This article originally ran under a different banner/website in June of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! BOYS AND GIRLS!!! I have played another game from PAX East. It’s called Just Shapes and Beats and it has shapes and beats. GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE!!! Now wait! Don’t break out the torches and pitchforks just yet. I know you came here to know if this game will save the gaming industry or if it will lead us down a path of want and destruction. Well, gather round as I recall my adventure through a world of geometry and metronome.
The premise is you are a simple geometric shape in a colorful world of pixels that are being invaded by a pink monster. He’s on a rampage to make sure no shade of blue or green is left. You must venture throughout the realm to reach the rose-colored ruffian. Along the way having to dodge various pink-colored hazards, that one could classify as shapes, to numerous different electronic dance music tracks that can be considered the beats. Maybe my early statement on the game being shapes and sounds wasn’t too far off. Very similar to Guitar Hero, only instead of classic rock, we have dance music and instead of trying to line up with actions with notes, we are trying to dodge the notes. All hazards either fall in from one side or phase into the rhythm of the track and with your dash ability, you get an almost reverse Dance Dance Revolution feel. While, it is clear from my Double Kick Heroes review and my mention of Crypt of the Necrodancer that I have a soft spot for rhythm games; however, I always find one thing incredibly frustrating about them, and Just Shapes and Beats fails to avoid the pitfall. I am, of course, talking about the difficulty curve.
Partway through the campaign, I encountered what I would like the call “the wall.” The difficulty curve shot upwards and almost became a cliff face. I encountered a level that I had to retry over 20 times and still couldn’t survive. Sure, previous levels could catch me off guard and I have to restart them, but not 20 times. Each time I started over, I began to notice the flaws as the rave-liked ecstatic peeled away with each attempt of the levels. Small like nitpicks began to grow like parasites, sucking out the blood and fun from this game. Then I had a revelation… This game has been sacrificed on the altar of multiplayer.
Many of my parasitic nitpicks seem to be designed to beat my introverted ways out of me for the sake of progress. The biggest one has to be the life system. Each level allows you multiple attempts to complete it. Each time you die, you restart from the last checkpoint. Once you run out of lives, you are shunted back to the level select screen. Why am I not allowed the Cuphead approach of continuously banging my head against the wall without kicking you to the menu screen after so many attempts? After playing games like Shovel Knight and Cuphead, I firmly believe life systems don’t improve your game, but artificially pads out your game. It is worse here though, as it is designed to make co-op more appealing. Assuming you and your co-op partner brought your A-game, you essentially can have infinite lives. Rather than rewind back to the last checkpoint, if you die, your partner can rescue you by touching your shape. Reviving fallen friends costs nothing. When you play co-op in Cuphead, for example, the bosses get a boost in health, but in Just Shapes and Beats, no additional challenge is added. All of this shatters all challenges that playing stag brought. It is clearly due to the fact Just Shapes and Beats thinks I need more friends, but excuse me, Just Shapes and Beats, you have no right to judge when you have a player count of 86 people. Yes, that is quite the low blow, but forcing me to interact with whining 10-year-olds, makes me want to condemn Just Shapes and Beats to the darkest pits of hell.
After that revelation, all my complaints that make me want to snap my controller appeared to be sacrifices made in the name of co-op. There is no consistency between how much damage you will take from certain attacks. A small dot scratching can make a small dent in your health on one level, but then chunk your health in others. The hitbox seems off as numerous times I swear I was hit by flying debris only to not suffer any damage. I hear the mumbling of me complaining of the game going easy on me, but I say this because I don’t think Just Shapes and Beats is consistent. If something in Cuphead hit me, I knew I was hit. I am not questioning it. I would also appreciate it when we are hit, your shape doesn’t go flying across the screen like Lebron trying to draw a foul. All these bugbears seem to be there not to improve the game, but to create “zingy co-op action”, I mean, challenge in the co-op.
I don’t believe a good co-op game should force you to play co-op. Anything could be improved by the addition of friends. The end of the gaming industry could be happening, but if you have your wise-cracking friend there to remind you of all the times EA angered consumers, it would probably be a better experience. With that in mind, I always judge a game by its single-player alone and see if co-op improves the experience. Rock Band is a fine example. It is incredibly fun to play Rock Band by yourself, but get together a few friends and beers together and the experience is vastly improved. While I initially was having a lot of fun with Just Shapes and Beat, it clearly caught wind of bachelor status and decided me to beat me over the head unless I made friends.
It is not you Just Shapes and Beats. It is me. I prefer a story I can curl up to a fire with, and you prefer going to the club with friends to listen to the EDM you love. Though I might not enjoy you Just Shapes and Beats, I can’t say you are bad, especially when it comes to the goals you strive for. Like other great rhythm games, the EDM infused soundtrack elevates the game above most failures. If you are able to find someone to join you, the campaign has all variety of levels with various colorful bosses despite them all being one shade of pink. The tortured smile of a once carefree flower who fell into the pink smile only to be transformed into a violent monster still haunts me at night. Sure, if you are planning to purchase the game on your PC and just dance through the campaign, I would caution you to try something else. However, Just Shapes and Beats is available on the Nintendo Switch. If you have a Switch and a co-op partner, this might be a good fit. I can’t deny the couch co-op was fun, but I feel like it will only last until someone realizes that Rock Band isn’t on the Switch and releases a Rock Band Infinite or Guitar Hero Eternal on Switch.
