Rhythm Heaven

"You'll play it over... and over... and over... and over........."

For those of you who don't know, Rhythm Tengoku Gold is the sequel to a Japanese Gameboy Advance rhythm game called Rhythm Tengoku, and is also coming stateside as Rhythm Heaven. Categorizing this game is pretty difficult, so for the sake of simplicity we'll just call it a rhythm game. That's kind of a vague term, considering the rhythm genre covers everything from Dance Dance Revolution to Taiko Drum Master to Ouendan... This game is like all of those games, and in many ways completely different. You'll come to see what I mean as you read on.

Gameplay - The first thing that I should mention is that since this is an import, everything is in Japanese. There is no English language support for this game. That being said, it's fairly easy to navigate your way around without knowing any Japanese at all. You may have a few questions here and there, but through some quick trial and error you'll know what to do.

This game is in essence a collection of micro games (think Wario Ware) but focused on music (think Ouendan). Right from the start, even the title screen will already have you doing stuff with the stylus. Just beginning the game requires you to poke an object on the screen and toss it up as high as you can. If you don't toss it up high enough, it falls back down and you have to try again. It's not hard by any means, but it's just an example of how everything in this game is creative.

After a brief general tutorial, you're given a screen full of closed windows, with one window open. This window is level one. Clicking on it and then entering the window begins the tutorial for that level. For a large section of the game, every level has its own tutorial. This is mainly because although you're basically doing similar things, each level is unique and requires you to do something very specific with the stylus. Every time you revisit that level, the tutorial will be there, but you always have the option of skipping it.

The first level is the Assembly Line. Once you hear the premise, you'll think it sounds silly enough, but already this level is a good example of how unique and addicting this game is. A catchy beat begins playing to give you the general rhythm for the stage. There's a conveyor belt going across the stage, and at the bottom is a robotic arm which you control. Notes start playing in the song, and little squares with holes cut in them begin rolling across the conveyor belt from both sides of the screen. On every 5th note that's played, the two squares will be lined up as they pass eachother, and that's your cue to fling the stylus across the touchscreen and shoot a little piece of metal (that looks like a little stick of chalk) through the hole and get stuck, thereby locking both squares together. As the level progresses, the squares move across the conveyor belt quicker and you have less time to react and shoot. Other factors come into play to try and screw with you, such as the screen going black. All of this probably sounds weird, but play it for 2 seconds and you'll understand.

After each stage is completed, you'll get one of three ratings: Some blue text stating you failed accompanied by a sad sound, a little blue cloud bubble indicating you "passed" the level and can move on (giving you a silver border around the level window), or a gold explosion, meaning you got a perfect or near perfect run (giving you a gold border around the level window). If you got the fail rating, you have to play the level until you pass to open the next window. Every once in a while an orange border will appear around a random level. This means you have the opportunity to get a Perfect banner for that level. You get three chances in a row to go through that level without making a single mistake. If you succeed, the word Perfect will be written under that window from that time on. Getting gold borders and Perfect banners strongly add to the replay value of this game.

To give you a quick idea how the levels differ from eachother, the next two levels after Assembly Line have you using the stylus to open and close the mouth of a chorus singer in order to mimic the other two singers he's with, and a robot stage where you have to drop a mechanical arm down at the proper time to pump robots full of red liquid, being sure to stop pumping before a single drop of excess is pumped. After every few stages, there is a Remix. These remixes combine elements of previous levels together, usually the levels from that row of windows.

Graphics/Sound - The graphics in this game are not amazing by any means from a technical standpoint. But this game wasn't meant to look amazing. It's all about the music. The art style however is very impressive. Some levels have characters looking as simple as stick figures, while other levels have complex 3d models. It's this random mix-match of quirky characters and backgrounds that add to this game's unique feel. As far as the sound goes, this is where the game gets its highest marks, next to replayability. The sound effects fit perfectly, but more importantly (since this is a rhythm game) the soundtrack is excellent. It would have to be. You're going to be playing these levels over and over again, whether it's because you keep failing them, or because you're going for that gold or Perfect banner. Every song in the game is extremely catchy and hypnotizing. You'll find yourself humming the tracks for the rest of the day after you've played a round for even a short period. Even after you've beaten the entire game and obtained a Perfect banner on every level, you'll find yourself going back and replaying levels (because they're fun, and) to hear the music.

Play Time/Replayability - This game is fairly long even for the first run-through. There are 50 levels in all, including the Remixes. There are also bonus games in the options menu. Just passing each level and unlocking the next one should take you quite some time. The levels become harder, faster, and more complex as you progress, so just because you're half way though in a few hours doesn't mean you're close to being finished.

As for replayability, as I mentioned earlier, simply passing a level will get you on to the next window. But for most people, this won't be satisfying enough. Your second objective will be to go back and obtain gold borders on every level by getting perfect or near perfect runs. Once you do that, you won't want to put this game down yet, and luckily there's reasons for you to keep playing. As the orange borders pop up randomly on various levels, chances are you won't receive a Perfect banner in your first three attempts. To be honest, chances are you won't receive a Perfect banner after your first thirty attempts. You'll slowly start to get a few Perfects here and there on the easiest levels. As you do, those levels will no longer get orange windows around them, leaving only the levels you have yet to master open for this chance. The strategy at this point would be to pick a level you want to get a Perfect banner on, and play it over and over until you have it down pat. Then, when the orange window appears around that level, you'll have a much higher chance of actually getting that Perfect. Near the end you'll be left with just a few levels you can't seem to get, and here's where you'll really become obsessed with studying every detail of the level so you can eventually get that Perfect.

Final Recommendation - I believe most games shouldn't get a 10 out of 10 because that means they're perfect, and no game is perfect. Some people say a 10 out of 10 means it was the best it could have been. I'm not really sure which way I feel but I'm giving this game a 9 out of 10. But more importantly than the number is what I have to say about the game itself. And that is that it's amazing. It's right up there with the must-have imports like Ouendan and Jump Superstars. The music in this game is highly addicting. The characters are lovable and unique. The art style is creative. It's easy to get into, impossible to put down, difficult to master, and most importantly fun to play. Every DS owner should have this game. It's great for pick-up and play if you have a few minutes, or even if you want to sit down for hours and just do multiple levels. Kudos to Nintendo Japan. This game is definitely a winner.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/15/08

Game Release: Rhythm Tengoku Gold (JP, 07/31/08)