Road to Ballhalla

Road to Ballhalla

Road to Ballhalla is a cheeky, occasionally cruel but ultimately satisfying experience, that I would highly recommend to anyone with a taste for arcade-style platformers and puzzle games. I say this having completed 100% of the game’s achievements.

Aesthetically, with regards to its delightfully colourful design and well-suited, unintrusive yet engaging soundtrack, I can’t really fault Road to Ballhalla. The puzzles are all very much based upon rhythm and visual patterns, meaning that the audio-visual elements of the game are critically important, and I am pleased to report that they do themselves absolute justice.

Real player with 14.6 hrs in game


Read More: Best Rhythm Comedy Games.


Road to Ballhalla is a simple top-down arcade-style game. You control a ball, and your goal is to navigate your way through 20 levels, collecting little sparks (the game’s collectable) and avoiding dying as you go.

The game is very simple – there isn’t even a jump button. You can simply move in any direction, or speed up your rolling in a sort of dash move. The dash move makes it so you die instantly if you take damage, rather than simply… well, taking damage. This makes it risky to use at times, so it must be used judiciously.

Real player with 12.5 hrs in game

Road to Ballhalla on Steam

Christmas Rhythm

Christmas Rhythm

Love chiptune renditions of classic Xmas music? Want to play as a reindeer? Of course you do. This is a no-brainer, you need this game in your life!

Real player with 1.5 hrs in game


Read More: Best Rhythm Casual Games.


Christmas Rhythm on Steam

Color War

Color War

Long ago the rainbow relic was shattered, taking away all of the worlds colors with it. The shards of color found it’s way into some lucky hands and color factions were formed. And for some reason, it’s your job to help fix it. You play as a cat dude and fight your way through extremely difficult bullet hell style boss battles in an attempt to get back home and out of this strange world. In the process, you’ll make many friends and enemies.

The game switches between a lively top-down overworld to a straight on bullet-hell boss rush type game. You’ll fight many different bosses while attempting to bring together the color shards. There is different modes for varying levels of difficulty, so if you just want some casual play there are options, as well as a very difficult mode for those seeking a challenge.


Read More: Best Rhythm Difficult Games.


Color War on Steam

F.I.S.H.

F.I.S.H.

It’s good! It’s fun, charming, and pretty funny. The core game play is challenging but very satisfying, the music is catchy and spaghetti night was just something else.

The game can sometimes be a bit unfair with at times with its unpredictable cues. Levels like “Um…”, “1 Tuna” and “Quiet!” are funny, but they’re not much more than silly jokes and are the weakest part of this game.

That’s where my complaints about the game end though, as this game really shines with the really good levels it has, that thankfully make up the majority of the package. Highlights include “Exit 404”, “Onion Canion”, “Swordfish-Sailfish Speedway”, “Barra2da”, “Starfish” and the new extra level “Spaghetti Speedway” which features vocals.

Real player with 37.3 hrs in game

Amateur reviewer.

From the composer of such albums as Garlic Elevator, Fish Factory, and [CLASSIFIED], as well as a great surreal meme artist, this game is about as much as I expected from such a person. The moment I launched the game I just wanted to sit around and vibe for hours to the title screen music. All the tracks from 01-13 (level 13 I’m stuck on, but believe me, the title sums it up quite well. No further spoilers!) are also amazing. The timing of the fish is enough to make me want to take a moment sometimes, but hey, isn’t that like all rhythm games?

Real player with 8.3 hrs in game

F.I.S.H. on Steam

NOISZ

NOISZ

It was about time I write a proper Review of one of my favorite Video Games in Existence.

‘Kay here I go.

NOISZ is a Masterpiece.

I love 99.99% of it.

But with the upcoming 2.5 Update, it shall be over 9000%, hahahah funny meme.

Alright more details.

Story is very well-written and engaging.

Though when you gather absolutely all the Events of both NOISZ and re:||VERSE and analyse, there can be some oddities in the Continuity.

NOT SPOILING !

The Origin of it are Plot Twists, obviously.

At least, we don’t reach Kingdom Hearts level of Absurdity.

