Rhythm Heaven is a corky yet addicting game made for the DS. It simple controls are made for everyone young and old, and anyone can literally pick up and play. The controls consist of three things: tap, hold, and slide. It is quite amzing on how many different minigames can be made using only these two controls. It this simplicity that makes this game one of a kind and adds charm to the game itself.
The graphics are cute and memorable. The animations are really well donw in this game, and are refined to the fullest. The graphics are lively and colorful, and always add that extra boost to a minigame. Everything seems thoughtout, to the tap icon on the touch screen to the actual animation of the main screen. This game is not overly animated and screens are simple yet effective, which is a good thing considering this game requires full focus.
Of course, when it comes to a music game, what really counts is the music itself. The music in Rhythm Heaven is catchy and fun. Basically, when you slide or tap your stylus, it creates a sound effect such as a shaking noise or a clank. Its these sound effects that create the rhythm itself and they are integrated extremely well with the songs. The songs themselves are great to listen to. They are addicting and some will get stuck in you head, and thats a good thing. Also, after every four minigames is a remix minigame, which complies all the minigames you just did into a Remix. The way the developers were able to connect these different minigames is beyond me, but they play off eachother beautifully.
This game is a challenge, but its a challenge well spent. You will fail minigames and you will need to redo them. But once you get past that hurdle, you feel acomplished beyond belief. This game has incrediable replay value. Each minigame has three scores: fail, pass, and exceed. If you exceed a minigame, then you can play the perfect challenge. For the perfect challenge, you must beat the minigame making no mistakes. If won, you get a special prize. The game encourages you to train and hone in on your rythmatic skills. There are of course other minigames such as Endless minigames, which are get the highest score.
Overall, Rhythm Heaven is an addicting game that draws you in from the get go. With some catchy and great tunes, pugsy and charming graphics, and great yet simplistic gameplay, this is easily one of the best DS games. Along with the incredable amount of replay value, this is a game anyone and everyone can enjoy if they are willing to take on the challenge.
It's not surprising to find out that Rhythm Heaven has been produced by the same team responsible for unleashing Wario Ware: it's crazy, experimental, and it never takes itself seriously. It's also surprisingly robust and addictive as hell: though you're only providing three simple touch screen commands in Rhythm Heaven, the designers put everything it could into producing one of the most creative and original music-based games on the market.
To truly understand Rhythm Heaven, you really have to go back a bit in history: the game started out as a Japanese Game Boy Advance title called Rhythm Tengoku. The team, fresh off the Wario Ware franchise, approached the music genre in similar fashion as it did the action genre in Wario Ware: thinking completely out of the box. Instead of recreating games like Parappa the Rapper or Dance Dance Revolution where players tap the appropriate button when the symbols tell them to, the designers focused more on quick-fire rhythm-based situations: hit a baseball, pluck facial whiskers, and clap hands…all by watching the cues and pressing the button in time to the music.
In context, Rhythm Heaven is a brilliant DS continuation of the Game Boy Advance game, but since we didn't get the first game, the DS title will feel completely original. Instead of tapping a button along with the music, players instead tap or flick the stylus against the touch-screen in time to the beat using the visual and audio cues to know which to do and when. Just as Rhythm Tengoku kept things simple, Rhythm Heaven only requires those two input mechanisms in its 24 different rhythm challenges. And they're all just as completely off-the-wall as they were in the Game Boy Advance version. On the DS, you'll be flicking ping pong balls in a rally, taking photos of a fast-paced Grand Prix, and slicing vegetables as a dog ninja…all to the beat of the music. It's innovative and surprisingly addictive, even though you're really only doing two different stylus motions.
As fun as Rhythm Heaven is, it wouldn't be a great music game without great music. You're not going to get familiar licensed tracks in this DS title, but you're definitely going to hear some fun and original toe-tapping tunes. But the lyrics in this game are the absolute pits; whoever converted the Japanese-heavy vocals from the import version totally dropped the ball. You might want to strengthen up your songwriting skills if you're forced to fill up a song with a bunch of "Yeah, yeah, yeahs" and "Oh, oh, oh, oh nos." Who'd they get to localize this, Lenny Kravitz? Luckily there are only a handful of sung songs, and the majority of the tunes are purely instrumental and fun to listen to.
