The two exceptions are during the boss battle at the end of each stage and when a ring floats around the track waiting to punish you with an unavoidable attack for missing your mark under its watch. For example, you aren't always required to hit a button when a beat icon-for lack of a better term-appears on a track. The big difference here is that you aren't forced to fill in a song to succeed. You may also find your track expand to multiple lanes while a phalanx of technopedes float into your path, forcing you to shift from side to side without hesitation.
#Thumper ps4 series#
Spiked sections require you to jump, while a series of barriers can only be passed when you hold down the "beat" button.
Fail to hold the turn long enough or hit the correct button, and you crash. When taking a steep curve, you have to press a button and move the analog stick to grind the wall. Most of the time, you're forced to act in other ways-at an incredible rate of speed. You aren't challenged to create music in Thumper as much as you are to keep up with the obstacles it dictates what amounts to beats or notes in other games is treated differently here.
Granted, that may sound like a creative way to interpret what amounts to a simple rhythm game, but just because it sounds fantastical and flowery doesn't mean it's purely imaginative. He beckons, you respond, and you pray your muscles can react fast enough beat him senseless at his own game, matching every beat he sends your way. Success is surviving long enough to meet the the boss-a disembodied flaming head with piercing eyes and spiked florets emerging from all sides. Anything short of a total bond between yourself and the track will lead to dimmed reflexes resulting in life-ending collisions. The tracks are dangerously slick and fast, and the only way to survive is to give yourself up to the beat-allow it to command your instincts to lean into sudden turns and hit markers at the right time. In one ear, the menacing sound of taiko drums bang away, while the other is fed oppressive industrial riffs and beats. Imagine for a second that you're a chrome-plated beetle participating in a life-or-death luge race set in a tangled web of undulating cables, iridescent halos, and laser beams. Now Playing: Thumper - Rhythm Violence - Gameplay You’ll have a difficult enough time just completing the game though as it is tough but never unfair.By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's You can handily select the sections of the level you didn’t perfect so you can home in on what you want to perfect which is great too. I haven’t experienced anything else quite like it and whilst I haven’t personally played the VR mode, I have a friend whom has and he said it was easily one of the most immersive and impressive experiences he has ever had in VR.Īs a single-player experience, your time will be spent unlocking new areas and trying to do perfect runs of levels. When you fly off in different directions, it’s not jerky – it’s like your being warped through space and time like a high-speed snake. Everything from the colour palette, to the sound, to the graphics and in particular the movement of your character has been designed to feel aggressive but fluid. Think Space Odyssey 2001 and you’re partway thereĪ visceral experience really is the best way to describe it. Having a good memory can help and sometimes the game doesn’t do a great job of telling you exactly what you should do the first time you encounter a new type of obstacle but its such a small quibble in what is otherwise a near-flawless experience, I’m happy to let it slide. Thankfully Thumper breaks each mammoth level up into many chunks and each level only gets longer, more complex and faster.
Initially, the game has a certain hypnotic beauty like Wipeout and N20 – it’s so fast and abstract you’ll be coo’ing at the scenery. You’ll need quick reactions and reflexes to bend in time with the tube, avoid obstacles and press the right button to thump back attacks from the various boss attacks that litter the game like an alien-infested graveyard. Thumper is an on-rails experience travelling down a long psychedelic tube. A still picture does not justice to Thumpers motion Even the developer said this is an aggressive and violent game – yet not a single drop of blood is shed. Rhythm Action games come in all shapes and sizes but it’s not very often they come with such a visceral attack and grab like Thumper.
#Thumper ps4 Pc#
Formats: PS4, XBoxOne, PC (VR optional across all formats)