Real player with 1316.8 hrs in game

The description pretty much explains about this game: this is a mix of bullet hell and rhythm game. Now, a similar, much more popular game of “avoid these things that come out in sync with the music” is Just Shapes & Beats, but there’s a fundamental difference between NOISZ and Just Shapes & Beats. Just Shapes & Beats is just a plain bullet hell game that happens to have good music; you don’t need to have a sense of rhythm to excel in it. On the other hand, NOISZ is also a rhythm game. In NOISZ, you can only take an action every beat, which means despite all the bullets coming at you, you must maintain that rhythm in your head.

Real player with 285.6 hrs in game

NOISZ on Steam

RHYTHM SPROUT

RHYTHM SPROUT

RHYTHM SPROUT is a unique take on a rhythm game where you progress through each level by playing to the rhythm.

Move! Attack! Dodge! All to the beat of the song.

Envisioned as a weird mix between Guitar Hero and the Paper Mario-series, RHYTHM SPROUT is a rhythm game heavily focused on rhythm, timing and pattern recognition. The game features 22 playable levels with electronic music inspired by a variety of styles, genres and time-periods.

You play as the Chosen Onion, Sprout, tasked with saving the Vegetable Kingdom from the incoming invasion of the evil candies, and also maybe find Princess Cauliflower while he’s at it. She’s been missing for like a month!

KEY FEATURES

  • A variety of sick electronic beats, composed by our in-house audio-guy, Rune Bjerkaas

  • 22 playable levels!

  • Maybe more levels in the future, MAYBE. cries

  • A self-aware and silly story about the residents of Vegetable Kingdom

  • One or two shiny, golden BUTTS (don’t tell anyone, though)

  • Completely inconsequential and unimportant dialogue choices!

  • Ugly characters!

  • Cute characters!

  • Ugly-cute characters!

  • Achievements!

RHYTHM SPROUT on Steam

Slam Fighter II

Slam Fighter II

I haven’t seen a fighter like that before, kinda quirky and fun

Real player with 6.7 hrs in game

The best way to improve your typing skills and insults since Mavis Beacon Throws Shade.

Real player with 1.1 hrs in game

Slam Fighter II on Steam

Before the Echo

Before the Echo

Very unique spin on an otherwise commonly used rhythm game mechanic.

Anyone who has played rhythm games is all too familiar with the standard mechanic of having 4 columns of arrows falling in tune with the music. Sequence manages to make a very strong tactical/multi-tasking game out of it by having 3 seperate grids. One grid is the mana grid, which you use to get mana to cast spells - it’s very common to miss lots of beats here in preference to landing beats on the other 2 grids. This is also where the beats primarily follow the song. Another grid is the defensive grid - beats that fall here and you don’t hit will reduce your HP until you hit 0 and lose. The other grid is the spell grid. At any time you have the mana for it, you can choose to cast a spell - the effects vary from dealing damage to the enemy, healing, lifestealing, hitting the enemy with damage over time, giving yourself a mana boost, boosting the strength of the next spell you cast. Each individual spell has its own beat combination that doesn’t change with the exception of inverting a few presses, left instead of right, etc, and also significant changes between difficulties. All these different spells are balanced by difficulty of input, how much blank space is there in between beats (to allow for swapping to other grids), as well as cooldown before you can cast that same spell again. Anything less than 100% on a spell input results in it failing, going on cooldown, and using up mana.

Real player with 21.8 hrs in game

I received this game as part of one of the Humble Bundles, and I’m glad I did! I really enjoyed this game, and I would highly recommend it. :) I also think it is worth the $5 on Steam.

To give you a general idea of this game, it is similar to Step Mania only with an actual storyline. If you don’t know what Step Mania is, it’s basically DDR (dance dance revolution) for the PC. However, Sequence is kind of refreshing because it isn’t just arrows flying up the screen to music. In this game, you have three different sets of arrows that travel down the screen, and you have to switch between the sets. One is your defense, one is your attack/magic, and the other is your mana. This keeps things interesting and sometimes challenging (depending on the difficulty). Yes, you are battling enemies instead of “dancing” to music like you would in Step Mania.

