SUPERBEAT: XONiC Review (PS Vita)
SUPERBEAT: XONiC, developed by Nurijoy, is a rhythm game featuring a broad range of artists and genres that you play as you perform at night clubs across the globe.
That’s literally the story summed up and there are no characters or dialogue to speak of but that’s okay, because a DJ is there to play music rather than to interact with the audience. What really matters is the gameplay and music and I’m happy to say that I’ve really enjoyed my time with SUPERBEAT: XONiC, and my continuing time with it. Depending on what difficult you pick, you’ll only have to worry about using four or six buttons – in addition to the analog sticks or touch screen – that include left, up and down, and cross, triangle and circle. You might have to quickly press them or hold them down, and you can play with either buttons or the touch screen. It isn’t overwhelming but some of the songs do pack a genuine challenge!
Much of your score depends on timing, with your reaction and whether or not you hit the note at the perfect moment, whilst it’s still partially in line with your button press or if you miss it entirely affecting your score. The notes give you a decent amount of heads-up in advance where they appear from the center of the screen, but it becomes increasingly difficult to hit all the notes the further you progress – even on the easiest mode! SUPERBEAT: XONiC doesn’t particularly do anything new, but its execution is addictive and draws you back in again and again.
World Tour mode is essentially the story mode with you clearing a handful of pre-selected tunes for a variety of night clubs across the world, but they have goals set that you need to clear to be able to achieve a passing grade, one example of the goals being to only miss five notes in total across three tracks. There’s an arcade-like mode where you’ll play three tracks of your pick – assuming you’ve unlocked them – which is where I spent a lot of my time. You can play one song at a time too which makes the game great to pick up and play in short bursts.
It’s not quite as visually exciting as other rhythm games such as the Hatsune Miku titles, and while I miss the absence of a music video which has been replaced by constantly changing lighting to mimic a real club, I appreciate how Nurijoy have put an emphasis on trying to put you better in the shoes of a DJ. There’re a variety of colours and the lighting tends to change in time with the music and there’s little to distract you from the music and gameplay itself. I love the artwork for the songs themselves, one of which you can see below, and they’d make for great wallpapers as I really like a good few of the songs.
One could argue that the music is the most important part of a rhythm game because no matter how good the gameplay is, if you don’t like the tracks then you’re likely to not enjoy the game. SUPERBEAT: XONiC features a wide range of genres including big beat, house pop, rock and R&B and whilst I can’t claim to be fond of every of the 50+ tracks, there are plenty that I love and I’m overall satisfied with the tunes included. “Easy Easy Go!” is just a beauty of a tune!
SUPERBEAT: XONiC is a hugely fun game with catchy songs, addictive gameplay and minimal visuals which still prove to be pleasing to the eyes, and it’s a game I can easily recommend to fans of the genre. The release might’ve flown under many people’s radars but it doesn’t deserve to be overlooked, and I’m excited to see what Nurijoy and publisher Rising Star Games get up to in future. It’s also nice to see a developer and publisher still proudly support the Vita, and I encourage you to support them back!
- Super Mario Odyssey Celebrates its One Year Anniversary - October 28, 2018
- Dragon Ball Z KAI Final Chapters Review (Anime) - October 28, 2018
- Resident Evil 2 Remake Gets a Steelbook Edition in Europe - October 24, 2018