It's not difficult to plow through much of the game in a few hours; there are only six tiers of four different musical challenges, with each tier mashing up the four into a fifth "Remix" challenge of a completely new song. Reaching the end? Not super challenging. But scoring all the hidden unlockables? That's where the replay value comes into the experience. You'll only get a "medal" credit if you manage a "Superb" ranking, and the game has a ton of extras that only open up if you gain enough of the medals. Many of these extras are most likely failed mini-game experiments, like tapping on a touchtone phone, or sliding a business card around in a holder -- ideas that didn't quite make the cut in the single-player progression but still had enough creative spark to be included somewhere in the package. Additionally, the game builds up its replay value by randomly awarding players an opportunity to score a "Perfect" in a designated level. You only get three chances at it, and if you decide to skip the opportunity it will disappear for who knows how long.
Closing Comments
Even if you’re not a music fan you’re going to love Rhythm Heaven. It’s completely off the wall and unlike anything you’ve ever played on the Nintendo DS, not to mention incredibly fun and just as addictive. It’s awkwardly heavy in Japanese influence, but that’s half its charm – Western designers just couldn’t get away with some of the bizarre things that are going on in Rhythm Heaven. Hopefully North American gamers snag this one up as quickly as Japanese gamers did in the overseas version – maybe it’ll encourage Nintendo of America to localize the Game Boy Advance original as a WiiWare or DSiWare downloadable game.
9.0 Presentation
It's another incredibly creative game with an over-the-top, doesn't-take-itself-seriously presentation. We love it.
8.0 Graphics
Just like Wario Ware, the creators simply went crazy with its style -- each game has its own wild look.
8.5 Sound
The music is fun and catchy with lots of variety, but there's no denying the awful lyrics in some of these tunes.
9.0 Gameplay
It's really impressive to experience all the different rhythmic ways to tap and flick. Easy at first, but the difficutly ramps up at the end.
7.0 Lasting Appeal
It's not a super long game, but the designers keep things interesting with random "perfect" challenges as well as unlockable mini-games and toys.
9.0
Outstanding OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
To truly understand Rhythm Heaven, you really have to go back a bit in history: the game started out as a Japanese Game Boy Advance title called Rhythm Tengoku. The team, fresh off the Wario Ware franchise, approached the music genre in similar fashion as it did the action genre in Wario Ware: thinking completely out of the box. Instead of recreating games like Parappa the Rapper or Dance Dance Revolution where players tap the appropriate button when the symbols tell them to, the designers focused more on quick-fire rhythm-based situations: hit a baseball, pluck facial whiskers, and clap hands…all by watching the cues and pressing the button in time to the music.
In context, Rhythm Heaven is a brilliant DS continuation of the Game Boy Advance game, but since we didn't get the first game, the DS title will feel completely original. Instead of tapping a button along with the music, players instead tap or flick the stylus against the touch-screen in time to the beat using the visual and audio cues to know which to do and when. Just as Rhythm Tengoku kept things simple, Rhythm Heaven only requires those two input mechanisms in its 24 different rhythm challenges. And they're all just as completely off-the-wall as they were in the Game Boy Advance version. On the DS, you'll be flicking ping pong balls in a rally, taking photos of a fast-paced Grand Prix, and slicing vegetables as a dog ninja…all to the beat of the music. It's innovative and surprisingly addictive, even though you're really only doing two different stylus motions.
As fun as Rhythm Heaven is, it wouldn't be a great music game without great music. You're not going to get familiar licensed tracks in this DS title, but you're definitely going to hear some fun and original toe-tapping tunes. But the lyrics in this game are the absolute pits; whoever converted the Japanese-heavy vocals from the import version totally dropped the ball. You might want to strengthen up your songwriting skills if you're forced to fill up a song with a bunch of "Yeah, yeah, yeahs" and "Oh, oh, oh, oh nos." Who'd they get to localize this, Lenny Kravitz? Luckily there are only a handful of sung songs, and the majority of the tunes are purely instrumental and fun to listen to.
It's not difficult to plow through much of the game in a few hours; there are only six tiers of four different musical challenges, with each tier mashing up the four into a fifth "Remix" challenge of a completely new song. Reaching the end? Not super challenging. But scoring all the hidden unlockables? That's where the replay value comes into the experience. You'll only get a "medal" credit if you manage a "Superb" ranking, and the game has a ton of extras that only open up if you gain enough of the medals. Many of these extras are most likely failed mini-game experiments, like tapping on a touchtone phone, or sliding a business card around in a holder -- ideas that didn't quite make the cut in the single-player progression but still had enough creative spark to be included somewhere in the package. Additionally, the game builds up its replay value by randomly awarding players an opportunity to score a "Perfect" in a designated level. You only get three chances at it, and if you decide to skip the opportunity it will disappear for who knows how long.
