HarmoKnight

HarmoKnight puts players into the role of Tempo, a young boy who is training in combat with his rabbit friend when a meteor falls out of the sky and crashes to the ground. This is no ordinary meteor; it contains an evil villain named Gargan and an army of his Noizoid minions. Amidst the chaos that follows, Tempo finds himself in possession of a mysterious staff in the shape of a note. The staff is actually an important part of legend, only able to be properly wielded by the titular HarmoKnights, and is key to stopping the Noizoid threat. Tempo’s master sends him on a journey to Symphony City in order to deliver the staff to a deserving warrior who can save the land. Along the way, he must make new allies and fight his way through the Noizoid forces.

The story of HarmoKnight is about as boilerplate as it gets: young boy finds himself suddenly chosen to save the world and slowly becomes a great warrior through his journey. Coming from Game Freak, creators of the Pokemon series, this isn’t really surprising as those games aren’t exactly known for their deep, interesting plots. Even though the story is simple and aimed at a young audience, it still does the job admirably. The artstyle is vibrant and fun to look at, characters have a lot of energy, and there’s just enough variety to keep things going from beginning to end. You can probably already predict the story’s “twists,” likely just from reading what I wrote above, but it doesn’t matter; this is just one of those games where the story is secondary to the actual meat of the gameplay. It isn’t necessary to have a plot reason to move to the next level: the pure joy brought from playing is enough to urge you onwards.

As you make your way to Symphony City, you move around a world map with around eight levels to complete per world. Each level tasks you with avoiding obstacles and defeating enemies as you march automatically to the right, with the goal of making it to the level’s end without dying. What makes gameplay engaging is the fact that a stage’s hazards are tied to the rhythm of the music. Everything from jumps to strikes have their own sound, layering onto the already-playing base track to create energetic medleys that you feel like you’re crafting as you play. Each level also features collectible notes, found in your path and earned by defeating enemies in time to the music. Collecting these notes is important, as you must earn enough in each level to earn the Royal Note. These Royal Notes are requisite currency to unlock new levels, barring progress until you earn at least a passing grade in each level. Different characters pop up here and there, changing up the gameplay systems, and certain levels have quirks of their own. At its core, however, the gameplay is all about rhythm and timing.

Playing HarmoKnight, I frequently found myself reminded of another Nintendo property: Rhythm Heaven. While the gameplay is not quite the same, the invigorating feeling of creating properly-timed music with your actions is just as strong. Beating a level while collecting all of the notes and hitting everything perfectly in-time just feels good, sending endorphins rushing through my body. I also applaud Game Freak for adding optional things to hit in each level: plants shaped like tambourines, cymbals, and triangles. These aren’t required to hit any of the level’s necessary note requirements, but they add a bit of neat flair that makes the music sound more personalized to your own actions. Each world has a different theme--march beats, rock guitar, etc.--that keeps things from getting too stale and repetitive musically. Boss levels are flashy spectacles that rely more on Simon Says memorization, spinning the camera around and using plenty of clever effects. To top it all off, the 3D is used to great effect. Each level gains a great deal of depth, and the boss fights in particular pop gorgeously with it turned all the way up. All these fantastic design choices come together to make a solid gameplay experience, one that easily holds its own in the genre.

Sadly, I did have a few (admittedly minor) issues. First, HarmoKnight is much too easy for anyone even moderately familiar with rhythm games. The difficulty does begin to scale at a point, but it takes practically the entire length of the game to hit a challenge level I was happy with. You can return to levels in ‘fast’ mode once you beat them, which can add a bit of challenge, but these are entirely optional. Second, I hated any of the stages that forced you to use characters other than Tempo. Both of them feel like afterthoughts, designed to tack on to the main gameplay design and provide some variety, and drag down the levels in which they are found. Finally, the last world gave me some odd timing issues. It seemed like the music would fall in and out of sync with the game, causing me to get hit even when I felt perfectly in time with the beat. This didn’t happen often, actually localized to particular stages, but it was quite frustrating to deal with in a game so focused on timing. Luckily, nearly all of the game’s content does not have this problem; it’s just irritating that it had to happen in the levels that are the hardest to complete even without timing issues. These complaints aren’t enough to make me regret playing through this title in the slightest, even as an aggregate, but they are worth pointing out nonetheless.

HarmoKnight is a delightful game. There’s not a lot to it, sure, but it doesn’t really need to be--or aim to be--more than what it is. Whenever I was playing it, I often found myself smiling at a well-designed section or a cute cutscene just because I could feel how much care was put into it by the developers. Few games manage to have such likeable presentation and enjoyable gameplay. As a huge fan of rhythm games, I believe this is a solid addition to the genre, nailing the pure fun that comes from creating music through your own actions. For its length, the $15 price tag may be a bit steep, especially for those who aren’t addicted to rhythm games; however, I highly recommend not thinking about price and instead just enjoying HarmoKnight for what it is: a pleasantly engaging jaunt through a fantastic soundtrack.