it a much higher score than the 7.5 I’d rate it currently. As it stands though, I still think this is a title that deserves to be checked out. It’s a challenging and fun experience that I think most rhythm gamers will thoroughly enjoy. Though maybe watch the videos on the community page to get a sense of some of the faster paced action elements.