Players will fall into one of three camps. If you grew up with The Beatles and loved their music, you need to have this game in your collection. If you’ve never listened to The Beatles and want to know what all the fuss was about, you equally need this game on your shelf. If you know that John Lennon and the gang are your musical equivalent of  living hell, you can pass this one up. It’s that simple.

Once gamers have loaded up the disc and decided who’ll be playing each instrument, a gorgeous piece of opening animation will greet your eyes. Artistic and edgy visuals will quickly whisk you through many of the title’s key venues, giving you a taster of what’s to come. A few of the group’s most memorable tracks weave into one another, building with intensity as the group finish sitting on top of a giant walking elephant.

If you’ve played a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game before, you’ll feel right at home with the core gameplay mechanics. Hold down the coloured fret on your plastic guitar and strum when the note passes the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, you can wail horrifically into a microphone or smash some drum pads like a madman if that’s your preference. The more notes you hit, the better your percentage accuracy and score multiplier.

There are a few notable additions, such as the renaming of star power as ‘Beatlemania’ and the use of three part vocal harmonies. This means you can technically have up to six people performing in your living room, a useful improvement if you’ve got a full party itching to play. Structurally, the game plays it safe by using an identical system to its predecessors; pass every song in the current venue and you’ll open up the next stack of songs. At it’s underlying core, The Beatles: Rock Band doesn’t feel like a vast improvement over its predecessors.

Instead, it truly excels as a piece of musical documentary. Each iconic venue represents a period in The Beatles’ career, passing through their musical journey chronologically. The level of detail is astounding and the authentic caricatures of each member ages appropriately with every venue. Play the game alongside a video recording of each performance and you’ll be hard pushed to find any differences. Screaming fan girls and even the exact model of their instruments are present and correct.

The overall set list feels too short, but it’s important to try and understand the work that went into producing every track on the disc. Unlike most contemporary releases that are used on rhythm games, most of The Beatles earlier back catalogue doesn’t use multi-track. This means spending thousands of pounds and endless hours taking them apart in Abbey Road Studios and tinkering with them so that they’re compatible for a video game. As a result, you won’t find many places where The Beatles sound as fab as this.

Unlike the Guitar Hero franchise, you can’t play any song at any venue. This might sound like a step backwards, but it’s because every track has its own, unique video sequence. Rather than watching a boring cover band play to the same mindless crowd, you’ll be whisked onto the Yellow Submarine, a field filled with sunflowers for ‘Here Comes The Sun’ or inside the famous Abbey Road Studios.

To add to the sense of musical tribute, players unlock a photograph of the band after every three and five star rating. These are all captioned and unlock further videos when you’ve collected enough of them. Christmas records that used to go out to their fan club and rare footage of them preparing for their performance at the Shea Stadium make this feel like the perfect collector’s package. If you’re too young to have experienced The Beatles, you’ll quickly realise and appreciate why they were a global phenomenon.

The ending cinematic is another pleasure for the eyes, but highlights the game’s short lifespan. Luckily Harmonix has already released the missing tracks from the Abbey Road, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band albums as DLC. These add a further 29 songs to the 45 featured on the disc – but like all music games, you’ll have to fork out some cash to play them.

For casual gamers, this is a must have addition for party gaming. The difficulty level isn’t particularly hard, meaning that almost anyone can pick up and play. The Beatles: Rock Band might be a little on the short side, but everything it offers has been fine tuned to perfection. If every artist received this treatment on the next Rock Band title, it would place music distribution and video games in a whole new avenue.

As the name implies, this is the first time that virtual skaters can hit the streets at night. I’m not sure why they’ve never tried out the concept before, as sneaking into spots under the cover of darkness has always been a pretty common activity for the urban sport.

The nocturnal setting is restricted to the new Sanitarium locale, a mix between the DIY park found in Skate 2′s San Vanelona and a creepy mental asylum.  It’s all very quiet and mysterious, filled with urban graffiti and abandoned spillways. The Sanitarium is surprisingly large and is a much needed contrast to the colourful and cheerful city represented in Port Carverton. I’m not condoning the constant use of muddy browns and urban textures, but the styling of this DLC pack felt like a breath of fresh air.

There are a few new challenges thrown into the mix, including a photo shoot, film sequence and a couple of Own The Spots. I thought that the film sequence was surprisingly tricky (hitting that rail from the launch pad was insane), but otherwise you can finish up the tasks in about half an hour. Perfect for a quick evening’s entertainment.

Over 40 new pieces of licensed gear are included in this pack too, although I found most of them to be pretty lifeless and uninspired. Still, when the content is free it’s hardly worth complaining is it?

