OnlySP: When one hears “rhythm” game, images of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero are often some of the first to come to mind. Although these are the most common types of rhythm games out there, they are not the only ones. More and more games appear to be incorporating music deeper into the overall experience rather than just having something in the background to prevent silence. Even further, developers are bringing music to the forefront of the game, making it front and center and integral to the experience. Games like Rez and Child of Eden do this quite well by creating a musical experience through a shooting game. But Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians is a new take on a rhythmic experience.
Music is often restricted to play just a bit part role in games: No matter how good the composer is, no matter how moving the score, this entire element of a game’s development can often be tuned out with little or no impact to gameplay. Not so with Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians. Here is a game where the music is as central to the experience as the character onscreen, where nodding your head to the beat can help you float through Beatbuddy’s mix of adventure and puzzle solving more easily. It is a strong and unusual concert, although the focus on following the music bears unexpected consequences for the longevity of the puzzle based gameplay.
Justin Chou jams to the funky-fresh grooves of the new iOS version of BeatBuddy, and plans to take the game from GDC to the dark depths of the NYC subway.
The folks over at THREAKS recently announced that their title has just topped over 700,000 copies sold on PC and iOS, impressive numbers for an indie game with relatively little publicity.
