Beat Hazard 2

Beat Hazard 2

We all enjoy listening to music. But when was the last time you played your music? This is Beat Hazard, an intense twin-stick space shooter powered by your favourite artists and songs.

Bigger. Better. Brighter

Beat Hazard 2 builds on everything that made the first game successful—then takes it to the next level. For example, the new “Open Mic” system detects and uses the audio output from your PC. This means you can play to literally any music source. YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music? Everything’s supported. Feel like some karaoke? Plug in your mic and start singing! The game uses ACRCloud Music Recognition to detect and identify your tracks automatically and update scores to a track leaderboard where you can compete with other players. The visuals have been overhauled with new art and a gorgeous 3D lighting system. Crank up that visual intensity to 300% and enjoy the carnage! Encounter massive procedurally generated bosses created by your music.

Real player with 786.2 hrs in game


Read More: Best Bullet Hell Shoot 'Em Up Games.


_I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be positive about this game, until I got to finally play it.

For someone who didn’t play the original Beat Hazard before, I can easily say that it’s really fun game._

Beats powered by YOUR music! EMBRACE THE SEIZURE!!

Beat Hazard 2 is a music-driven arcade shooter where you pilot a spaceship that fights ridiculous amount of space junk asteroids, other battleships and numerous intimidating flagships while listening to the beats of music pumping through your ears.

Real player with 136.6 hrs in game

Beat Hazard 2 on Steam

IRA

IRA

For an Early Access Game this is pretty wholesome. What i would love to see in the future is :

-More maps/biomes ( the more the merrier, personally i think it would be wise to in the future even implement some kind of endless mode when the game/story/map is fully developed )

-New apostles ( that i see are awaiting to be introduced )

-1 more item slot 1 less bow slot for inventory

-Balances to weapons and especially the upgrade system:

If your run actually reaches Underground B2F you are 100% left with a lot of extra armor and upgrade credit you have nothing to do with, this can be fixed by allowing further upgrades of lower rarity weapons that also increases their rarity and also upgrades of higher rarity weapons

Real player with 115.9 hrs in game


Read More: Best Bullet Hell Roguelike Games.


A very enjoyable experience so far. I have managed to reach Stage 3, and have really been enjoying the aggressive feel of the Apostle of Night. As a roguelike and bullet hell it has been scratching both itches. Once you get familiar to enemy patterns things start progressing much faster. Only thing I would like to see is a method to increase the effectiveness of the base bow (If there isn’t a way later). Maybe adding a passive to each Apostle to alter the base bow that needs both Stones and Fragments to upgrade.

Real player with 9.4 hrs in game

IRA on Steam

Borealis

Borealis

TL;DR 4/10…This is a simple elegant game which should get a thumbs UP even though most people will get a quick zen moment for 10 or 20 minutes, then abandon. In theory, most any gamer could be happy to drop their 0.50-$1 for this on sale.

However, they took a simple one dimensional mechanic–and blew it.

There are only 13 modes. Meteors zip through the screen with various unique movements, but most of them are heat-seeking (to you), though with very wide turning radii. When encountering each other (or you), they explode. The 1st core rule is that you are not allowed to move your cursor (death-target) very fast. If you attempt to move fast, the game penalizes you by forcing you to move even slower than before. This is a fine rule in that it encourages deliberate, controlled movement, rather than quick, zippy motions.

Real player with 11.0 hrs in game


Read More: Best Bullet Hell Score Attack Games.


Certainly not a bad game as such, but the original idea has not been executed as it could have been. As a “dot in space” (or elsewhere), you have to dodge incoming lines. Seems familiar enough, but it comes with a twist: you can only move fairly slow, and when moving in a fluid motion, you can “direct” the incoming lines (I can’t help of thinking about them as missiles) to a certain degree so that they slap into each other. The slow pace and the rather peculiar, somehow relaxing music, contribute to the overall feeling of ease the game offers.

Real player with 5.7 hrs in game

Borealis on Steam

Bullet Beat: Musical Shoot’em up

Bullet Beat: Musical Shoot’em up

I recommend the game because it’s fun and inexpensive. It just feels unrefined, incomplete. Sometimes its too hard, others its too easy. There are no save points, you die you have to start over. It feels like its in alpha, like they just started development, laid out the basis for a great game, and they just threw in the towel and stopped. I would have gladly paid $10 for it to be a better game.

