There’s certainly no shortage of rhythm-based games out there, but Rhythm Sprout from developer SURF and publisher tinyBuild certainly puts an interesting spin on the genre. We checked out the game on a PlayStation 4.
Interestingly enough, Rhythm Sprout (or Rhythm Sprout: Sick Beats & Bad Sweets) combines rhythm-based gameplay with RPG elements and dungeon crawling, making for a rather unique take on the formula, especially when you consider its food-infused theme. The story’s oddly familiar to anyone who’s familiar with the fantasy genre though – featuring a tale about a knight looking to save a princess.
It’s the tone of the delivery where things quickly start to look a little different though. With extremely colorful visuals and characters that resemble food items, this is a tale that doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. And while things sort of look like a normal action RPG, your main objective in order to progress is to press the right button when it reaches your character – Rhythm Sprout. Over the course of the game you’ll be introduced to a few new mechanics (like holding a button instead of tapping it), but in general this game has easy to learn controls and it’s up to your ability to time your button presses correctly.
You do this to a diverse selection of songs with a soundtrack that spans several genres, from electronic dance music to rock and even k-pop. They all seem to be original non-licensed tunes, but they fit the game well and are generally fun to listen to. And while the game’s button tapping, pressing and holding mechanics certainly aren’t new, Rhythm Sprout’s delivery through a series of fun situations and sometimes hilarious writing make it a joy to play through the campaign. And once you’re done with the story, there’s a bit of bonus content as well, with an additional mini campaign and unlockables to strive for.
This isn’t the type of rhythm-based game you play for the killer soundtrack or its novel gameplay mechanics – you play this one to have fun, and because the story and RPG mechanics manage to tweak the experience just enough to constantly keep you invested. It’s a bit on the short side, but we really liked this little hybrid of genres.
Score: 7.7/10
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