vib-ribbon

"This is the reason I game"

Ahh Vib-Ribbon. A slice of heaven I would have completely overlooked had I not happened to walk into a used CD/DVD/Game store. What are the odds of finding a European game used at a US store? It must be fate...or I'm lucky. But you aren't here to read about me.

Vib-Ribbon is a unique game in that it actually follows basic game theory, which is minimum rules/maximum richness. There is no complex system to figure out or anything so mindnumbing you need a hintbook to solve. It's just a really simple fun game.

You control Vibri, a happy little rabbity thing whose sole purpose in life is to walk on this ribbon. As you walk down it (walking is automatic, you don't have to press any buttons to move), you encounter obstacles. These obstacles are overcome by pressing a button (L1, R1, Down, or X) or a combination of the two. The button(s) you press is dependant on what kind of obstacle you face. Timing is everything. Hit the right buttons at the right times, and high scores are yours. Miss and you will turn into a froggy thing and then onto a wormy thing.

Ok, sounds lame so far I know, I haven't talked about the big thing yet (Vib fans are probably foaming at the mouth by now because I haven't mentioned it). Vib-Ribbon is a music game, meaning that music plays an important part in the game. As music plays, obstacles come up in accordance. The speed the obstacles come at you is affected by the tempo. The timing coincides with the timing of major beats in the song. In other words, listening to the music helps as much as watching the screen...ok maybe I'm exaggerating, but you can't play this game without sound. The coolest feature is you don't just play the music that's on the game CD, you can put in any music CD in your library and the game will make a level around it. This leads to hours of fun believe me.

Now there is a little problem. Since you can put in any CD, the game has to be able to load all the graphics/sounds/CD-player/music recognizing software/etc. all at once. And since the PSX has all of 2 megs of RAM. Something has to give. That something was graphics. However, when life handed the fine folks at Nanaonsha a lemon, they made lemonade. They brought in vector graphics (think Asteroids or Tempest) to create a unique look. The result is everything has a wire-like look to it. While some (read: 90% of Americans) would think the graphics were terrible and dismiss the game, I think they create a look as unique as the gameplay and equally as wonderfully simple. Since the graphics perfectly compliment the gameplay, no points are off in my book.

Vib-Ribbon would never had made it in America, only a handful of hardcore gamers would have bought it and most would just ignore it and hoped it would go away. However, to those of you Americans who think you might like it, I strongly encourage you to import this game. To the Brits, next time you find out that some great game is only coming to America, I genuinely sympathize.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/10/02, Updated 06/10/02