KickBeat

Music games are dead right? It’s all about Dance Central and the Just Dance franchises when it comes to music/rhythm games these days as the golden era of Rock Band and Guitar Hero is gone for the most part. So, why then would Zen Studios make a music/rhythm game for a handheld no less with a fad that has seemed to gone by the wayside?

While the intriguing fighting game veneer manages to frame the gameplay in a clever way, the mechanics never actually evolve beyond the standard "hit this button at this time" formula. Most memorable music games layer something on top of this baseline to keep the experience fresh and the player engaged. Without that, KickBeat’s kung fu paint job and flawed customization tools just aren’t enough to elevate it.

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What KickBeat does to evolve the rhythm genre is smart, it's just sorely lacking in execution. The idea of a rhythm game that uses hand-to-hand combat as a gameplay template makes KickBeat stand out, but when it comes time to actually play the game, the experience wavers between decent fun and frustration. Too many tiny problems, like a distracting camera or odd timing for music tracks, make getting through each level feel more like a chore. Some fans of the rhythm genre will come away from KickBeat satisfied based purely on its unique gameplay conceit, but the game's frustrating design hurts ...

Zen Studios have to be given some respect in taking a stale genre and breathing new life into it. KickBeat is a good game and it does provide good entertainment, however the game is crying out for more songs in the Story mode as imported songs don’t feel as well synced as the in game music. The quite blatant padding also feels a bit of a cheap way of extending the game time to unlock every mode too. KickBeat is a fun game that is let down by some silly decisions.