It’d be easy to pass off Groove Galaxy as another clicker, but really, it’s almost in a genre all of its own. Like its predecessor Groove Planet, Groove Galaxy might take the shape of a clicker, but it’s more of …
It’d be easy to pass off Groove Galaxy as another clicker, but really, it’s almost in a genre all of its own. Like its predecessor Groove Planet, Groove Galaxy might take the shape of a clicker, but it’s more of a tapper. A rhythmic tapper. With aliens in it.
There’s a level based structure here that’s at odds with a true clicker, and quite a lot of the time you have to pay attention to what’s going on as well. It feels like a freshen up rather than a complete overhaul of clickers, and it doesn’t add enough to the genre that it’s going to change anyone’s mind about it. But it is bright and shiny enough that clicker fans will have a lovely old time with it.
The game is set across a series of planets, and it’s up to you to colonize them. You do this by tapping along to the beats of a song. More taps, more notes.
These notes act as your currency, which you spend on different buildings, which add even more money to your rhythmic pokes. Each of the levels needs you to build a set amount, and once you’ve done that you move on to the next one, with your bank balance back at zero.
When you’re not playing your building will still accrue some cash, so you can put the game down, come back later, and you’ll probably have enough money to finish the level you left it on and move on to the next.
There are random draws that you can participate in as well. Pick one of three different records, some of which will give you huge currency boosts, some of which will dent your coffers in pretty serious ways. You don’t have to bother with these, but they’re a handy way to earn more money. And if you don’t like the outcome you can always watch a video or spend some gems to ignore it. Or alternatively just stop playing until the negative effect has worn off.
While the game does have more going on than your average clicker, it doesn’t have anything deeper than the core loop. Sure there are planets to colonize and different buildings to create, but none of them change that tap-tap beat that makes up the heart of the experience. Not that that’s too much of a problem, because really you’re not going to be looking for much more out of a game of this sort. It’s shiny and polished too, with plenty of little quirks that keep your eyes as busy as your fingers.
There are a few problems here, though. Sometimes the rhythm of the music doesn’t quite match the rhythm the game asks you to tap in. It’s not the biggest annoyance in the world, but it adds a twang of frustration to what should be a simple and satisfying waste of time. Other than that there’s nothing particularly wrong with Groove Galaxy. It moves at the sort of pace that you’d expect, and it’s easy to get caught up in its refreshingly bouncy gameplay.
No, there’s not much going on under the surface, but that’s not the reason you download a game like this. You download it for a quick blast of almost meaningless finger work and then get a nice surprise when you pick it up again later. And Groove Galaxy ticks all of those boxes and then some.