Real player with 795.2 hrs in game

It’s actually not bad of a game at all. The dev has also provided the music and it’s as badas$ as it comes. The only thing that irks me are the spelling mistakes, really drags it down for me to not recommend. Seems like the game is still worked on, maybe a fix of few mistakes and I might put it in my favorites list.

Real player with 13.2 hrs in game

Bullet Beat: Musical Shoot'em up on Steam

Soundodger+

Soundodger+

The sequel to the semi-popular flash game Soundodger on Adult Swim Games, Soundodger+ offers much more in terms of difficulty and replayability.

If you haven’t already, check out the original on Adult Swim, here (it has half of the levels, and the same gameplay): http://games.adultswim.com/soundodger-puzzle-online-game.html

Though it may be easy to jump right to the level editor or auto-gen mode, Soundodger+ is mostly about its single-player experience. There are many edge-of-your-seat moments where focus and concentration are key. This may not be apparent from the first few levels or trailer; the game starts off slow, easing you into the later levels with simplified versions of the patterns; it feels a little too slow moving in, and you need to beat ~10 of these levels before the advanced levels can be played. This is my only real gripe though; the level of polish and love put into the later levels is evident in spades. (Look for advanced levels indicated by a black background.)

Real player with 1340.3 hrs in game

Soundodger+ is a rhythm-bullet hell game in which bullets spawn from enemies on the outside of a rotating circle in time with the music. You must dodge them on the inside of the circle. The main game includes 20 basic levels, 18 advanced levels, and 5 heart levels. Each of the advanced levels is an upgraded version of one of the basic levels with harder bullet patterns. Levels are unlocked in sequence by getting enough score on all the previous levels. Each advanced level also contains a heart bullet, which if collected acts as a free hit. Heart levels are unlocked by finishing the required number of advanced levels with your heart intact, and consist of two upgraded basic songs and three all-new songs. The game also comes with 12 DLC levels for free, which do not contribute to the main game. Finally, the game includes a level editor and auto-generation feature so that you can play levels from your own songs.

Real player with 1164.3 hrs in game

Soundodger+ on Steam

Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition

Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition

Inspired by Space Invaders Infinity Gene, this lovechild from Tetsuya Mizoguchi’s Rez and Kenta Chao’s rRootage surpass in each of its 5 minutes songs the dazzling intensity found in an entire Cave shmup

Heavily influenced in its design philosophy by Tetsuya Mizoguchi’s magnum opus Rez, HyperSpace Invaders II: Pixel Edition is a love letter to abstract japanese shmups such as Kenta Chao’s cult classic rRootage or Taito’s contemporary classics like Space Invaders Infinity Gene or Groove Coaster.

Real player with 29.5 hrs in game

One glorious shmup. It has all the colours and then some more! It needs the mother of all photosensitive epilepsy warnings!

I have a feeling my eyeballs are going to hate me tomorrow, but they love me today. Oh, they love me today!

If you look at the trailer, you will have no idea what’s going on. At least, I didn’t.

What’s happening is you’re a little shooty thing that forever shoots upwards (autofire! nice and relaxing!), and all the hundreds of other things on the screen heading downwards are enemies, bullets and power-ups.

Real player with 3.9 hrs in game

Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition on Steam

Oscillatron: Alien Frequency

Oscillatron: Alien Frequency

If you like games that can use your music library it’s a decent shooter. I like the little slow time effect it adds on my music. If your track is noisy and at full volume at all times it’s easy mode. The medkits blocking your bullets is an odd decision. For the low 90% off Summer Sale price I can recommend it.

Real player with 3.8 hrs in game

Nice game! Just need some new enemies, BGs, Player customization and so much MORE!!!

Thank you!

Real player with 1.8 hrs in game

Oscillatron: Alien Frequency on Steam

Beat Hazard 3

Beat Hazard 3

Are you ready to explore your music collection mapped as a stunning galaxy of wonders? Let’s go…

Experience your music collection as never before with this intense music driven twin stick shooter.

