Review - KickBeat; Special Editionby Gary Alexander Stott
Format reviewed on; PS4 |
Developers; Zen Studios
Publisher; Zen Studios Formats;PS4, To check out a full Gallery of Images for the game please click here |
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KickBeat: Special Edition is, as the name suggests, a next gen re-release of the 2013 rhythm-action game, featuring some new levels and tracks. Developed by Zen Studios, it attempts to fuse gameplay reminiscent of Dance Dance Revolution with martial arts combat. But does it succeed? And more importantly: is it worth your investment?
KickBeat offers four modes – three, really, if you ignore the training. The Story mode gives the player two characters to choose from: the creatively-named Lee (who looks astoundingly similar to Andrew Garfield) and a heroine called Mei, who is unlocked after completing Lee's story. The narrative itself is somewhat ridiculous, revolving around the Order of the Melodic Fist (ha!) and its quest to restore music to the world after it is stolen by a corporate antagonist named Mr Halisi. Levels are intersected with stylish animated cutscenes reminiscent of inFamous and Dead Nation. |
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Perhaps it would have been ambitious for a rhythm game to attempt to tell a serious story, but the narrative we're presented with is vague, filled with clichés, and instantly forgettable. All of the characters are one-dimensional, and the voice acting is bland. It raises the question: why even bother telling a story that's not worth telling? The game might have benefited from a more parody-oriented approach that tackled martial arts clichés with creativity and wit. As it stands, it's entirely uninteresting, and its attempts at humour are, ironically, laughable (at one point there's even a Justin Bieber joke).
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Furthermore, presenting this narrative through two story arcs is really just a pretence to cover up lazy game design. Lee's story doesn't end on a satisfying note, and so the player is forced to play through the same songs and levels again as Mei in order to see the true finale – the only difference the second time around being the cutscenes. It might have made more sense to offer two separate but intertwining stories, both available from the start. As it stands, what we're presented with simply feels like a single story in two halves, spread across two playthroughs of the same game – and the second playthrough is where the experience really begins to feel like a grind. On that note, it's time we discussed how gameplay works in KickBeat. |
You'll find your character of choice in one of six musical arenas. Enemies rush in from four sides, each one corresponding to one of the controller's face buttons. As they move in to strike, the player must react by pressing the appropriate face button in time with the music to defeat them. Every now and then, defeating a wave perfectly will reward the player with an Arkham Asylum-style cinematic view of the final enemy's demise, making for some pretty shareable screenshots.
This simple system is given added complexity through the introduction of colour-coded enemy types with different attack styles. The basic yellow enemies, for example, attack on their own, where as red enemies will team up and attack at the same time, requiring multiple buttons to be pressed simultaneously. Blue enemies attack not just on beats, but on half-beats, and yellow linked enemies must be defeated by holding and letting go of the appropriate button at the right time.
This simple system is given added complexity through the introduction of colour-coded enemy types with different attack styles. The basic yellow enemies, for example, attack on their own, where as red enemies will team up and attack at the same time, requiring multiple buttons to be pressed simultaneously. Blue enemies attack not just on beats, but on half-beats, and yellow linked enemies must be defeated by holding and letting go of the appropriate button at the right time.
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There's also a life bar to keep track of, as well as a Chi bar that allows the player to double their score multiplier once filled. Throw in power-ups that require enemies to be defeated through double-taps and we have a surprisingly advanced gameplay system. This growing complexity through simple mechanics is reminiscent of Velocity 2X, but unlike that title, begins to feel repetitive after the first playthrough. The game's Free Play and Survival modes (the former allowing song selection in any arena with a variety of costumes, the latter challenging the player to last as long as possible) do little to change this. The increasing challenge of the story mode and the natural curiosity of wanting to play through new songs and levels warrants a single playthrough, but Mei's story arc is sustained only through the promise of fresh narrative content, and that's not offering much.
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There are three boss battles to contend with, but they really don't feel all that different from the rest of the game. The first has the player building up energy through combat which can then be unleashed to deplete the enemy's health bar, the second involves knocking missiles away rather than enemies, and the third is a battle against cyber-tentacles (I did warn you about the 'story').
There are four difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, Expert, and Master. Essentially, the harder the difficulty, the less warning the player is given about incoming attacks. Hard, for example, removes the button prompts featured in Normal, forcing the player to watch all four sides carefully for incoming enemy attacks. If high scores and leaderboards are your thing, there might be some challenge to find here, and there are trophies and unlockables too, such as new characters and costumes (most of which are just enemy skins), but there's really little more on offer here than the core gameplay mechanics. Of course, perhaps the biggest element to judge a rhythm game by is its soundtrack. What sort of music does KickBeat offer? Zen Studios have attempted to create an edgier, more aggressive brand of rhythm game, and the music choice reflects this. Essentially, it's a lot of nu metal, hip hop and dance tracks, most of which are from bands you've probably never heard of. Pendulum, Marilyn Manson, and Papa Roach are some of the bigger names featured. Celldweller, Blue Stahli and enV are also noticeably more present than other artists in the game. |
The problem with focusing on such particular styles of music is that it limits the audience. If the music suits your taste, you'll probably get more out of the experience, but its less likely to be enjoyable if it's not your scene. Games like Guitar Hero have the advantage of peripherals to make the experience novel for players, even if they're not a fan of the genres available to them, but KickBeat lacks the same kind of appeal. You have to wonder: who is this game for? Restricting gameplay to a controller and lacking any form of multiplayer prevents the game from being suited to parties, and the hard, angsty music is likely to resonate only with a certain audience. Perhaps it would have made more sense for Zen to focus on making the game more 'fun' as opposed to 'cool'. It might have also facilitated a more creative approach to storytelling.
In my time with the game, I also came across a technical glitch which caused the points display to flicker awkwardly on several occasions, and there were some similar visual problems in some of the cutscenes. These complaints, however, are minor, and might easily be patched out in the days to come. The gameplay, on the other hand, is here to stay, and I had a few small problems in this area. Power-ups are a key mechanic, yet I found that in the frenzy of battle it was easy to forget what sort of power-up was currently in my possession, causing me to lose rhythm upon activation. It also took me a long time to be able to discern when I was being attacked by more than one enemy at a time, and I found it was hard to recover from a major misstep. However, these problems are partly down to my own skill level, and its possible that Zen intended these difficulties to challenge players aiming for high scores. Nonetheless, some changes to the user interface might have made things clearer in times of chaos.
In spite of its flaws, though, KickBeat does have a certain charm to it. The visuals are colourful, the environments are varied and have their own distinct feels, and there are some pretty light-shows to be found. If you're into rap metal, techno-rock or just plain dance, and want to play a different kind of rhythm game, this one's definitely worth checking out for its £7.99 price tag. Otherwise you might be better off bringing Guitar Hero to the party, as KickBeat is best left at home.
In spite of its flaws, though, KickBeat does have a certain charm to it. The visuals are colourful, the environments are varied and have their own distinct feels, and there are some pretty light-shows to be found. If you're into rap metal, techno-rock or just plain dance, and want to play a different kind of rhythm game, this one's definitely worth checking out for its £7.99 price tag. Otherwise you might be better off bringing Guitar Hero to the party, as KickBeat is best left at home.
Rating 3/5
Game provided by Publisher
Images - Captured from PS4 Gameplay
Images - Captured from PS4 Gameplay
