FREQUENCY

[Toaster]

Smurtle mentioned it in a topic a while back, and it's one of those games I always heard people talk about but never checked out. So on an impulse, I decided to eBay it and got it in the mail yesterday.

I started it up today and started to feel remorse and embarassment for the already aged and embarassing intro sequence. "90's rave party!"

But I'm really digging it, I'm betting that with games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band out nowadays people would just think of it as "Guitar Hero Lite, Techo Remix" or something like that. But it's really a lot deeper, and different than Guitar Hero. I'm liking it. I skipped over Easy entirely but now I keep getting my ass kicked in the PowerMan 5000 stage at Normal.

And I just realized that my new favorite genre for videogames is music. I can tell I'm gonna spend a lot of time with this one and Lumines rarely leaves my PSP.

[Goufunaki]

Re: FREQUENCY

It was made by Harmonix (GH1, GH2, Rock Band). I only played a demo, but it was a lot of fun, and I liked creating an avatar.

[Magus]

Re: FREQUENCY

I remember loving this game.

Is this the one with "Science Genius Girl?"

I think so. Yes.

You will love it.

[Alex]

Re: FREQUENCY

Yessss. I've got to say the "music and rhythm" genre is my favorite.

Frequency's probably the best game I own, and it's at the top of my list.
Followed by Dance Dance Revolution.
Gitaroo Man.
Rez.
Guitar Hero.
Space Channel Five.
Parappa The Rapper.
Taiko Drum Master.
Beatmania.

And then there's some that are fun and all, but not great.

Mad Maestro.
Technic Beat.
Amplitude.

I'll play and usually enjoy any music game I get my hands on.

Recommendations needed. I'd like to get my hands on Vib Ribbon but I dunno.

[marcus]

Re: FREQUENCY

If you want a good rhythm game, go with Vib Ribbon. It was made by Na Na OnSha (Parappa the Rappa fame) and it was released in Europe (in english) and Japan but never America (

I remember playing Frequency in a demo disc from 2001 or something and bought it immediately. They also rekindled some love in me for older bands like Jungle Brothers.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: FREQUENCY

ive played it and i really enjoyed it, even more so then guitar hero.

[Toaster]

Re: FREQUENCY

I never played Gitaroo Man or Rez, maybe someday.

I suck really bad at this game, I tried playing it again this morning and it was like I had never played the game before at all. I was missing every note and it took me like 5 minutes just to land the Drums section down beofre getting a Game Over. Before I got to up to 99%, now I can only get to like 60%.

[DK]

Re: FREQUENCY

Yeah I love frequency, still play it from time to time.

how come amplitude isn't as good?

[Alex]

Re: FREQUENCY

It all starts with the box art:



Frequency has a really slick and simple design, with slight holographic effects on the headline and level bars. It's a great design.

Amplitude has a terrible headline, and some "extreme" 3d image of a speaker, with these "hot" bands shooting out of it. This is where Amplitude starts to focus on the popularity of these MTV sponsored artists.



Look at the back of Amplitude. That is the ****tiest design I have ever seen. Black text on more bull**** orange and yellow images? Scatted images of MAJOR RECORDING ARTISTS with testimonials. "Amplitude rocks - It's totally and completely addictive" - David Bowie. "Cool bands. Cool music. Check it out..!" - Travis Barker, blink 182. I can't believe this was passed through marketing or graphic design or whatever.

When you turn on Amplitude, you're bombarded with P.O.D. screaming at you, and you can only skip it after "BOOOOM!!!"

The music isn't necessarily bad, Amplitude just expects the artists to sell the game.

While playing, whenever you get a power up, you've got Akrobatic yelling **** over the levels like, "Multiplier!!" "Auto catcher!!". He's completely obtrusive in what could be an immersing music game. As you're playing, the track you are clearing is played at a higher volume than normal. It's distracting and just not pleasing to listen to.

They scrapped the closed hexagon of Frequency and replaced it with an opaque track, which has you skimming back and forth unnecessarily. They just went overboard with the graphics. There is way too much in screen, and it's in a terrible style. It's block and ugly, as Frequency was pretty slick and beautiful.

The 'freq' you play is some ****ty 3d model you can kind of customize, but it still isn't better than the PSO-chat-shortcut-style characters in Frequency.


Etc etc etc. I don't know where they went wrong, but it's just a disaster all around.

[Toaster]

Re: FREQUENCY

Way to judge a game by it's cover, Smurtle.

(Which way do you play? I use the triggers myself, seems more intuitive that way and my slow old man hands can't keep up using the face buttons.)

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: FREQUENCY

How about Beats on PSP? Has anybody played that? It's only $5 and it makes levels out of any songs on your memory stick. That seems like it must be cool.

[Perversion]

Re: FREQUENCY

I'm getting more and more into the music genre games myself, especially stuff that Tetsuya Mizuguchi had his hands in. I don't own Rez, but will download it as soon as it's available on Live Arcade. I also have Lumines Live, Meteos and Gunpey (for the DS), and Every Extend Extra Extreme on Arcade. Plus, I used to have Space Channel 5 for the DC, and now have the PS2 version.

Lately (meaning within the past 3 weeks), I've purchased GHII, GHIII, and Rock Band. I also possibly plan to purchase (alliteration...gotta love it!) Elite Beat Agents, as we have it at work on closeout for less than $10.

But it's good to get some feedback from Smurtle, who seems to be an aficionado on the genre, as I'd been thinking about buying either Frequency or Amplitude, and it's good to know which choice to make.

I also have some music-creation "games" for the PS2 and Xbox, but don't really do too much with them. My buddy's got Boom Boom Rocket on Live Arcade, and Mad Maestro, so I've played a bit of those as well.

So, yeah, I guess I can consider myself a bit of a fan of the genre as well. And I WANT to play Vib Ribbon, but never owned a PS1, let alone a modded PS1, so really have no way to play it.

And Chuck, E4 for Live Arcade can take any song on your hard drive or flash drive, and incorporate it into the game, too, with all the gameplay going in time with the beat (including the controller vibration, which vibrates in time with the BPM).

[irate giraffe]

Re: FREQUENCY

Elite beat agents was pretty fun if only it had more songs.

[Alex]

Re: FREQUENCY

Trigger buttons definitely. If you're trying to hit all those buttons with your thumb you're bound to fail.

[Toaster]

Re: FREQUENCY

I tried doing L1, R1, and Triangle earlier (with some mods to the controller set-up). It was working out pretty well until I realized I wouldn't have a finger dedicated to activating power-ups.

I've been thinking on picking up Elite Beat Agents, and possibly Jam Sessions. Has anyone here spent some time with Jam Sessions?