Progress in the game is screen-by-screen, each an 8x16 grid (so you have the range for a full major scale), with notes and beats played on a left-to-right, endlessly repeated loop. Sound Shapes is yet another indie oddity funded by Sony Santa Monica, which dares to take creative risks where few other major publishers would. Purchasing the Vita version unlocks the PS3 version for no extra cost and vice versa.Select pentatonic, for instance, and it's effectively impossible to play a bum note, even if you don't understand why. Edit mode lets you adjust basic parameters such as tempo, key and scale type (major, minor, chromatic or pentatonic). What's clever about this type of software, replicated in Sound Shapes, is that you can knock out impressive-sounding beats in seconds without the slightest musical ability. If you're still wondering how these things work and you have an iOS or Android device, download Beatwave: it's free, and a brilliant time-sink. I really hope that happens, as it's the one of the most refreshing developments in music games for a long time.Īnd for all the shortcomings of the supplied content, its saving grace may be the Edit mode, which doubles as a grid-based music sequencer and level design tool. Sounds Shapes' campaign is fragmented by design, so it's no surprise to find it's patchy, but that design also opens up the tantalising prospect of further artist-specific content via DLC. More disappointingly, I found too many sections were a chore to navigate on my first play-through - and the realisation hits you like that sobering moment when the lights come on in a club at closing time and the spell is broken. The inevitable problem with such an approach is that your delight in the gorgeous, clever little touches won't last forever. The Edit mode is where the longer-term fun resides, which is fun to muck around with even if you have no intention of designing a full level. All the really smart thinking is invested into a structure wedded to beat and pitch. But the level design is, for the most part, basic in the extreme. Touch anything that shade and you're toast, although there's no limit on tries and the game is very accommodating with the positioning of respawn points.įrom the maraca crackle of flames to the bassline stutter of a cluster of missiles, Sound Shapes is never less than an artistic triumph. The only thing you need to worry about is the colour red. There's a jump button and a speed-up/unstick command and, sadly all too rarely, the odd set-piece where you can pilot a spaceship or swim through water. You control a blob with a beady eye that rolls along surfaces, some of which it can stick to and move around. And while the novelty of the title is hard to resist at first, only for so long can it mask what is a pretty simplistic and occasionally awkward platformer underneath all those dazzling sights and sounds. The campaign isn't a long one - there's five albums' worth, each offering three-to-five stages. Amazing.įrom stomping kick-drum boots to singing suns, you can't fault Sound Shapes' artistic ambitions - but they never quite disguise what is, underneath, a run-of-the-mill platformer. Let me give you an example: there's a type of platform tied to a specific lyric, which transforms with each verb: "Move a little /Turn a little /Break a little /Hurt a little ". In the section soundtracked by Beck - the campaign is divided into 'albums', each built around music from a specific artist - Sound Shapes' conceptual planets align to produce some of the most inventive, ingenious gameplay I've experienced all year. Not only are you rolling and jumping towards a goal, you're collecting notes and beats which slowly build and layer into a complete composition.Īs I said, I really wanted to love this game. From the moment I stumbled across it by accident at Gamescom last summer, while waiting for a go on Escape Plan, I've been thrilled by the potential of Sound Shapes.Īnd it is an inspired idea: a fascinating cross between a platform game and a Tenori-On music sequencer.
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