Most people who come to my blog do so for two reasons. Retro music and retro art. Seeing as the semi-recently released Bit.Trip.Beat is an insane combination of both of these things, I figured I’d offer my opinion about the game.

Overall, it was well worth the price. I can’t say I didn’t wish it was longer than 3 levels, but damn were they tough. I’m not the most avid video-gamer, so perhaps this game would be easier for someone of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band mindset. Okay, time for the in depth review…

Introduction to the Game– Without referencing any outside opinions or reading anything about the game, the plot seems to be a crude pixelated man floating through space who is either piloting the player’s pong-like paddle or acts as the enemy, which tosses pixel after pixel of “star dust” and debris at you as you chase him from planet to planet…or something like that. These pixelated pieces contribute tones to the bit-licious soundtrack as they enter the screen, collide with your paddle, and when they leave the area. They come in all formations and speeds and move in patterns from straight-on to a sin-like zig-zag, and in some ways that cannot be described with words. Some of my friends have watched me play and stated “this game was made for you”, as if to imply that it is not made for everyone…I would have to agree. This is not a button mash or careless swinging of the Wiimote - it takes a good feel for the controls (however simple they are), and a lot of practice, just like the good old days!

Configuration– All you need is the Wiimote. It makes things simple, just like the graphics, sound and music in the game.

Control– The setup is simple: the player holds the Wiimote sideways and tilts it forward and back to shift the paddle up and down. The buttons all make tones of their own, but thus far I have yet to find a purpose for them. It just seems to serve as one more distraction for the player, so I’d recommend forgetting I said anything about them…

Graphics and Sound– The graphics are bad. Very bad. Intentionally bad. I love it. While the graphics themselves are not of high quality, since that’s the point of a throwback to the Atari and Nintendo days, the use of these graphics is great. In the foreground of game-play are very simple pixels, more reminiscent of Atari graphics, but the use of transparency and varying levels of pixel size add depth to the feel of the graphics. Once things start to really pick upthings can get a bit confusing, due to the number of solid, bright colors flying around, but that’s the nature of the game, not a graphical flaw. The background is horribly distracting, since there is so much cool stuff going on in the background with what can only be described as 3-D pixels. In the third level, there is a brain being constructed almost like legos…very cool to see if you’re not the one playing, but frustrating if you are playing. The key is focus.

Another cool thing about the graphics is the danger mode. Basically, once you miss a certain number or percentage of “beat-pixels”, the word “danger” starts flashing in red around the screen, then you enter a completely monochromic mode with no music, and simple pong sounds. If you continue to miss too many pixels, then the game is over. If you recover, however, then you re-enter the normal colorful, upbeat mode. It’s really satisfying on some level.

The music, especially for a huge fan of chip-tunes like myself, is near perfect. The way the tones and notes interact with the game-play is so baffling, it must have taken a genius to design and program the sequences the player faces throughout the game. Each level has a different, but very catchy tune that may very well get stuck in your head from playing the levels over and over. Once you are comfortable enough with the game-play (or have played enough times that you have essentially memorized the first half of the current level) it’s really cool to watch all the pieces and how they contribute to the song.

Game and Storyline — Not much to say here, since it’s a party game. As I mentioned in the intro, the storyline is open to interpretation, and the game itself is simple for the sake of fun.

The challenge level is up there, but I wouldn’t say it’s super-hard. It’s difficult, but not near impossible. The third level might raise the bar significantly higher above the second level than the second did above the first, but all-in-all, what is required of the player is not impossible. The patterns may be very challenging, but the player is afforded quite a few mistakes.

Conclusion — Overall, great game, very fun, addicting (for as long as it lasts), and well balanced in terms of the challenge it presents. I do wish it was longer, but it’s probably better that it’s not, considering the level of frustration one could experience from the game.

I give Bit.Trip.Beat an 8/10 by today’s standards and a 9.9/10 as a personal rating…but I’m just old school like that.

My girlfriend recently bought me a Nintendo DS for no real reason. I’m not one to complain.

Until a few days ago I played nothing but Phoenix Wright games on the innovative hand-held but I decided to try my hand at a different genre. So, I grabbed a pair of screen protectors for the fury to come and purchased:

Introduction to the Game -- The first thing you will notice about the game is that it is sideways — that is to say, you need to rotate the DS itself 90 degrees counter-clockwise. The in-game screen is the touch screen now on the right and the map appears on the left. During cinematics, both screens are utilized for more dynamic, fast paced story telling (although you are still required to touch in order to advance the frames). I learned to love this feature but it took me awhile to realize why they would program the game in such a way to require you to hold the system sideways, as I’d never seen this before.

Configuration — All movement, fighting, navigation and interaction is controlled with the stylus except for two actions. For accessing the inventory menu, press the start button. To leave the menu you can touch out in the bottom right corner or use start but it is simpler to just touch out. Any other button blocks. This, I believe, is the main reason why the game is sideways on the screens. This enables you to hold the DS in your left palm and use your thumb on the R button to block.

