Also available on 3DS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, OSX, and Windows Bit.Trip Core took the "really simple but surprisingly deep" gameplay style of Bit.Trip Beat and replicated it with a radically different style of play. Core also carries with it from Beat the phenomenal soundtrack and gameplay intricately and inherently tied to rhythm and music. Whereas Beat was Pong-cross-Guitar Hero, Core is harder to describe. The closest analogy I can think of would be an old tower defense-ish game (think Missile Command), but that's honestly not all that accurate, either. You control a....thing....in the middle of screen, and you can shoot in one of four directions; straight up, straight down, straight left, or straight right. The rhythm aspect here is that you have time your shots to hit the pixels right as they cross one of those four lines of fire. It starts off easy, but as you eventually get pixels coming at you constantly from every direction, it can get really confusing to keep straight what direction you need to shoot when. Difficulty aside, though, it's an EXTREMELY fun game and, in my opinion, more addicting than the first one. As was the case with Bit.Trip Beat, Bit.Trip Core has three levels - each much more difficult than the last - and a boss at the end of each level. I actually found Core to be a bit easier than Beat, but that might be because Core's controls use the Wiimote's D-pad rather than the gyroscope, and I have pretty shaky hands, making motion controls a bit imprecise for me even though I love them. Regardless of whether Core is a little tougher or Beat is a little tougher, what's certain is that Core is pretty much the perfect sequel. It took what made Beat fantastic and unique and applied that formula to a radically different gameplay style. Bit.Trip Core is a truly excellent follow up to Bit.Trip Beat, and while they're so different that it's hard to say whether or not it surpasses its predecessor, it's certainly a superb follow-up. It keeps the fantastic music and emphasis on rhythm and timing while having the actual gameplay rooted in a totally different format. This is how a series should progress in my opinion - taking a concept and expanding it rather than just doing the same thing but bigger and prettier each time. My Rating - A |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
April 2024
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