(Impressions) Rhythm Sprout

What do you get when you cross Fruit Ninja with Guitar Hero? Well… I’m not really sure, but it can’t be too far off of what Rhythm Sprout is. It’s colorful. It’s got weird looking veggie people and a hero-looking onion knight with a sword that dances through his insomnia or something. Is it worth your time? Maybe… let’s break it down.

Grab your sword and kill some… ice cream! What the crap is going on here?

As I alluded to above, Rhythm Sprout is a rhythm game. That would be simple enough to describe it, but what hits me in the face are the controls. At first the game does a bit of a calibration test to see where your reflexes are at (I assume… and we know what they say about that). I did my initial test and got right to the demo. There are a few control schemes that you can choose from. There are at least two for your keyboard and some with your controller if you so choose. (I’m pretty sure you can mix and match is you’re a masochist.) I started with the controller, but ended with the keyboard. I ended with the option for the F, G, H and J keys. Maybe I’m simply just getting less twitchy in my years, but none of the options really seemed to stick with me. Left and right was fine, but when they’d throw the middle one down… I think this is a more, “it takes time to get used to the controls” than “the controls are just bad” situation. I was getting better the more I played, but pressing the buttons hasn’t become comfortable yet. I think I’m going to try a few more rounds with the arrow keys. (I just noticed that SURT describes the game as “difficult” right on their Steam page. Maybe it wasn’t just me being bad.)

The story starts off with you answering a phone call and what follows is some weird dialogue… really weird. I think they were going for goofy, possibly cheesy, but every time there was dialogue I can’t say I enjoyed it. Luckily there is an option to skip this. That kind of sucks though as this could have been a “at least I got a good laugh out of the story parts between failing”, but it isn’t. Often a game that doesn’t quite get you in one area can be propped up by another fun aspect that makes the experience worth it. The story just isn’t going to do any work for me though as I tended to start skipping them all after watching a few cutscenes.

This isn’t the most flattering picture for me, but man I was having a hard time pressing all those buttons on cue and stretching my dang pinky to take a shot! Next time I’ll just have my kids slap that button while I play. (I know. I’m super professional!)

On the bright side, the best part of this game is the rhythm aspects (aside from the bright and colorful visuals). While I did say that I wasn’t good at it, that doesn’t stop it from being well put together. The beat indicators are obvious enough and the mechanics are simple enough too. You’re not fumbling around for five different chords; there seems to be only three. (That could change with the full game in later levels, but I’m not sure.) While I did fight missing the cues, that is on me. The music was good and extremely obvious beats helped make the gameplay enjoyable. I tell you what though, if there is another button to press later on, it’s all over for me.

Everything together, Rhythm Sprout looks to be a pretty enjoyable rhythm game. It’s one of those that starts out kind of awkward, but once you find your footing I’m pretty sure you will enjoy yourself. If you don’t like rhythm games, I’m not sure this is the game to convince you that the genre is now yours to enjoy. However, there is a free demo and the only thing you’ll be spending is your time. The levels are quick enough that you’ll get a good impression of whether or not this is your cup of tea if you give it enough time. You have nothing to lose in that aspect so I’d say give it a try.

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Love it or hate it, let me know!