With the fifty or so mini-games and people's varying experience with keeping rhythm, I imagine there are a lot of different opinions on what game is great and what isn't. This part is mostly for people who have played the game. It also helps that a lot of mini-games are so weird it allows the art style to have a lot of fun with synchronized rolling seals, Donk-donks, and tap tap dancers with an amusing secret. Rhythm Heaven Fever has a very distinctive, very awesome look that never ceases to amuse from start to finish. The boss-ish Remixes are even better that take the established mini-games and throw decorative themes over everything. Characters often react to success with party poppers or complementary cheers that making pressing one button in time feel damn good. In some cases, things get even crazier as button presses are more and more successful. There is a lot of crazy stuff that is made better when successfully pulling off mini-games. One game even starts on a black screen and if you aren't listening closely you'll miss the first three hits before you know what's going on.īut totally ignoring the screen isn't the answer. This visual teasing doesn't stop as it only gets meaner in the form of screen obscuring clouds, dramatic narration, flashing lights, and in some cases total darkness. The real rub of this game is listening to audio cues and hitting them in time with the music. One of the earliest examples is Monkey Watch, where the camera zooms far out making all the monkeys look like ants. It loves its rhythm and never fails to go out of the way to remind you that if you aren't listening closely, then you're doing it wrong. One of my favorite quirks of this game is how often is tries to screw you with the visuals. Feel It, Don't Watch It This cat is either psyched about badminton. how the hell did he get a medal on Monkey Clock? Not to mention Tambourine which is my own personal Rhythm Heaven Hell. I admit this was compounded by the Quick Look where Jeff totally kills it non-stop from start to finish, making the whole game look easy. So with this in mind I had really taken a blow to my rhythm ego. I don't have to worry about HD lag or all those unfortunate timing issues with pretty pictures. This may surprise some people, but I still play on a standard definition TV. It's a beautiful simplicity that strips out a lot of elements so the only problem is really not pressing those buttons at the right time. I think he's right.Īnd it's funny that a game that controls with literally two buttons (A and B) could be so crushing. I was hoping that my Rock Band skills would help a little (cause I've played a lot of Rock Band) but Rhythm Heaven Fever was like "Nah, son." Monkey thinks I suck at Tambourine. Then I got to Hole in One, the first mini-game where a Monkey and a Mandrill teach you to golf, and whiffed it hard. With only a tiny amount actually on time. But unlike Rock Band that simply throws you a thumbs up when you're comfortable.
Something I'm extremely familiar with due to many, many Rock Band calibrations. They ask you to press buttons when a timer reaches zero.
Right when you start the game, there's a little test that lets you know what this game is all about. The Fever Doesn't Mess Around with Timing And it's a good thing I did, because it's damn amazing in just about every other way. Thanks in no small part to Bayonetta's scoring system, I got used to the "OK" or "Try Again" ratings pretty fast in this game. For everyone else it's a very demanding rhythm game coupled with a vicious grading scale I've come to expect from distinctly Japanese games. It really depends on how musically inclined you are and how well you can keep the beat. I'm frequently tempted to call this the Dark Souls of music games. But I can see that this isn't the kind of game you want to experience at a demo station where you probably can't hear the music or enjoy the amazing visuals while you try to stick the rhythm. I've had some passing familiarity with other Rhythm Heaven games, especially a demo of the DS version with the widget game that I remember being incredibly frustrating at the time. That trend continues with Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Wii. I feel like I've started most Recently Played blogs with the preface that I haven't played previous games in the series. Rhythm Heaven Fever (Feel Good Nonsense with Music: The Game) It wouldn't be a Rhythm Heaven Fever discussion without Ringside The last thing to know is that no matter how hard things get, it's always going to be awesome. The second thing to know that if you are part of a team of three or four guys, it's going to be hard. The first thing to know about Rhythm Heaven Fever is that if there is a monkey in the mini-game, it's going to be hard.