Closing Comments
Even if you’re not a music fan you’re going to love Rhythm Heaven. It’s completely off the wall and unlike anything you’ve ever played on the Nintendo DS, not to mention incredibly fun and just as addictive. It’s awkwardly heavy in Japanese influence, but that’s half its charm – Western designers just couldn’t get away with some of the bizarre things that are going on in Rhythm Heaven. Hopefully North American gamers snag this one up as quickly as Japanese gamers did in the overseas version – maybe it’ll encourage Nintendo of America to localize the Game Boy Advance original as a WiiWare or DSiWare downloadable game.
9.0 Presentation
It's another incredibly creative game with an over-the-top, doesn't-take-itself-seriously presentation. We love it.
8.0 Graphics
Just like Wario Ware, the creators simply went crazy with its style -- each game has its own wild look.
8.5 Sound
The music is fun and catchy with lots of variety, but there's no denying the awful lyrics in some of these tunes.
9.0 Gameplay
It's really impressive to experience all the different rhythmic ways to tap and flick. Easy at first, but the difficutly ramps up at the end.
7.0 Lasting Appeal
It's not a super long game, but the designers keep things interesting with random "perfect" challenges as well as unlockable mini-games and toys.
9.0
Outstanding OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
Rhythm Heaven is an odd entry in the music genre. It captures the same play-along spirit of other musically themed games but has a minigame collection mentality, quickly rushing you from one strange situation to the next. The offbeat nature of these different scenes makes the experience feel loose and freewheeling, and the simple joy of following along with catchy tunes is your lone guiding force. Looks can be deceiving, though. Underneath the happy-go-lucky visuals, Rhythm Heaven hides a fierce difficulty that could halt those cursed with the inability to follow anything more than a simple beat. The quirky encounters and hummable music make this fun for anyone who likes to tap along to the radio, but the difficulty could serve as an unmovable obstacle for players who lack musical talent.
You control Rhythm Heaven using nothing more than your stylus. There are only a few moves to learn, but because of the variety of scenarios, the game rarely gets repetitive. Most of the time, you'll need to either tap the screen, following along with the beat like a drummer, or keep your stylus on the screen to hold a longer note. There is also a flick move, which is used to finish off a particular set of commands with a flourish. For instance, when participating in a glee club, you hold your stylus on the screen to keep your stick-figure character silent, lift up to sing along with your friends, and flick to hit those high notes. The flick translates surprisingly well to the onscreen actions, making it a rewarding way to end particularly tricky sections. However, this move does not always register, especially when you have to quickly flick after completing a string of taps. For the most part, though, the touch screen commands work well, giving you nothing to blame if you're too awkward to follow along with the beat.
Rhythm Heaven takes you down some unexplored roads in the music genre. The standard instruments are here, so you can bang along on a giant drum or play guitar in a ghost rock band, but there are some really strange situations as well. In one stage, you have to take pictures of cars speeding around a track in time with the beat. In another, you play as a ninja dog and have to slice vegetables as they soar above your head. The oddity of the different events adds a lot to the experience, and as each new level opens you'll rush to see what weird idea you'll get to play through next. As clever as the visuals are, though, they can be a distraction. The animations don't always match up perfectly with the music, so if you're using your eyes to know when to swipe your stylus, you'll often be slightly off. Because of this, it's often easier to pass levels by closing your eyes and feeling the music rather than putting your trust in the inaccurate visuals.
Nothing about this game would work if the music were a dud, so it's a good thing these tunes are infectious. Each scenario comes with its own song, so you'll get a wide variety of different musical styles. When mixing love potions with the dreamy scientist, you're treated to a slow ballad that will make your experiment even more potent. In a competitive eating minigame, the fast music provides ample motivation to quickly toss food into your mouth. Although not everyone will love the saccharine fan club song, the fidelity of the different tunes is impressively high. Everything sounds good coming from the Nintendo DS speakers, but strapping on a pair of headphones takes your listening pleasure up to the next level. Everything sounds crystal clear, and some tracks, such as the Easter Island statue duet, sound incredible.
There is one drawback to this otherwise charming, hummable game: It's hard. If you're rhythmically challenged, you'll find your progress stopped quite often. In most cases, the game does find a way to help graceless individuals along. If you fail a song three straight times, you are given the option to skip it and move on to something that is hopefully less taxing. However, this is not always the case. When you get to the end of the first batch of levels, you are never given the option to skip ahead and instead are forced to play it over and over until you master its tricky rhythm. This problem is made worse by a lack of direction in how to be more successful. Instead of offering pointers to people clearly unable to grasp the finer points of the minigame, the game merely says "Try a little harder," which makes your failure all the most deflating. Furthermore, the barometer for success is needlessly high. Even getting the vast majority of notes correct does not ensure safe passage to the next set of levels, and the game never gives an indication of how close you are to meeting its requirements. Although people who are overflowing with musical talents won't have to worry about their progress being hampered, the less rhythmically abled will fight an uphill battle.
