GamingLives takes a look at the rhythm beat-em-up from Zen Studios.
"Die-hard fans of the genre may well get more out of the game than I did, but as someone who has played and enjoyed games such as Parappa The Rapper, Elite Beat Agents, and Gitaroo Man, I should be one of them. The on-screen action is too fussy to put this much reliance on, the beat matching doesn’t always feel natural to me (as a musician), the gameplay allows progress but punishes you with some very harsh scoring (and the trophies are going to be out of reach for most players), and there’s no variation aside from the occasional boss battle, none of which play much differently to ordinary levels."
Zen Studios is known for games such as Zen Pinball, Pinball FX2, and Castle Storm. Now they are back with a new game that combines music and kung fu!
From the review: "Even if you're addicted to rhythm games, Kickbeat is a hard pass. It gets almost nothing right. Stick to your old copies of Rock Band and Guitar Hero and get your fighting game needs met with an actual fighting game."
Pure Nintendo: "By no means is KickBeat a bad game and the martial arts style of the game is interesting but it doesn’t do anything outside of the norm to keep me coming back for more. Replay value is an important factor for rhythm games and I don’t feel that KickBeat provides quite enough content or accessibility to keep anyone who is not a rhythm gaming vet coming back for more. Improving on a previous score or trying to unlock more content are aspects that provide some replay value but KickBeat could have been so much more than it currently is. Players who are a fan of rhythm games may want to give KickBeat a whirl but others may want to skip this title for other eShop fare."
