APE OUT

Finally a game drummers and lovers of drums will truly enjoy! Though not necessarily a rhythm game, Ape Out follows a large ape fleeing his cage and killing guards in a facility built for biological research in a bloody beat 'em up classic. A steady-paced swinging drum chops are backed by anything you do on the screen, and so the sounds of glass breaking,foot tapping, splashing the guards against the wall or smashing things, and of bombs ticking all  add to the drum phrases that leave the player mesmerised and driven. I haven't been this impressed  by any gaming music in decades.The fact that Matt Boch decided to make the ingame music entirely around solo drumming is enough reason to try the game. The gameplay itself is never dull or repetitive, as the walls and guards are randomly generated with each try. Add the aviary perspective with extremely high walls and exceptional stylized graphics that remind me of beebop and hardbop mid-century jazz coverart and book covers of beat poets and you have a unique piece of gaming history well worth you 15 euros. Highly recommended!   

FLOOR KIDS

 Game music pioneers made some poor games big by making incredible tunes for them. In order to make this game great, developers had to find a music maker that could give real substance to a breakdance game. Kid Koala was no doubt a perfect pick for the soundtrack, paying homage to both the craft and the culture behind it, and the developers were both such great music fans and were so extremely musical themselves to be able to integrate the music with movements and programming of the characters. Lots of love and sweat was put into Floor Kids.
The game isn't about nostalgia and the roots of a famed urban culture that flourished in the 80s, but about celebrating a global and embracing cultural phenomenon that has beaten time in its own right. Everything about the mechanics and the dancing is superfun: the rhythm-based sections, tapping as fast as you can at some beaks, the freezes , the combos, the five  features essential to excelling at breakdancing (funk, flavour, flow, fire, flyness)... It's playable, fun, unique and has great replay value . Akthough more seasoned generations could say they performed all these stunts in the streets and that nothing beat the real thing, this game might just be an excellent introduction to a future breakdancer and DJ.

PARAPPA THE RAPPER

This lively game with care-free animation and simple mechanics was a total game-changer that cemented its position of a true gaming classic introducing an entire genre of games to come. Besides being  one of the first rhythm-based games , PARAPPA THE RAPPER went way beyond that, helping disseminate hip hop  culture among young (and especially non-English-speaking) populations across the world. Sure, one could argue against diluting and approapriation of a culture and its essence, and the characters might be interpreted as racial stereotypes to a certain extent by some, but this game is about something else - it's about growing up, righting the wrongs, helping others, building empathy, and looking cute while doing it. The on-screen prompts the gameplay is largely consisted of  help you with your learning as you rap through your life lessons. As far as the language of the raps go, it's invaluable for any ESL learner hoping to come closer to understanding the flow and accentuation of English utterances. But again, you can still have fun with this awesome game even if  English be your mother tongue - it's fun, easy to play, it won't take too much of your time and you'll enjoy playing it.

CLOCK SIMULATOR

When games are this simplified  they are bound to become philosophical.And what better way to get philosophical about games and life in general than to reflect on time itself? Games have dealt with time in a number of ways and time proved to be a powerful ally in making games memorable and unique. Exploring the concept of time in games, CLOCK SIMULATOR took it to a whole different level making time itself and our understanding of time / our inner clock the protagonists. This game should have been titled - Time Simulator - or the like, and then people would not  look for new features in the game's architecture. Let us embrace the rigours of reality in games for a change.

This game should not be sold ,but integrated with each handheld  device  and played at least 5 minutes a day to make all of us question what we do with the time left to us here on this Earth.

140

Another rhythm game that perfectly illustrates  the point I was trying to make in my previous post. 140 is a simple platformer that could have been made on any early 8bit system , but could only make sense today, in the age where electronic music and its culture of minimalism has completely infiltrated our lives and minds. Each movement of the triangle, each platform landing, each  fall,each life lost, every single arrival at a half-circular platform that announces a new level, the imaginary city skyline that rises and drops to music is built around an electronic tune of an idm/acid tech-like structure that you mix and alter by playing the game. Even the techno sequences in the space-shooter-like or the puzzle-like part of the game are musically embellished  by what you do.And all of this is possible due to masterful programming by Jeppe Carlsen's highly musical, synesthetic mind. When you move you're a black circle, when you jump you're a black triangle, and when you stop you're a rectangle. So idiotically simple , yet so brilliant!

I can totally see myself being a guest dj somewhere and banging a sweet , classy acid-tech tune just by playing this masterpiece.

SUPER HEXAGON

Colours are swapped as the game goes on and as the setting changes and the hexagon maze  closes its walls on you in perfect sync with rhythms of fine tunes done by the contemporary 8-bit scene hero Chipzel. You're a simple triangle that looks simply infinitesimally small  in the spiraling maze system.

I find this game fascinating as it addresses some issues that today's games have in common- they lack clear, simple fun!I miss the old era of 8-bit games where you had one life ,-and once you're dead you're dead.And it's not about nostalgia , it's about a single game designer being pressed for time and coming up with a legendary game- I want those people at the forefront of todays gaming universe. Sure, this game could have been made on earlier machines and in earlier eras, but the speed and the sheer simplicity look  way better now and highlight the above mentioned issue. In this day and age we've forgotten about bringing table-like games to a world outside of hand-held devices, and games like these will always win the hearts of new generations.