Beaterator

Rockstar Games brings us their latest rhythmic offering on the Playstation Portable in the form of Beaterator. While it isn’t what I would call a game so much as a music creation tool, it is remarkably simple yet still powerful for people who have the patience to create various tracks. The three modes are Live Play, Studio and Song Crafter, all of which offer something unique and fun for the musically-inclined. Over the years, Rockstar has developed an expectation in the industry for offering superb musical scores with titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Bully. In conjunction with sounds created by Timbaland, the game offers a significant amount of content for those who have the interest to continue using Beaterator long after others will have set it aside.

As previously stated, this is not a typical game by any stretch of the imagination, so if you’re looking for another handheld equivalent of Rock Band or Guitar Hero, you’re going to be significantly disappointed. The easiest comparison that can be drawn between Beaterator is eJay Clubworld on the Playstation 2 or Korg DS-10 Music Synthesizer on the Nintendo DS. This isn’t something that is meant to be played so much as played around with to develop a skill set according to what is offered as well as create music that you want to hear or think others would want to hear. While the title is accessible to just about anyone who would pick it up, the amount of time spent with Beaterator will definitely vary from person to person. That being said, there is a lot of deep content and activity available via the various modes and those shouldn’t be glossed over.

Live Play is essentially a quick start mode for people who want to jump in immediately and get an initial taste of what the rest of the title stands to show off. Upon loading up this mode from the main screen, you are given a screen with various music elements such as bass, lead, etc. Using the d-pad to hover over them and pressing the square, triangle, circle or square button will each give you a different loop that plays continuously until stopped allowing you to sample how various sounds mesh together. This gives way to vast options that will allow for an almost infinite amount of musical permutations. However, to the uninitiated these loops will sound very simplistic, repetitive and lacking any real substance, which is where the major separation will be drawn between those who check out the rest of the types of music creation as opposed to those who stop playing. Conversely, those players who enter Live Play expecting it to be the introduction to the rest of title won’t be disappointed. Players are able to change loop types to such genres as pop, hip hop and house, just to name a few. Anyone who allows the game to suck them in, and enjoys watching Timbaland dance in Live Play mode, would see potential in this title, and would explore the rest of what Beaterator has to put forward.

Studio mode is the relative half-way point between Live Play and Song Crafter in which you are given a more technical view than Live Play has to offer, but are not granted all of the elements contained in Song Crafter to do anything truly creative. While at times it felt very cookie cutter and a bit like a musical paint by numbers, it was impressive to see the underlying potential that Studio possessed. Taking it a step further than just adding, removing or overwriting loops in the song you wish to craft, you have the opportunity to actually add vocals into the track by using the Playstation Portables built-in microphone or by utilizing an attachable microphone. While song elements such as master volume and beats per minute can be modified for superior beaterating, Song Crafter is where the tool becomes most accessible, but also where it poses the greatest risk for losing inexperienced users.

Song Crafter isn’t necessarily complicated, but is definitely something that needs to be built up to in terms of use and while the mode isn’t necessarily unintuitive, it wouldn’t hurt to keep the instruction manual nearby. Just to get the statement out of the way, nothing about Song Crafter is complicated. But dropping right into it would be like someone booting up Photoshop and asking you to make a picture of Megan Fox look perfect when you’ve used an abacus your entire life. Allowing you to create beats, sounds and loops across all three of the game types, it does have a significant amount of flexibility for users who really want to create something on their PSP. If you are looking for something that will allow you to modify just about anything in a song, or you have the patience and creativity to see a song through to completion, then you deserve to be able to upload and share it with anyone who should so happen to download your opus. On the other hand, while all three modes are interesting, designing and releasing Beaterator on the PSP could possibly shoot Rockstar in the foot.

Speaking as someone who has large hands, it isn’t exactly a stretch of the imagination when complaining about the size of a controller or handheld in regards to the playability of a game. To quickly illustrate, the original Xbox Controller fit perfectly in my hands. While all the controls in Beaterator are slow and deliberate, it makes me wonder if releasing this for a portable system was the best move. All of the previous music creation softwares I have ever used were either on the PC, which offered an extreme amount of flexibility or at the very least in the console world, the Playstation 2. During my time with Beaterator, I needed to remind myself that Rockstar was not attempting to reinvent the music genre necessarily; they were merely putting creative tools in the hands of those who would use them. For instance, if you have access to Garage Band or Sony’s Acid on the Mac or PC respectively, and you have dreams of producing songs or being a true to life DJ, then I would recommend swallowing the immense costs of those pieces of software and purchasing them. However, if you are looking for something to keep your creative juices flowing while you’re on the go, then Beaterator is for you.

Looking back, I still boot up eJay Clubworld every so often because I enjoy seeing what I’ll come up with in a certain span of time and the same thing goes for Beaterator. I like creating music and seeing what exactly I’ll come up with in a short bit of time simply because if I create something that keeps me interested, I’m going to see what I can do to make my straightforward creation more interesting and multifarious until I discover that several hours have passed without putting the title down. As I said, if all you want is something that will give you a Rock Band like thrill, then you’re definitely not on the same sheet of music and you’ll be set up for disappointment. But those who genuinely have an interest in creating music will definitely enjoy Beaterator.