Fast forward two years later and DS owners are presented with Beat City, a game much in the same vein as the aforementioned Rhythm Heaven, complete with vertical screen orientation, colourful graphics and often nonsensical scenarios. Perhaps Beat City is trying to tap (no pun intended) into Rhythm Heaven success by offering gamers a comparable experience, and manages to do this adequately. As they say, imitation is the best form of flattery.
Unlike Rhythm Heaven however, Beat City has a story, presented in comic panels. While these comic panels have no voice acting or text, they are self-explanatory. The evil Cacophony Corporation is at work and has turned everything into a boring, monotonous mess. The player takes the role of Synchronizer, a man with a giant speaker in his forehead. How did it get there? Let’s just say a whale (aptly named Groovy Whale) came from a distant planet and decided to give him these powers in the hopes of restoring fun and colour to the Beat City. While it is true that Beat City doesn’t have the strongest story, it isn’t really necessary. However, what is presented of it feels lacking and often left us wanting more details. It doesn’t help that cutscenes that are supposedly meant to advance the story are only shown after you ‘cleanse’ an area – which doesn’t happen often enough in the game for it to be effective.
The happiest city in the world, complete with kissing hippos, rainbow skies and koalas in their underwear.
Beat City is broken up into a number of days. Within each day are a number of scenarios which Synchronizer must complete in order to progress to the next. Gameplay consists of three different actions: tap, hold and slide. Naturally, this is controlled purely by touch screen. Unfortunately, the touch screen recognition isn’t accurate 100% of the time – for example, the game will sometimes process a slide action as a tap action. Furthermore, the synchronisation between the music and the visual cues that the game gives the player in some of the minigames are bizarrely timed. Additionally, while there are several different scenarios, players will find themselves repeating them a number of times under the guise of increased difficulty. This would be a welcome challenge, except for the fact that the game does not space them out very effectively. As a result, you could have completed a particular level only to play it again three stages later.
It should be said at this point that the gameplay elements mentioned above work well most of the time and do not detract from an enjoyable experience as a whole. The scenarios are quirky and outlandish enough to make us crack a smile, ranging from styling hair to brightening up a display mannequin’s day, and the developers should be commended for bringing original ideas to the table.
Just some of the crazy things that can happen.
At the end of each stage, the player is shown a percentage value and is given a number of stars relating to how well they performed on a stage. It is quite easy to pass a stage, as anything above 30% will translate to a pass. However, the better the performance, the more stars are given - up to a maximum of four stars per stage. Groovy Whale uses these stars to build a staircase (which players can view at the end of each day) up towards his home planet. Indeed, most of Beat City’s replay value will stem from players trying to obtain all four stars per level.
The graphics are bright and colourful and fit the game’s mood well. While it is almost certain that the game is targeted towards a younger audience, a few of the stages have scenarios and graphics that may be overwhelmingly saccharine, especially to older gamers. However, one of the best things about Beat City is that the better a player does, the more background elements are introduced. So when a stage starts with a trio of ravens sitting against a backdrop of trees and a blue sky, do well enough and you can expect to see these ravens transform into pink flamingos, with smiling faces and party hats appearing on the trees.
An example of the changes players can expect.
Of course, being a rhythm game, the most important aspect of Beat City is the music, perhaps second only to gameplay. Thankfully, the game does this well, providing players with tunes that are catchy, yet simple enough to play along to. However, not every stage has a unique song and players should expect to hear the same song again and again – especially as a result of the aforementioned lack of efficient stage separation.
Beat City is a competent rhythm game that sticks to doing what it knows how to do. While it may get repetitive and perhaps even frustrating at times, the overall experience is enjoyable and is definitely worth a purchase, especially for those looking for an easy entry into the genre.
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