Real player with 19.6 hrs in game

Before the Echo on Steam

Neo-Zero

Neo-Zero

Neo-Zero is a role-playing game which takes place in a hi-tech, dystopian, computer-simulated world. Neo-Zero features highly unsafe lab tests (puzzles) and rhythmic battles against husky military recruits.

In the 1990s, a scientist created the Neo-Zero™ Simulation Software to simulate a real world with real people. Their intent was to perform experiments on these virtual people. Shockingly, the simulated world devolved into a dystopia controlled by a single, abusive government. The world had started to build an artificial intelligence that could break itself out of Neo-Zero, so the scientist shut the Neo-Zero project down.

… two decades later, the (now broke) scientist decided to sell Neo-Zero as a video game.

As you boot up your copy of Neo-Zero for the first time, you will be entered into the world that the scientist had shut down.

You play as Apollo, an aspiring junior scientist at Oxylabs who is forced to perform tests using Oxylabs’ Propulsion Gun Prototype. During a morning of testing, Apollo finds himself stuck in the middle of a sticky situation: a military-enforced shutdown of the unethical Oxylabs.

Aela serves as the overseer to your tests on the day of the Oxylabs shutdown. She assists you on the journey to escape the facilities and prevent the government from laying their hands on Oxylabs’ most powerful device: Project Foxtrot.

After Oxylabs researchers determined that their world had a 99% chance of being a computer simulation, they developed Project Foxtrot, an artificial intelligence designed to exploit a glitch in the simulation. However, leaving Foxtrot powered on for more than 5 minutes has resulted in the simulated world falling apart…

Ferdinand is a coworker who led Oxylabs’ Project Foxtrot. He may have the solution to stopping Project Foxtrot from destroying the world.

Perhaps Bonnie can help you find Ferdinand. Bonnie is a young entrepreneur who runs a chemical factory and is ready to make the deal of a lifetime. Bonnie may not realize it, but she has a stronger connection to Ferdinand than she is aware of.

You meet many other scientists throughout the game. Some of them do not take their careers as seriously as you do.

Soldiers are trained to capture any scientists they come across. Like typical video-game grunts, these soldiers have disgusting personalities and a terrible sense of humour!

Brobots are friendly devices which can feed you with corny jokes in times of despair. However, their software is pretty fragile, so handle them with care!

??? ????? ?? ?????? ? ?????? ????????? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ????? ?? ???????? ?????????? ??? ?????????? ?????? ? ??????? ?? ???????? ???? ????? ??????????

Battles: battles against enemies require you to press the WASD keys to deflect projectiles to the rhythm of the music.

Puzzles: you will encounter several puzzles that you must complete during your testing as an Oxylabs researcher. These puzzles feature bridges, locked doors, teleporters and the occasional riddle!

Money: you can spend the world currency, Jimmies, on snacks, lavish dining, as well as phone calls with your little brother Vlad.

As you struggle to escape Oxylabs and fight against the government, several characters develop along the way – including those that desire control over the artificial intelligence. Do you align yourself with or against the government? Can you save your family from impoverishment? Will you be able to stop the rogue intelligence from destroying the Neo-Zero simulation? That’s up to you to decide.

Neo-Zero on Steam

Video World

Video World

Disclaimer: Indie work is short and sweet. Don’t expect a lot.

This companion to the EP Video World by Monster Mansion also scored Excellence in Emerging Games at this year’s AGDAs (that’s Australian Game Developer Awards, just in case you’re unfamiliar). It’s a well known fact that Halloween is Christmas for the gays, and this rhythm game harnesses that energy with upbeat synth-pop and some excellent pun work. The bright primary colours and crisp character design make night shift at the video store a delight. This also is a continuation of Film Victoria’s fine work in gaming. Thumbs up from me.

Real player with 2.0 hrs in game

I really loved Video World! The text was witty and got plenty of laughs from me, the gameplay really fun and enjoyable, and the music is amazing! I felt like the human manifestation of catJAM bopping to the music while playing. It is a short game, but a lot of fun.

Real player with 1.2 hrs in game

Video World on Steam