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Quick: What do Pulseman, Yoshi, and Smart Ball have in common? They’re all games developed
by Game Freak that AREN’T POKEMON. Man. You single-handedly redefine portable gaming
and you get typecast. The couple recent times they’ve broken out of that mold - like 2005’s
Drill Dozer - have been met with relative success. And now they’re back with a strange
little downloadable game for the 3DS that combines action platforming with rhythm and
music. But, since it’s Game Freak, that music might just be a little bit... iconic.
You’re just experiencing it in a completely new way.
The quote unquote plot of the game features a kid named Tempo, assisted by a rabbit who
holds signs, tasked with delivering a big note-shaped whackin’ stick to Symphony City
where it can be handed off to a HarmoKnight capable of saving the world from the noise-drenched
meteors that have been making a mess of the place. Along the way, you’ll join forces
with other warriors with significantly different playstyles, but the basic gist is to run to
the right, collecting notes along the way, and walloping any miscreants that step to
you. WITH RHYTHM. It seems like a fairly straightforward platformer, albeit one with forced running
at a tempo you can’t control, until things start getting fancy. Platformers work best
from a standard perspective, but the camera in Harmoknight has no qualms about pitching
itself at odd angles or even circling all the way around Tempo in some stages, reinforcing
the dependence on rhythm. The view might even come into extreme close-up, shortening your
field of vision and making you rely on audio clues rather than just visual stimuli, reinforcing
the dependence on rhythm. Or maybe you’re in a cymbal-monkey mine cart. And that’s
cool too.
While the platforming action makes up the slight majority of the gameplay, the rest
is reserved for more cinematic boss battles that really make you appreciate the 3D capability
of the system. These tend to take a more call-and-answer, Space Channel 5-esque tack, while featuring
goofy, frantic action that makes me want to go back and play some Gitaroo-Man. (And get
pissed off that, after 11 years, I STILL can’t beat the Sanbone Trio on Master difficulty.)
By collecting a sufficient majority of notes in a given song, you can score a “Great”
rating, which allows for that track to be attempted in a double-speed “fast” mode,
where another “Great” rating unlocks concept art. If you’re used to music games, the
majority of the campaign will be a bit less than challenging, but the post-game content
features some stages that gave me fits. Watch out for the very last level. It’s a doozy.