The Demo for Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure released in Europe today and I have just got some hands on time with it. First of all this is a very short demo although already I can tell I am going to use up my 20 uses, the game is really quite good. The demo contains 3 stages all set in Paris, the game features several landmarks from the area and the graphics have a nice cartoon style.
The game has already set itself apart from most other rhythm games by showcasing three different styles of gameplay with its demo stages. Impressions are detailed below.
Stage 1 - ShowtimeShowtime is Elite Beat Agents meets Rhythm Heaven, the top screen has three people dancing on a stage while showing different arrows in inner circles surrounded by outer circles which decrease in size. As the outer circle meets the inner circle you have to perform a swipe which will have the dancer perform an appropriate move corresponding to the direction of the swipe. The closer the circles are to meeting the better the rating you receive. I really liked the music here which got faster as the level progressed making it harder to keep up, although as with the other stages it was always very easy. This was probably the most fun stage of the demo.
Stage 2 - Looting the LouvreThis stage has the bottom screen seperated into four different coloured panels with a different pose on each, the main character is making his way through the Louvre while avoiding security guards. He does this by hiding behind statues which match the colour and poses indicated on the bottom screen, the character is moving of his own accord here and you simply have to touch a panel as he reaches a statue. This was quite amusing to watch and was again fun but not very challenging, am assuming this is easy mode and more difficulty levels will be present in the final game.
Stage 3 - Battle DiaboliqueThis stage seems to be a kind of boss battle and ignores the touch screen completely, it simply has you pushing either the D-pad or the A button depending on which side of the screen you are attacked from. The timing of these button presses is again determined by the EBA style circles seen in stage one. This was again fun although very basic and not very challenging.
Overall ImpressionsI did feel like the demo was fun and I look forward to seeing more of the game, I would have liked to have seen a bit of context to what I was doing with some brief story clips maybe. The graphics seemed good to me with a nice 3D effect although nothing really game altering. I did like the way the on screen prompts were raised up from the background though. The music for the first stage was good but I didn't really pay much attention to the other two stages which doesn't really bode well for it being a rhythm game and all. The game did bring a smile to my face though which is always a good sign. I also wish there were more difficulty modes present in the demo to give me hope that the game provides some challenge.
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