Bit.Trip Core

Overview

Bit.Trip Core is the second game in the Bit.Trip series of rhythm games. This installment is much different from its predecessor, as instead of controlling a paddle, you control a plus shaped object and fire beams of light to hit pixels called "beats" -- which earn you points upon doing so. This is done by using the d-pad to decide the direction you wish to fire at, and the 2 button to fire. The goal of the game is to hit beats in order to produce additional music notes which play upon hitting 'em.

Story

The game starts off with Commander video seen from behind looking up to three other gigantic Commanders standing in front of him in a box like structure. Eventually the background changes from the initial darkish gray to dark blue and eventually to a vibrant light red, while the background is changing the 3 commanders start to distort in and slowly change shape in a wave like fashion. After this the first level named "Discovery" starts.

After completing "Discovery" the Commander will be shown standing alone in front of a blue background, he looks sad. Shorty after he is joined by two other commanders, on at his left and one at his right. The two other commanders take Commander video with them up in the sky with a rainbow colored trail. The commander looks up and the second level, "Exploration", begins.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay consists of hitting small pixels called "beats," which earn you points upon doing so, by using the beams shot from the core -- the plus shaped object in the center of the screen. This starts off easy, with beats coming at a rather slow pace one at a time. But as you progress, the beats start to come at you from many different directions, at blistering speeds to make things much harder.

Though, there is one thing that (slightly) helps lessen the difficult nature of the game, and that's...

Bombs

For every level one bomb is given to the player. When triggered all beats on screen will be destroyed, no points are rewarded for destroying them with a bomb though. Bombs are used by pressing the "1" button on the Wii-remote.

Scoring mechanism

Bit.Trip Core has a nearly identical scoring mechanism as it predecessor does:

(100 A(if A is superior to 10)) X B

A represent the number of consecutive beats the player has managed to hit without missing one. B Stands for the "skill" mode the player is in. Would the player be in Mega mode (the standard skill mode) B stays at 1 however if the player does good enough to enter Hyper Mode B will gradually ramp up the longer the player manages to stay in Hyper Mode. If the player manages to chain up a long enough combo to enter Super Mode B will ramp up at an even faster rate then in Mega Mode. If the player does poorly enough to be in Nether mode no points at all are rewarded for every beat the player hits. Every mode allows the player to do a certain amount of misses before switching to the mode below, the higher up the mode the less misses it takes to be degraded. Would the player get degraded in Nether Mode it is game over.

Other then influencing B the different modes also change the visual and audio of the game, the harder the mode the more crazy and disorienting everything becomes making it harder to keep a combo.

Unlike Bit.Trip Beat the Nether Mode in Bit.Trip Core is actually more disorienting then the upper modes since the music degrades to a simple metronome and it becomes impossible to see what kind of behavior the incoming beat have since everything becomes black and white.

Wii Control

In order to play Bit.Trip Core the player has to hold the Wii-remote sideways like a regular controller. The D-pad is used to select which direction the player zaps the incoming Beats. 3minus brings up the pause menu and "Minus" allows the player to make random bit sounds just like in Bit.Trip Beat. The 1 button is used for releasing bombs, and the 2 button used to fire a beam from the Core.

PC System Requirements

Minimum:

• OS:Windows XP SP3
• Processor:2.0+ GHz
• Memory:512 MB RAM
• Graphics:OpenGL 2.1 and shader model 3 with 128 MB of memory
• DirectX®:9.0c
• Hard Drive:100 MB HD space
• Sound:Any sound card capable of stereo output

Mac System Requirements

Minimum:

• OS:OS X version Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later.
• Processor:2.0+ GHz
• Memory:512 MB RAM
• Graphics:OpenGL 2.1 and shader model 3 with 128 MB of memory
• Hard Drive:100 MB HD space
• Sound:Any sound card capable of stereo output