Beat Hazard Ultra
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...
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...
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?
Pretty much, it's the exact same thing. But with so many different modes, you get a different experience each time.
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
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!
Me playing Beat Hazard to Veni Sancte Spiritus (Gregorian Chant).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafulFmYiIE
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?
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.)
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
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.
@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.
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.
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.
Part of this week's Humble Bundle! I had honestly forgotten about this game, but now I'm excited to check it out!