December tends to be the time of the year where new releases slow down and you’re finally free to catch up on your backlog. Not this year, suckers! This month has been the busiest December for new video games in recent memory. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Octopath Traveller 0, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Skate Story, Angeline Era, Simogo Legacy Collection, Death Howl, Terminator 2D: No Fate — it’s a long list.
There’s no greater evidence that we’re in a busy season than the fact that not one, not two, but three solid rhythm games released within three days of one another last week. Rhythm Doctor exited early access on Dec. 6, while both Unbeatable and Bits & Bops launched on Dec. 9. If you’re a fan of beat-matching music games that will get your head nodding, you’re set for the month.
In the spirit of a good mixtape, I’m here with an EP of micro-reviews that will give you an idea of what to expect from each game. Three games, three different tempos. I’m sure one of them will be your speed.
Rhythm Doctor
You may think that if you’ve played one rhythm game, you’ve played them all. I mean, how much more can you complicate the idea of hitting buttons on the right beat? Rhythm Doctor shows just how much you can twist that formula, in the most galaxy-brained way possible. Set in a hospital, players treat patients who have heart problems with an experimental musical defibrillation method. In practice, that means hitting heartbeats in time with music. The twist, though, is that you have to hit the seventh beat of every musical sequence.
It’s a strange pitch, but it works remarkably well in practice. Working on the seventh beat allows developer 7th Beat Games (aptly named!) to create more rhythmically complex patterns that play with offbeats, syncopation and more. Each level gradually throws in more twists too, like double time, rest beats, two-note sequences, and more. It all builds to some incredibly challenging final songs that require a lot of focus to nail. It’s a music game for music nerds.
Bits & Bops
While Rhythm Doctor is inventive and complex, Bits & Bops is reliable and breezy. Developer Tempo Lab Games isn’t trying to reinvent the genre, but simply pay tribute to Nintendo’s Rhythm Heaven series. It totally nails that task, too. The musical minigame collection has players hitting buttons in time with music as a charming animation sequence plays. One level has you snapping photos of seals at the exact moment that they bop a balloon off their nose. Another tells a love story between an indoor and outdoor bird, who squawk at each other from either side of a windowsill. Every level has its own tempo and musical cues to learn and follow, and each one is a delight to learn.
Though it doesn’t cover any new ground, Bits & Bops understands what makes a great rhythm game. It isn’t always about making players keep up with fast, complicated patterns that require tons of fast button hits. Instead, a music game can be successful when it plays with repetition and subverts it when you’re least expecting it. Like Rhythm Doctor, the tricky bits come when you’ve grown used to a pattern and then you’re suddenly hit with an offbeat switch-up that requires a quick reaction. The best thing I can say about Bits & Bops is that you could play the entire thing with your eyes closed, just letting the music itself guide you. But you wouldn’t want to do that, because then you’d miss President Bird addressing the world in one of the funniest sequences I’ve seen in a game this year.
Unbeatable
Of the three games discussed here, Unbeatable is certainly the most ambitious in scope. It’s not just a rhythm game where you need to hit beats to punch robots and cops. Those musical sequences live in a full single-player campaign that draws on works like Scott Pilgrim to tell a story about a group of young adults fighting against fascism in a world where music is outlawed. It’s an impressive project filled with punk-rock attitude, some great illustration work, and a killer soundtrack.
It’s also the messiest of the three games. Right before its original release date in November, Unbeatable got a last-minute delay to give it some extra polish. It’s clear that work, and even more, was needed. Unbeatable’s story mode feels unfinished at times, with inconsistent voice acting, fidgety UI, and a whole lot of bugs. In fact, Unbeatable lives up to its name: I currently can’t progress any further in the story due to a bug that prevents me from closing a dialogue box. It’s a shame because the underlying game seems solid enough, especially in its more traditional arcade mode where players can just tap along to the songs. Hopefully its rougher edges get smoothed out, though not too much. There’s something fitting about Unbeatable being a little spunky and offbeat. That’s what punk is all about.
