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Here's the Beats But Where's the Rhythm?
http://tech-gaming.com/2007/12/13/heres-the-beats-but-wheres-the-rhythm.aspx
A sense of dread usually overcomes us when we see the Sony London Studio logo. Perhaps it was our experiences with the two Getaway games, the wonky Eye Toy Software, or the really awful PSP game, Gangs of London. So our apprehension grew once we finally downloaded the software and began playing Beats, a new music game designed by Sony London.
Beats is Sony’s first full direct download exclusively for the PSP. To download the game you need a PSP, a PC (sorry, no macs), an account with the Playstation store and a bit of luck. Installation required the PSP to be tethered to your PC during the process. With a broadband connection the 278 Meg downloaded was completed in about three minutes; installation on the PSP took another two.
Once the game is downloaded there are two main ‘games’ in Beats: “My Music Challenge” and “Jamming”. My Music Challenge uses the music on the PSP’s memory card to test the player’s button mashing skills. The screen contains three nodes in the center of the screen. Players use the d-pad to select the far left and right nodes, the middle is a default when no direction is pressed.Analog control is inexplicably missing. Once the music starts playing, four icons representing the X, O, square, and triangle icons stream toward the nodes. The player simply taps the corresponding button when the icon is close to the node. Ironically, the game is fairly liberal in its timing; the buttons don’t have to pressed on ‘beat’, and can even be buffered with little consequence. Unlike most music rhythm games, there is no winning nor losing; the player is merely given a score at the end of a song. The only other wrinkle in the repetitive gameplay is using the left trigger to engage overdrive- this makes the icons travel slower, albeit, in a wave-like pattern.
The problem with “My Music Challenge is that there isn’t much connection between the song rhythm and the output of icons or even the button pushing. We tried the game with Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Tupac, even the CAGCast. The music we threw at the game didn’t matter, the game always felt like a four-minute stint on the assembly line.
“Jamming” fared slightly better. First, The ‘game’ has players select one of eleven songs, then in real time, players select a section of the song with the right trigger. For example, selecting ‘guitars’, would bring up three more options in a recursive menu, in which the player can select sound loops. It sounds more complicated than it really is, and can be picked up in minutes. We had a bit more fun with this section of Beats, than the monotony of the ‘Music Challenge’.
Other options include custom themes, visualization, and the requisite hi-score table. While not the most amazing piece of software for the PSP, Beats is worth the $4.99 expense. We’d really like to see an expanded sequel work out some of the failings of this package.
http://tech-gaming.com/2007/12/13/heres-the-beats-but-wheres-the-rhythm.aspx
A sense of dread usually overcomes us when we see the Sony London Studio logo. Perhaps it was our experiences with the two Getaway games, the wonky Eye Toy Software, or the really awful PSP game, Gangs of London. So our apprehension grew once we finally downloaded the software and began playing Beats, a new music game designed by Sony London.
Beats is Sony’s first full direct download exclusively for the PSP. To download the game you need a PSP, a PC (sorry, no macs), an account with the Playstation store and a bit of luck. Installation required the PSP to be tethered to your PC during the process. With a broadband connection the 278 Meg downloaded was completed in about three minutes; installation on the PSP took another two.
Once the game is downloaded there are two main ‘games’ in Beats: “My Music Challenge” and “Jamming”. My Music Challenge uses the music on the PSP’s memory card to test the player’s button mashing skills. The screen contains three nodes in the center of the screen. Players use the d-pad to select the far left and right nodes, the middle is a default when no direction is pressed.Analog control is inexplicably missing. Once the music starts playing, four icons representing the X, O, square, and triangle icons stream toward the nodes. The player simply taps the corresponding button when the icon is close to the node. Ironically, the game is fairly liberal in its timing; the buttons don’t have to pressed on ‘beat’, and can even be buffered with little consequence. Unlike most music rhythm games, there is no winning nor losing; the player is merely given a score at the end of a song. The only other wrinkle in the repetitive gameplay is using the left trigger to engage overdrive- this makes the icons travel slower, albeit, in a wave-like pattern.
The problem with “My Music Challenge is that there isn’t much connection between the song rhythm and the output of icons or even the button pushing. We tried the game with Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Tupac, even the CAGCast. The music we threw at the game didn’t matter, the game always felt like a four-minute stint on the assembly line.
“Jamming” fared slightly better. First, The ‘game’ has players select one of eleven songs, then in real time, players select a section of the song with the right trigger. For example, selecting ‘guitars’, would bring up three more options in a recursive menu, in which the player can select sound loops. It sounds more complicated than it really is, and can be picked up in minutes. We had a bit more fun with this section of Beats, than the monotony of the ‘Music Challenge’.
Other options include custom themes, visualization, and the requisite hi-score table. While not the most amazing piece of software for the PSP, Beats is worth the $4.99 expense. We’d really like to see an expanded sequel work out some of the failings of this package.
