TechDomino
Bit Trip Beat is an addicting music-based game available for Wii, Windows, Mac, Steam, iOS, Android, and Linux.
I really enjoyed playing Bit Trip Beat for Android ($0.99), bit it’s also available through the Apple App Store ($0.99), Steam ($10), among other software distributors.
This game is a Bit Trippy
The first few levels are easy enough, on a mobile device just tilt your device to move a paddle on the left, similar to pong style. You need to intercept ‘bits’ that come flying from the right side of the screen. Every time you intercept a bit a musical 8-bit note plays, going in rhythm with the neat pulsing background music.
Bit Trip Beat isn’t unlike other music games such as Tap Tap Revenge, in which you help make the music by playing a game. It’s neat, really – having the feeling that your adding to the epic musical soundtrack by successfully playing a game. It’s inspired by 8-bit graphics, so you won’t get graphics near the level of Beach Buggy Blitz or other apps, but it’s a great retro look which I’m a huge fan of.
The tough part is when the bits become harder to see. You see, the background changes as you advance through the different stages. The small colored bits can sometimes get lost when there is a giant floating 8-bit meteor in the background, or when the background looks like an underground cavern with lava flowing through it. It’s really rather difficult.
Game play
when you are in the game, there is a bar along the op and the bottom. The bar on the top is your achievement so far – fill the bar up and go into Mega mode. Miss a few bits, and the bottom bar starts depreciating. Once the bottom bar empties out, you go into a ‘redemption’ style mode – all the colors shift into black and white. From there, fill the top bar up to go back to the regular mode, before your bottom bar empties out. If the bottom bar empties out in redemption mode, you lose.
Bit Trip Beat is a fun game, and while it’s rather forgiving before shooting you into redemption mode, it’s very challenging at the same time. Not sure whether you want to give it a shot yet? Have a look at the included gameplay video below. On Android at least, the game starts out much easier, trust me…but this gives you a good idea of the distractions, mechanics, and music you can enjoy through Bit Trip Beat.
