This is a guest post by Mitzi Wilson, the star of Mitzi Plays, a new feature in which we pit a video game newbie against games of our choosing. Will Mitzi survive? Let’s see if she does!
Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise is one of those games that make you growl at the TV. A cartoon choreographed test of coordination and muscle memory, this game is equally annoying as it is satisfying.
The game begins and we enter a land of before-school style Japanese cartoons and arcade music. Honky-tonk tunes and amusing sound effects all aim to disorientate and cute characters strategically distract. Especially the baseball-flinging Raffiki lookalike with an arm like Babe Ruth – watch out for him! Others include a gigantic fork that wants high-speed peas for dinner, cute robots and a young couple on a date that keeps getting interrupted with assorted bouncing balls. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the Monkey and the Tamborine. It’ll look at you with wide eyes, and when you miss the beat, will cringe at your lack of coordination. Its furred eye brows chink together when you stuff up, and trust me, you will stuff up often – unless you’re a talented little bastard.
The aim of the game is simple, and reminds me of Guitar Hero. Press the buttons on the Wii remote in time to the beat. Easy, right? Not so much. To make it easy you’ll start bopping to the music to increase your coordination and soon, you’re part of the choreography in a really dodgy one-move-dance music video. Trust me – you will.
In order to pass the levels, you are judged by the characters in each scenario, but you don’t need to have an A+ aim rate to pass. Miss some shots and an “OK”‘s enough to get you through. But if you miss the majority of them (it happens), it’s back to the start with you. My tip? Skip the tutorial after the first time to speed up the process.
Editor’s note: It’s a good thing Mitzi didn’t get to this stage – she would have torn her hair out.
If you make it through the four levels, you get to replay each scenario all together inside one really fast, distracting mash up. Here, you’re forced to remember everything you tried to forget in order to get through each level.
All in all, Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise is a fun, light game for anyone who needs to brush up on some hand-eye coordination and memory testing. You can bop your head to the music, and the good news, is that you get there in the end, and hey – that’s pretty satisfying.
Fancy more of Mitzi’s writing? Check out more of her work here: www.whosmitzi.com
