Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Bit.Trip Beat

[NWR_Neal]

Pong meets the rhythm genre in this hauntingly addictive WiiWare title.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=17733

 Aksys Games' upcoming WiiWare title, Bit.Trip Beat, was playable for the first time at the New York Comic Con this past weekend. It is set up in a similar manner to the classic game Pong except the paddles are only on one side. Like some weird hybrid of Rez and Pong, Bit.Trip Beat is a rhythm game with classic sensibilities.    

In the version I played, there were only two levels open. Though I couldn't hear the music, aside from faint sounds of the bass, the game was still a lot of fun. Played with the Wii Remote being held like an NES controller, your paddle is controlled by tilting the Wii Remote forward and backward. The goal is to block the various balls from getting past your paddle as you keep up with the beat of the music. It is very simple, but it's very addictive, much like the recent WiiWare release, Maboshi's Arcade.    

As you play, you develop a multiplier that goes up with every successive ball you block, thus increasing your score. If you do poorly, you are sent to the black-and-white purgatory where you must fight your way out by not letting balls by you. It is an accessible and relaxing game yet it can be very intense.    

While Bit.Trip Beat allows for up to four simultaneous players, I was only able to play with two. The co-op mode does offer some fun gameplay possibilities as it requires a lot of communication between the players because, as you gain more players, the paddles gets smaller.    

The co-op mode was my biggest draw to the game and will likely be what wins me over when Bit.Trip Beat hits WiiWare for somewhere around 500 or 600 Wii Points in the next month or two.

[vudu]

This game sounds really interesting.  My biggest fear is how they handle the multiplier.

In my opinion, the multiplier ruined Link's Crossbow Training.  It was set up so if you missed a single target you pretty much had to restart if you wanted to achieve a gold medal.  I'm all for high-score games but if a single mistake completely ruins your existing playthrough the game ceases to be fun.