Final 12 months, I wrote about how the glut of (in any other case high quality) sport releases early within the 12 months was a bit overwhelming, main me to take a much-needed break from gaming.
This 12 months, I’ve began to really feel that once more after a extremely busy January and February consisting of the likes of Forspoken, Season and the PlayStation VR2, in addition to options on The Last of Us, Black History Month, International Women’s Day and extra. As at all times, I’m past grateful to have these alternatives and am consistently impressed by the creators I cowl, however typically, it’s good to step away for a bit. In consequence, I’ve primarily been spending my entertainment time watching movies and TV as of late.
That stated, there’s one sport that I’ve been having fun with on the aspect, and it couldn’t have come at a greater time: February’s Theatrythm Closing Bar Line. Now, I’m not essentially shocked that I get pleasure from it; a crossover sport that includes music and characters from Closing Fantasy, my all-time favourite series, was up my alley. Nevertheless, I typically can’t get into rhythm video games (together with earlier Theatrythm titles) because of their inherently repetitive nature, so I didn’t know the way a lot of Closing Bar Line I’d really play.
Because it seems — fairly a couple of hours. A giant a part of that has to do with the truth that this sport marks the sequence’ console debut; I far choose utilizing a controller to a tool like a 3DS with smaller buttons. Past that, although, Closing Bar Line is only a essentially simple sport to choose up and play. For uncoordinated folks like me who don’t typically play these sorts of video games, developer ‘indieszero’ has graciously included a ‘Easy’ mode that relegates all inputs to a single button. That, alongside 4 problem choices for every music, ensures that gamers of all ranges of expertise can bounce in.
As a result of actually, the spotlight right here is the music — a number of the best within the historical past of gaming. With 385 songs from throughout 29 totally different Closing Fantasy video games, Closing Bar Line is filled with nothing however straight bangers. That features the god-tier work of original FF composer Nobuo Uematsu (the primary 9 numbered entries and contributions to many others), Masashi Hamauzu (XIII), Masayoshi Soken (XIV) and Yoko Shimomura (XV). It’s nearly a cliché to make use of the time period “love letter” at this level, however Closing Bar Line completely earns it because of its far-reaching celebration of 35 years’ price of unbelievable music.
When it comes to fan favourites, there’s the whole lot from the sensational operatic grandeur of VII‘s “One-Winged Angel” and tear-jerking X ballad “Suteki Da Ne” to the gorgeous Celtic woodwinds of XIII‘s “The Archylte Steppe” and majestic XV violin piece, “Valse di Fantastica.” However indieszero and Sq. Enix have commendably picked deeper cuts, too, just like the menacing “Jack’s Theme” from the meme-worthy Strangers of Paradise, a slew of songs from cellular titles like Mobius Closing Fantasy and tracks from lesser-known spin-offs like Chocobo’s Dungeon and Crystal Chronicles. Hell, my favourite game of all time, FFVII, has a number of units of tracks from the OG VII, its stellar Remake, Crisis Core prequel and different ‘Compilation’ spin-offs.
Closing Bar Line additionally sports activities an in depth lineup of DLC tracks from different Sq. Enix titles with their very own stellar music, like Stay A Stay, Nier Automata and Chrono Set off. Admittedly, I want a few of these included remixes; of the 4 Stay A Stay songs, just one is an up to date model from last year’s amazing remake, and it isn’t absolutely the bop that’s “Megalomania.” Nitpick apart, although, the music catalogue is so magnificent and huge — within the base sport alone, and solely extra so with DLC — that there actually will likely be one thing right here for everybody, even when you don’t have a historical past with a few of these video games.
That’s to say nothing of the plethora of characters. There’s an simple spotlight in having events consisting of, say, VII‘s Cloud and Sephiroth, XIV‘s Alphinaud and Ways‘ Ramza — characters who would just about by no means meet in any other case. Bringing them collectively in recreations of iconic FF scenes, like VI’‘s Opera Home misadventure, the loss of life of Aerith in VII or XV‘s gargantuan Leviathan encounter solely sweetens the deal. Whereas I want we received an precise narrative to unify all of them, there’s sufficient of a mixture right here between conventional rhythm levels and FMV-filled ones to function a satisfying FF ‘Biggest Hits’ assortment.
On the identical time, the deal with songs means you’ll typically solely be enjoying for a couple of minutes at a time. This makes it the right sport to dabble in right here and there, particularly when you’ve discovered your self a bit burnt out on video games like me. The truth that I can simply boot up my PS5, run by means of a couple of songs at my desired problem setting for 20 or half-hour after which go on with my day is good. Fortunately, it’s not a time-sink like so many games nowadays. On the flip aspect, there’s a lot of content material right here if you wish to dig into it, which implies it’s price coming again to again and again. Between Collection Quests (an arcade-style marketing campaign that takes you thru highlights of every sport), Music Levels (free play), co-op (the place you and a good friend cut up the notes) and Multi Battle (a surprisingly frenetic four-player aggressive match), Closing Bar Line is chock stuffed with gameplay modes.
There’s additionally an RPG-lite ingredient that hearkens again to the FF sequence’ roots. As you play, you’ll unlock new characters, skills and summons that may be personalized to your get together of selection. Every character has their very own class (Bodily, Magic, Defence, Therapeutic, and so on.) to tell apart the forms of strikes they’ll mechanically use as you hit notes. For instance, the highly effective Ulima Blade can solely be utilized by blade-wielders like Cloud and Sephiroth. Then again, V‘s Lenna has a character-specific ‘Come up’ spell that may revive your staff when your HP hits zero. General, this technique feels finely tuned sufficient that mixing-and-matching configurations will present advantages in levels however can nonetheless largely be ignored — particularly on decrease difficulties — when you simply wish to use your favorite characters and deal with the music.
Closing Bar Line is well one in all my favorite video games of the 12 months thus far. With a number of the greatest music in the complete medium, quite a lot of problem choices and modes and a construction that makes it simple to choose up and drop, indieszero has created a completely pleasant expertise that I maintain coming again to at the same time as I’ve put down different video games.
Theatrythm Closing Bar Line is now obtainable on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Change.
Picture credit score: Sq. Enix
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