Control — The stylus control takes some getting used to so anyone who has played the XBox or XBox360 versions of this style of Gaiden will likely become frustrated. The most difficult concept to grasp right away is the location of the stylus strokes and movements used to control Ryu. Simply, various directional strokes will cause Ryu to slash with his sword, tap will use projectiles, upward strokes will make him jump and combinations of all these preform special moves like the “Flying Swallow” from the other titles. After the first level I got used to the controls and had no problem controlling Ryu but it is easy enough to compensate the player for the initial unfamiliarity. One neat feature is when Ryu performs Ninpo you use the stylus to trace the form of the character associated with that magic. Each of the seven Ninpo techniques have a different characters but there’s no need to memorize them as you are given plenty of time to trace it.

Graphics and Sound — Few DS games have yet to impress, but this would be ignoring the fact that it is a hand-held system. The graphics for most DS games seem to compete with N64 graphics, to the degree that PSP graphics are similar to Playstation quality. However, this game seemed to reach near Gamecube definition, in a less literal sense. Simply, the size of the screen, the number of available colors and the seamless combination of full 3d environments and pre-rendered backgrounds — these things are utilized very well for an optimal display and performance. Nintendo has always been famous for generally freeze-free and skip-free games, mainly due to their cartridge based systems. Being yet another cartridge based hand-held system, the DS experiences very little loading time and next to no frame skips. Occasionally, there will be a camera angle showing the polygonal inside of an enemy, but this only happens in narrow hallways.

I was not blown away by the music in the game and the sounds often became annoying. The most prominent of these is the sound made when Ryu blocks. I suppose it was meant to sound like a movement of the sword but it ended up sounding more like a pot or pan being smacked with a wooden spoon. Ryu’s grunts also got on my nerves a little, but the character dialogue includes a few less irritating sounds made by the characters to go along with each line of text. Some of them are just plain comical. Although the music wasn’t as memorable as the original 8-Bit Trilogy, it definitely did set the mood for the levels and was well orchestrated. I was pleased, however, to hear the Act Intro music from the originals done with strings.

Game and Storyline — There’s not too much to reveal when it comes to a Ninja Gaiden storyline. Evil demons, Dragon Sword, Ryu Hyabusa, high difficulty level. This particular game, however, may be the one exception to the difficulty level.

Most of the challenge is placed into the control, as the player is often required to fight with a level of precision that is difficult to master with the stylus controls. Still, I found the boss battles to be relatively easy and the level-wide fighting to be more frustrating at points. There are also scrolls to be collected throughout which requires the player to either tap on or shout into the microphone to get them to appear.

Conclusion
Overall, I was very pleased with my purchase of this game. I rarely buy games new if I can find them used but this was more than worth the $39.99 I paid for it. Furthermore, with the option to play through on hard mode after the player beats the game, it has a decent replay value.

I give “Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword” — 8.5/10

Hello, I’m Doctor Octoroc.

This is neither my birth name nor my profession, but rather an alias I chose a number of years ago to sum up all my public interests in a title. For more information on this matter, feel free to read the Disclaimer.

Professionally, I am a Search Engine Optimization Analyst for an Internet Marketing Firm by the name of Reciprocal Consulting. I write, submit, link, document, analyze and do website edits for clients. I love my job for many reasons, but mainly because I work from home, make my own hours, make good money and have plenty of free time for my hobbies.

First and foremost, I appreciate Art in all forms. Literature, Visual, Traditional, Crafts, Music, Vocalism, and so on. I love Art and more so I love to create it when I can. Generally, I will exercise the result of my fortunate gene pool (thank you mom) in either the Music or Traditional sense, although I have been known to write a random novel or two.

As far as Music goes, I used to play piano. I still do, but I used to, too. I generally will play in the rock style, as made popular by artists such as Elton John, Ben Folds and Keith Green. I have played with a number of bands in the past, but my finest experience in the live music scene was playing Philly and Baltimore with Patrick Blake in Soul Shack Republic.
I also compose tracks strictly using my computer, combining FL Studio with AcidPRO. Anyone who is curious is free to listen to the tracks I have uploaded to my Myspace page. Many of my tracks are based on or heavy influenced by retro video games, such as those for early Nintendo systems.

As for the Traditional Art, I work a lot with Perler and Hama beads, arranging the soft plastic beads on a gridded pegboard and heat-fusing them together with a clothes iron. These pieces are most heavily based on or influenced by 8 and 16-bit video games, such as Nintendo, Genesis and Super Nintendo. Curious readers may follow the link to my DeviantART account gallery.
I also paint with acrylic on canvas. I have a few dozen paintings all done in half-inch pixels, depicting nudes with country flag overlays.

Aside from my hobbies I enjoy the same simple pleasures that most people do. For more information about me and my many endeavors , please refer to my News section for updates.