Friday, January 11, 2013

3DS Bit Trip Saga Review Out Now In the Nintendo eShop

I finally beat the game I've been playing on the Wii for years. Having a more sensitive control scheme than it's previous incarnations I finally beat Bit.Trip Beat on my first go! Well, actually turning on my Wii it seems I did beat the first level a long time ago. It's been a long time since 2009 and since then Aksys and Gajin Games have released multiple titles in the Bit Trip series that are both like making chiptune music and playing some old-school titles.

$15 is a damn good price for 6 games from a series that cost $10 each when released. What games do you get? 6 widely different takes on old-school games re-imagined for now. What's that mean JB? JB would be me by the why. Simple, you make music and move that stylus all fine.

Now a fun quirk is the game visually gets more exciting the better you do in the games. Slightly more thrilling visuals and music gets louder and more frequent as you do better. An orchestra of chip tune sounds surrounds you at a point. Do more poorly and the screen might turn black and white, devoid of color and of music. One of the games, Runner, has a rainbow trailing behind you when you've done well.



Let's break down the games, shall we? Beat and Flux are like a crazy version of Pong. You've go to hit back bits coming at you in all sorts of crazy orders. I recommend the stylus over the joystick on the 3DS for better control. These bits or blocks coming at you have strange patterns and you have to be in sync with them to master the game. Core has you on the d-pad, sort of shooting lasers in all directions to stop blocks getting through.  Void has you controlling a ball that grows bigger as it takes in bits. You can make it grow smaller in size to avoid obstacles. If you touch the wrong color bits you lose points. Runner is a platformer, but you best be fast with your hands. This needs timing and sometime memory to get through the levels. Fate is an on the rails shooter. Get past a lot of enemies and don't get hit. Man I hope Gajin never teams up with a Japanese team a does a shump shooter, the level of skill need would be crazy.

Each game posses it's on hurdles and style to get use to. Beat and Flux seem similar, but Flux is a different animal, but if you do Beat first your experience will pay off. I don't expect anyone to master these game right away and that means a lot of dying and replaying and even if you beat a game you'll want to come back and beat your past score.

The games do cross over into 3D and look a little more stunning. It's sort of like rediscovering some lost levels and once again makes it quite the deal for the 3DS. For what some might argue might be a simple games, I'd say they can be very addictive. Quick to take out and play anywhere on the go it's ideal for a 3DS user. It's one of the best titles to be playing on the 3DS now. If you didn't get it already when it came out as a cartridge get it now and spend your days beating back the bits. Becoming a Bit Breaker Master!

The video game was provided by the publisher for review.