Beat Hazard: Gameplay Powered by YOUR Music!

This is yet another one of my favorite unsung hero of a game.

Beat Hazard (Cold Beam Games) is an awesome experience powered by your music. After a quick setup of importing all of your sound files (it's super easy to do, just point Beat Hazard to the appropriate directories), you are ready to delve into a world that reminds me of Asteroid on LSD.

You play as a little fighter jet running your way though a psychedelic colored space, pew pewing at everything from giant balls of space rock to space worms to other little fighter jets. But the awesome thing that makes this game come alive is the fact that it is powered by your music. The waves of enemies and the how they move is all up to the particular song that you've got playing at that moment. As you zip around collecting boosters (including bombs, a giant death ray, and a reflective shield), avoiding debris and bullets, and shooting things from the sky, you rack up points. The more points you get, the more specialties you can unlock (everything from extra bombs to pumping up the volume).

With 4 different modes to chose from including online play (I loooove to rack up more points than my friends), there are 47 different achievements for you to try to unlock.

And besides, who doesn't like pwning spaceships to rock music or games that have a photosensitive seizure warning on the opening screen?!

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/25/2013 at 02:53am

I nabbed this in the recent bundle and have heard great things about it. Wondering how the game changes if you replay the same song? Is it the same thing or does it hangs it up a bit?

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/25/2013 at 03:24am

Pretty much, it's the exact same thing. But with so many different modes, you get a different experience each time.

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 03/25/2013 at 05:27am

I've had a delightfully unique experience with this game, because my playlist is very clearly not what the game developers had in mind for this. At first, I had trouble figuring out what the game play / music connection actually was, but after a few rounds I started to figure it out. If the music is just right, it goes from action-movie sequencing of beats-to-action and takes on a feeling of bona fide choreography.

Also, it's *hilarious* to see what the game is willing to interpret as a dramatic enough swell in intensity to warrant a boss fight in, say, a Gregorian chant.

Try taking something like these for a spin:

Dance with the Balamb Fish (Final Fantasy 8 soundtrack) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV42kmH7zc0
Oompa Radar (Goldfrapp) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw1LqE-GBAA
Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian (John Prine) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siuxtvEndLE
Polkarama (Weird Al) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY9BaOXFXtA
Veni Sancte Spiritus (Gregorian Chant) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pU34vUoO9g

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/25/2013 at 05:47am

I've also had some great experiences with the music.

For instance, anything by Explosions in the Sky is enough to completely confuse it!
And I will try out those songs next, thanks for that!

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/25/2013 at 09:22am

Me playing Beat Hazard to Veni Sancte Spiritus (Gregorian Chant).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafulFmYiIE

CapnCurry Supporter wrote on 03/25/2013 at 06:01pm

Awesome! I love how the mellower songs just change the whole pace and feel of the game. Nice screencapture, too - what software are you using for that?

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/25/2013 at 06:59pm

It was Fraps. I'd used it once a long time ago but still had an outdated version.

I know that there are some products out there that work waaay better, but since I'm playing on a few years old Dell laptop, I can only screencapture while in less graphically intense games without buggering my fps all up.

(I don't sleep and was really bored last night, if that wasn't obvious, lol.)

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 03/25/2013 at 08:32pm

This game has a permanent place in my constantly-evolving Top 10 list. Maxed out all the trophies on the PS3 version in about a week because I played so damned much.

I really enjoy switching genres when playing Normal Mode or attempting to play through an entire album in Survival Mode. Have yet to survive an entire VAST album, but one of these days...one of these days.

In addition to the different game modes, power-ups provide extra variety to keep the game exciting. Power-ups are earned by collecting money to purchase them. They modify things like number of enemy-seeking missiles you fire, how much ammo you start with, how often bonuses appear and so on. You're limited to equipping only a few powerups at a time, so there's a bit of strategy tossed in there as well.

Game soundtracks work pretty well, too:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=82355323
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=82355231

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/26/2013 at 12:31am

I actually found that game soundtracks are amazing for any game that imports your own music. Because of that, I always try to get the soundtrack versions of games, if they're available.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:14am

@Sparklepop: I do too. Ill even pay a few bucks more to get the score with the game. For games I love its a really awesome addition.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 05/11/2013 at 05:13am

Sorry for the bump, but that's one of the things I appreciate about the various indie bundles. Most of them offer soundtracks in addition to the games themselves.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/11/2013 at 05:25am

Bumping old posts is totally awesome, I do it from time to time just for fun :D

And I agree, the game scores are a big reason I pick up bundles too.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/20/2014 at 09:07pm

Part of this week's Humble Bundle! I had honestly forgotten about this game, but now I'm excited to check it out!

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