Rhythm Heaven is fun despite its demanding nature because it's so charming and silly. The visuals that accompany each level have their own unique touch, making each minigame enjoyable to watch just to see what wacky idea will crop up next. The music is outstanding, providing catchy beats that will stick in your head long after you've turned off the system, and the fidelity is high, especially when you plug in a pair of headphones. It's disappointing that this game doesn't offer multiple difficulty levels, but if you have music in your heart, you'll find something to enjoy here.
You control Rhythm Heaven using nothing more than your stylus. There are only a few moves to learn, but because of the variety of scenarios, the game rarely gets repetitive. Most of the time, you'll need to either tap the screen, following along with the beat like a drummer, or keep your stylus on the screen to hold a longer note. There is also a flick move, which is used to finish off a particular set of commands with a flourish. For instance, when participating in a glee club, you hold your stylus on the screen to keep your stick-figure character silent, lift up to sing along with your friends, and flick to hit those high notes. The flick translates surprisingly well to the onscreen actions, making it a rewarding way to end particularly tricky sections. However, this move does not always register, especially when you have to quickly flick after completing a string of taps. For the most part, though, the touch screen commands work well, giving you nothing to blame if you're too awkward to follow along with the beat.
Rhythm Heaven takes you down some unexplored roads in the music genre. The standard instruments are here, so you can bang along on a giant drum or play guitar in a ghost rock band, but there are some really strange situations as well. In one stage, you have to take pictures of cars speeding around a track in time with the beat. In another, you play as a ninja dog and have to slice vegetables as they soar above your head. The oddity of the different events adds a lot to the experience, and as each new level opens you'll rush to see what weird idea you'll get to play through next. As clever as the visuals are, though, they can be a distraction. The animations don't always match up perfectly with the music, so if you're using your eyes to know when to swipe your stylus, you'll often be slightly off. Because of this, it's often easier to pass levels by closing your eyes and feeling the music rather than putting your trust in the inaccurate visuals.
Nothing about this game would work if the music were a dud, so it's a good thing these tunes are infectious. Each scenario comes with its own song, so you'll get a wide variety of different musical styles. When mixing love potions with the dreamy scientist, you're treated to a slow ballad that will make your experiment even more potent. In a competitive eating minigame, the fast music provides ample motivation to quickly toss food into your mouth. Although not everyone will love the saccharine fan club song, the fidelity of the different tunes is impressively high. Everything sounds good coming from the Nintendo DS speakers, but strapping on a pair of headphones takes your listening pleasure up to the next level. Everything sounds crystal clear, and some tracks, such as the Easter Island statue duet, sound incredible.
There is one drawback to this otherwise charming, hummable game: It's hard. If you're rhythmically challenged, you'll find your progress stopped quite often. In most cases, the game does find a way to help graceless individuals along. If you fail a song three straight times, you are given the option to skip it and move on to something that is hopefully less taxing. However, this is not always the case. When you get to the end of the first batch of levels, you are never given the option to skip ahead and instead are forced to play it over and over until you master its tricky rhythm. This problem is made worse by a lack of direction in how to be more successful. Instead of offering pointers to people clearly unable to grasp the finer points of the minigame, the game merely says "Try a little harder," which makes your failure all the most deflating. Furthermore, the barometer for success is needlessly high. Even getting the vast majority of notes correct does not ensure safe passage to the next set of levels, and the game never gives an indication of how close you are to meeting its requirements. Although people who are overflowing with musical talents won't have to worry about their progress being hampered, the less rhythmically abled will fight an uphill battle.
Rhythm Heaven is fun despite its demanding nature because it's so charming and silly. The visuals that accompany each level have their own unique touch, making each minigame enjoyable to watch just to see what wacky idea will crop up next. The music is outstanding, providing catchy beats that will stick in your head long after you've turned off the system, and the fidelity is high, especially when you plug in a pair of headphones. It's disappointing that this game doesn't offer multiple difficulty levels, but if you have music in your heart, you'll find something to enjoy here.
Well I poured my heart and soul into this one guys. So tell me, what looks cool. What do you like/dislike about the game. What minigame looks cool. What game is your favorite. This thread is for discussing ANYTHING relating to Rhythm Heaven.
