Extra Lives Pending

Bit.Trip Beat

December 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM (Shadx's Reviews, Shadx's stuff)

A bit of a trip down memory lane, or is it beating a dead horse?

Released: March 16, 2009

Developer: Gaijin Games

Publisher: Aksys Games

Rated E

When you first turn on the game, you’ll hear a very nice tune (I sat and listened for a few minutes). The title is unique, as every time you pass a level, another object will appear in the background. The selections on the menu consist of Transition, Descent and Growth, the 3 levels of the game, but the latter will not be available until you beat the former. You can also choose to view the high scores, but there is no online leaderboard, and the high scores don’t appear to save. Finally you can view the credits, which features a very cool tune, and a cut scene at the end. To actually select any of these, you have to press 2 on one, and hit the pixel that comes out.

The story of Bit.Trip Beat is clouded in mystery. No one but the creators of the game know exactly what it’s about, so I’ll just give you my theory.

Beat’s story seems to be about the birth of Commander Video, the main character of the series. I can’t tell you why this is without spoiling it, but if you play the game, you’ll see what I mean. The names of the stages also further this theory. Transition = spermatozoids, descent = ovum, growth = fetus. If you don’t care about spoilers, you can look up some   videos on youtube.

The cinematics in the game are made up of rather humorous cartoons depicting Commander Video’s interactions with the world and people around him. As stated above, the cut scenes in Beat seem to be about birth. They are very short, and you can only view them after beating the levels. It would have been nice to be able to choose to watch all the cut scenes in order without having to endure the 3 (very difficult) stages,  but it isn’t anything terrible.

The visuals in Beat are stunning. The game takes on the look of Pong. You control a paddle on the left of the screen, and deflect pixels coming from the right. If a beat connects with the paddle or the edges of the screen, the cause a small burst of colour. If you do well enough, you will enter Mega Mode, in which the music and the visuals all take a boost in the “trippy” department. As the game progresses, the backgrounds begin to feature more and more bizarre 3D images. The images, though nice to look at, do cause some problems. In one stage, there is a meteor in the background, and yellow pixels (the main pixels) are coming towards you. Unfortunately, they blend in to the meteor, making it hard to defend against them. However, it simply adds to the difficulty, and doesn’t break the game in any way.

The sound in the Bit.Trip series is undoubtedly the most important aspect, seeing as they are rhythm games. At all times there is music in the background, whether you hit a beat or not. As you progress, the music picks up and adds more sounds. Hitting beats adds to the music, and if you do well, becomes the music. In Hyper Mode (the mode each stage starts on) the beats just make “bloop” sounds of different pitches, but upon entering Mega Mode, the beats begin to make more sounds, and ultimately end up creating some amazing sounds. However, if you do poorly, the game becomes black and white, and all the sound stops.

The game is controlled by tilting the Wii remote forward and backward to move your paddle up and down respectively. Although it may sound inaccurate, it actually works amazingly well, more so than if they had used the D-Pad. Hitting beats coming at amazing speeds is far less difficult than you would imagine, and the Wii remote is most of the reason for this. However, it would have been nice to use the D-Pad for certain things. For example, to enter your name in the high scores, you have to tilt the remote forward to go up through letters, and backward to go down, and it is not anywhere near as accurate as the actual gameplay. You’ll find yourself tilting back and forth repeatedly until you finally manage to get the letter you wanted.

The game, as mentioned above, is in many aspects, Pong without the other side, and with a hell of a lot more squares. The game only has three levels, but they are all very difficult. Each stage ends with a boss, all of which imitate a classic game. Scattered about the stages are challenges, which shrink your paddle for a set amount of time. The more beats you hit in these, the more bonus points you’ll gain. As you play through the stages, you’ll rack up more points for not missing a beat, so to speak. Every time you hit a beat, a meter on the top of the screen fills up a little bit. Once it reaches the end, you’ll enter Mega Mode, in which the music becomes more in-depth, and the visuals get a little crazy. After entering this mode, the bar on the top empties and changes to the “Multi Meter”. Every time you hit a beat, this meter will fill up a bit. Once it hits the end, it will empty and you’ll gain a multiplier point, which obviously multiplies the amount of points a beat gives you.

If you miss a beat, a meter on the bottom, entitled the Nether Meter, will fill up slightly (at about the same rate the Multi Meter fills). Once it reaches the end, the game will go black and white, much like the classic pong. Along with this, all the sound will disappear, which gives you a sense of panic. Once in Nether Mode, a meter on the top will fill each time you hit a bit, and a meter on the bottom will fill if you miss. If the top meter fills completely, you’ll go back to hyper mode, if the bottom fills, it’s game over. There are no check points, so if you die, you have to restart from the beginning. This may not sound like a big problem, but the game is very difficult, and the stages are very long, so you’ll find yourself trying a level over and over, getting past a long, easy part, only to keep dying at a difficult spot. It’s not a big problem, but it does get frustrating.

The game can be played with up to four player simultaneously. The two player mode has you playing as a yellow paddle (the one used for single player) and a blue paddle. The paddles are both the same size as the one in single player, which you would think would make the game easier, but playing with two or more players stops you from understanding the rhythm of the stages, and as such makes them more difficult. But this is not to say it isn’t fun. When in 3-4 player mode, the paddles become half the size of the ones in 1-2 player mode, making the game far more difficult. You’ll need excellent team work to hit the larger dots.

The game is very short, and can be completed within about an hour if you don’t die once (although that’s incredibly unlikely), but the sheer fun of the game will keep you replaying it for ages, and for you OCD fellows, you can always try to improve your score. Unfortunately, there are no extras to be unlocked, but I guess it’s to be expected with a downloadable title.

Pros

Beautiful visuals.

Music that will keep you coming back just to hear it.

Four player co-op.

Strangely high amount of replay value.

Cons

Visuals can get in the way, and do get dizzying at times.

Only 3 levels.

No online leader board.

Overall

8/10: A gem of a game with a few minor flaws that you won’t even notice while you’re head banging to the amazing music.

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