Each of your songs will have its own unique ebb and flow based on the music. Beat Hazard 3 seamlessly mixes the love of gaming and music. Together they become greater than the sum of their parts.

Now, with Beat Hazard 3, you can map your music collection or tastes to a huge explorable galaxy of music.

All new 3D procedural ship generation system. Introducing a new ‘fold’ ability used to dodge enemy fire and focus your weapons into a tight beam of destruction.

Beat Hazard 3 is compatible with music streaming services via an improved ‘Open Mic’ system that can listen in to any music source. Now the music world is your oyster!

Beat Hazard 3 on Steam

Beat Hazard

Beat Hazard

Before reading: this review is about Beat Hazard Ultra, meaning the basic game + dlc. While I still recommend Beat Hazard on its own, it is more simplistic and lacks online co-op that the Ultra version provides, so I strongly recommend this game to be played with DLC.

Beat Hazard Ultra is a fast paced space shoot’em up with bright colorful graphics. At first sight it does not look like much, however it has several features that have made it one of the most pleasant surprises in my library.

The graphics look amazing at first, they tend to tire out your eyes pretty easily however, so it is not recommended to play for long sessions. There is an option to scale them up (!) or down inside the game menu though.The battle is fluid despite the abundance of color, enemies and the genral chaos that takes place on your screen especially on the higher difficulties. I have even played this on a linux netbook -yes it plays on linux and mac as well- with minimal capabilities and I was honestly surprised at its smoothness. Gameplay is fluid as well, regardless if you are playing with a controller or a mouse and keyboard. In fact, I even find myself preferring the mouse and keyboard mostly because the mouse provides more precise aiming than thumbsticks. The difficulty curve is just right, meaning you can choose from 5 different difficulty settings (easy, normal, hardcore, insane, suicidal) and play in whatever mode you feel comfortable with. This makes the game equally enjoyable for both hardcore shmup players as well as people who are new to the genre, or not particularly skilled. There is also a nice “perk” system implemented, where you can buy upgrades, such as a few special attacks, more multipliers, etc.

Real player with 56.8 hrs in game

I have played Audiosurf for a long time and I was not sure if Beat Hazard was a game that could stand out for me as a music-based game. I finally decided to give Beat Hazard a try after it was available for several years on the market. It feels like a game inspired by the classic game Asteroids, but with songs from your music library playing while you control your spaceship. So the basic premise of the game is you maneuvering a spaceship while avoiding asteroids and many enemy spaceships of varying types and sizes. There are many games of this genre in a crowded market, but Beat Hazard carves out its own identity with its challenging action and allows you to take on numerous enemies and other hazards as you enjoy the rhythm of the songs of your favorite artists and built-in songs.

Real player with 46.3 hrs in game

Beat Hazard on Steam

Symphony

Symphony

This is a bullet hell style vertical shooter but with a very casual difficulty curve. You basically can’t fail (you will play until the end of a song), but your score and rewards will depend on your overall performance so there’s still a reason to try. The higher difficulty options can offer quite a challenge, but you can take as much time as you want before ever attempting anything above easy while still getting the play value from all of your music.

Basically the game is designed to be relaxing and let you browse your entire music collection while using elements of the song to customize the game play. Things like the tempo of the song determine how fast the game scrolls or the beats can determine some number of the enemies in each wave and then your difficulty selection magnifies these customizations. I don’t know all the specifics and the customization differences are often minor, but it does mean every song you play will be slightly different.

Real player with 103.6 hrs in game

In Short:

This game is for those who like 2D plane slightly angled from top-down shoot em' ups in which one is predominantly dodging and destroying enemies that move and act in response to the tempo and all else of ones' (favorite) audio over a minute and thirty seconds long (that is on the computer you are playing on), then this game is for you.

Note: The enemies rarely fire at you, but unlike bullet-hells, you’re entire ship is the hitbox, so enemies can be smashed into, but it will damage your ship. Luckily you can repair it via collecting “Music Notes” (dropped points) from enemies one has shot to death after your ship lost part of itself (took damage).

Real player with 48.0 hrs in game

Symphony on Steam