Rhythm Heaven

I just purchased this 4 hours ago (so mostly first impressions), but this game is really fun. The simple mechanics of tap, hold, and flick to the music make for a great time. The remix levels are fantastic and the game has a good level of difficulty.

My favorite game so far is the choir guys. I like how the other two glower at you when you're out of rhythm.

In this economy, you can't afford not to have this game.

BIT.TRIP BEAT

If enjoy rhythm games (and electronic music), then buy this game. If you enjoy the old Atari 2600 Pong/Breakout games, then buy this game. If you have a love of retro games, then buy this game.

What are you doing still reading this? You should be playing BIT.TRIP BEAT!

I'm going to assume the reason you're still reading this is because you want to know why you should buy the game. To start off, the basic premise of the game is pretty simple. Bits fly from the right-side of the screen to the left-side, and your job is to knock them back with your paddle. Knocking back bits will play a note of the song. The game is presented in 8-bit glory both graphically and musically.

You begin the game in hyper-mode, and by returning bits, which fill the mega-meter, you will enter mega-mode. When in mega-mode another layer of the song is unlocked and there are additional graphical effects. In addition, you have a new meter to fill which can increase your bonus. By missing beats you will drop from mega-mode to hyper-mode and from hyper-mode to nether-mode. When in nether-mode there is no music, the Wiimote's speaker emits the only sound when bits are returned, the screen is black and white, and missing too many bits results in game over. Hitting enough bits back in nether-mode will return you to hyper-mode. So, during a game you could transition through each mode multiple times depending on how well you are playing during certain parts of the song.

I'll be honest, as much as the concept of this game had me interested, I was concerned about the paddle being tied to motion controls. But, Gaijin nailed the controls and when playing the game it feels very much like playing with a paddle (Atari paddle, not ping-pong). The tilting works great and allows for very precise control.

The chip tune music is great and fits the game very well. My only complaint is there are only three songs. The songs are fairly long, in fact I still haven't been able to get passed the second, but I feel six shorter songs would've worked better. Due to the difficulty, I haven't been able to play more than one boss battle; but these are extremely fun. And I think the difficulty combined with the awesomeness of the boss battles, is why I would've liked to see more songs.

In addition, the game features four-player multiplayer, but I haven't had a chance to try it. I have read how some people have decreased the difficulty of the game by playing it two Wiimotes (essentially having one giant paddle made from two).

My only complaint is that sometimes the bits and paddle are hard to make out due to the background effects. But, it's something that doesn't happen too often and by your second or third play-through of a level it's easier to track everything.

Deadly Creatures

While I haven't completed Deadly Creatures yet, I have to give a shout out for this Wii game. The game is animated beautifully and very fun. As you traverse the desert in chapters you battle insects, spiders, scorpions, lizards and a variety of other desert creatures. The boss battles are enjoyable and the combat is satisfying.

The controls for Deadly Creatures are pretty solid and make good use of the motion control. Both characters, the spider and scorpion, play a little differently. With both, the control stick is used for movement, A is used for a weak attack, and swinging the remote is a strong attack. The scorpion, which is the tank of the two, can guard against attacks. But, the real joy of the scorpion is in the finishing moves when an enemy gets low in health. You initiate these moves by pressing C and then completing a series of motions and/or button presses. The spider has more mobility as it's faster, can jump, and eventually can shoot webs to reach places. The price of this mobility is that it can't take as many hits and must avoid attacks rather than block them.

The game is probably going to clock in around 10 hours based on how long each chapter is taking me. But, there's replayability with a higher difficulty and replaying missions to collect all the grubs. As you collect grubs you unlock artwork.

In the end, it's a worthy title that anyone who enjoys action titles and owns a Wii should play. And, I would love to see the concept revisited as a sandbox title. Climbing along the walls and ceiling to explore the giant world as the spider would be fantastic.


Hahahaha! Brilliant!