Rhythm games are having something of a resurgence on mobile at the moment, and now you can add Blast Beats to that growing list of engaging touch-screen musical endeavours. It leans closer to the twitch end of the spectrum, offering …
Rhythm games are having something of a resurgence on mobile at the moment, and now you can add Blast Beats to that growing list of engaging touch-screen musical endeavours. It leans closer to the twitch end of the spectrum, offering players a whole heap of frantic tapping if they want to succeed.
You’re trying to tap when pentagonal markers are within a pentagonal goal. They rush up from below, sometimes just one, more often than not a whole stream of the buggers. Things go from not-quite-sedate to oh-my-god-my-heart pretty darn quickly here.
This is definitely a game you need to play with headphones in. It’s doable when you can’t hear the music, but things get much easier when you can concentrate on the beat and learn the patterns that guide your taps.
You get three chances to mess up each round, but you can up it to five if you’re struggling. It’s a good idea to do that to begin with, because otherwise there’s a chance you’re not going to get past that initially steep learning curve.
The songs here are an interesting mix, with something to soothe most musical tastes, and there’s plenty of them too. You get graded for your performance when you finish one, and jumping back in to get a better score can become compulsive.
One slight problem here is the length of the songs. Some of them do drag on a little, repeating the same patterns, which does expose the monotone tapping experience ever-so-slightly. But then something frantic will happen and your brain won’t have the capacity to process the lull.
Blast Beats certainly has a unique look to it, and it’s counterpointed by a warmth that runs through the whole experience. It’s unlikely to go down in the annals of history, but it’ll keep your fingers occupied while you’re playing it, and it’s hard not to jump straight back in when you fail.
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