There ain't no party like a Moai party
Rhythm games are great. At their best, they are able to take incredibly simple gameplay ideas and turn them into a fully realized game that's a ton of fun to play. And Rhythm Heaven is certainly one of the good ones. It takes the simplest rhythm ideas possible (ie, tap with the beat), and embeds them within a slew of crazily entertaining minigames. The result is an experience that is as fun as it is accessible, which is the truest mantra of any great rhythm game.
At its core, Rhythm Heaven is kind of a mix between a WarioWare game and Elite Beat Agents. Its basic structure is that of WarioWare- a big collection of minigames, each with a different theme. Many of these mingames are also bat shit crazy. I'm talking the Japanese kind of crazy too- the kind that makes no sense at all, which is always the best kind. The level themes range from singing Moai statues to a laboratory that makes love (appropriately called the "Love Lab"), and cover everything in between. As such, Rhythm Heaven's variety is easily one of its best aspects. You'll never really know what to expect from the next minigame, but rest assured it will be awesome in the most unexplainable of ways. Each level also starts with a small, optional tutorial to help you get up to speed, which is good. Without any instruction, some of the minigames would probably be just too weird to figure out on your own.
Past the basic structure, Rhythm Heaven's core gameplay isn't too distant from that of Elite Beat Agents. All of the actions you do in Rhythm Heaven boil down to tapping and flicking, and you have to do these actions in time with various audio and visual cues. This works very well- not only because these motions are naturally intuitive, but also because the touch screen is incredibly responsive. Perhaps best of all, Rhythm Heaven makes use of this to create an appropriately challenging experience. Some of the levels can be tough, but they aren't frustrating in the wake of bad controls or ambiguous objectives. They provide genuine challenges that will push you to think about your timing, and improve as a result. If you do well, you can get a medal on each level, which gives you a lot of incentive to retry each one and improve. One of my biggest gripes with the game, however, is that it won't award you with that "perfect" rating at any time. You have to wait for a prompted, limited window to go for a perfect, which is just annoying. It sucks to get a perfect on a level and not get anything for it, only to miss it later when the game gives you an opportunity.
Other than this gripe, my only other issue with Rhythm Heaven is that it isn't a content heavy game. Even with 50+ minigames and incentive to replay them all for medals, the game doesn't last terribly long. But it's an absolute blast while it does, and embodies the true spirit of what rhythm games are all about. Rhythm Heaven is an accessible, challenging, and just all around fun game that any self respecting DS owner would do well to look into.
For additional information on my review style and scoring system, click here.