Players who purchased Skate 3 first hand can download After Dark for free. Simply launch the game and open up the start menu, from there accessing the DLC option (it’s X on the 360, presumably square on the PS3) – and as long as you’ve used the Skate Share code already, you’ll be able to download the update straight away. If you’ve bought Skate 3 second hand, you can still buy the DLC by paying 400 points on the marketplace.

In my eyes, free DLC is always a good idea. It makes the developer look genuinely thankful for their customers and loyal to the progression of a franchise. Whether it’s a big or small update, you’ll never feel like you’ve been ripped off. I wouldn’t recommend paying 400 points for After Dark, but if you need a new spot to session this is certainly worth checking out.

Alan Wake is an acclaimed crime fiction author who has been struggling to write his next book. The writer’s block has made him emotionally unstable and is also having some pretty nasty effects on his relationship with his wife, Alice. To try and clear the air and rediscover his creative mojo, the pair take a holiday in the back country town of Bright Falls.

After a disturbing night in a log cabin, Alan wakes up in the middle of a car accident seven days later. He can’t remember anything that’s happened, there’s no sign of Alice and he’s being attacked by several violent citizens possessed by ‘a dark presence’. The crux of the storytelling comes in the manuscript pages scattered throughout Bright Falls. They’re read aloud in a similar fashion to the audio logs in Bioshock and depict a new novel that Wake doesn’t remember writing. The story seems to be coming true before his very eyes, hinting that the writer has somehow foreseen these events.

Without giving too much more away, the storytelling is fantastic and improves upon many of the shortcomings found in the film and literature mediums. The small cast of characters are realistically flawed and very believable, with some excellent dialogue and interesting insight from the manuscript. My favourite relationship was between Wake and his agent Barry Wheeler; at the start of the game Barry seems like the typically annoying, dumb sidekick type – but by the end of the adventure he proves himself to be Wake’s closest and only friend. Breaking the game down into ‘episodes’ didn’t sell me on the concept of a video game TV series, but it helps with pacing and alerting the gamer when it’s time to put the controller down.

The core gameplay revolves around the concept of light. The taken are possessed by a shadowy veil, and the only way to unload some clips into them is by removing it first with your trusty flash light. Keep a source of light homed in on them and they’ll quickly stagger, presenting an opportunity for you to send them to the afterlife.

Firearms are restricted to a few revolvers, shotguns and hunting rifles, but it does a good job of emphasising just how crucial light can be to your success. Hand-held flares will blind all nearby opponents and give you some breathing space, while flash bangs and flare guns can empty rooms in one sitting. Rigging up street lights, search lights and hunting for new batteries give a fresh take on the survival horror model.

Coupled with the combat is a presentation that feels straight out of a nightmare. Bright Falls is a dark place with minimal sources of light, creating constantly harsh shadows that will have you doubting the safety of every footpath and corridor. The fog that hurtles in when you’re in a particularly dangerous area is just sublime and will keep you straddling the line between feeling fear and awe.

Unfortunately, Alan Wake relies on its forest scares a little too often. Just like in Dead Space, I feel that less is always more when it comes to fighting off enemies. When only a couple of taken attack Wake in each area, tension builds in between the encounters and the player genuinely fears their potential when they burst onto the screen. However, after the midway point the forest environments feel a little too tired and the number of enemies make them predictable. Each kill gives a little less satisfaction and you end up simply ploughing ahead for the next checkpoint.

There are plenty of collectibles to be found that embellish the experience of Alan Wake. Radio sets allow you to tune into the latest show from KBF-FM, giving further insight into how the dark presence is affecting the town. Television sets also broadcast episodes of ‘Night Springs’, a fictional show that hints at complex theories such as alternate reality. Coffee Thermoses and hidden stashes (hinted by fantastic wall scrawls that appear only when your torch is exposing them) means that there’s at least some reasoning for multiple playthroughs.

The ending of Alan Wake will annoy many gamers, as it (perhaps not surprisingly) ends on a cliffhanger, thereby opening up a whole host of new questions. I don’t really want to have to wait another five or six years for a sequal – if one gets made at all. Thankfully two DLC episodes are already in production, so we’ll have to wait with baited breath to see if it offers some kind of resolution.

The three big names in attendance were Martin Hollis, producer of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64, Mark Stephenson, a designer from Media Molecule (the team behind LittleBigPlanet) and Takahashi Keita, creator of Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy.

Roll a sticky ball that consumes everything in its path. Katamari Damacy.

The evening revolved around the difficult concept of ‘play’. Should adults still be allowed to exercise the freedom of ‘play’ through video games? What are the benefits? As the video games industry continues to develop in artistic and mature directions, is the simple essence of ‘play’ being lost?

Many gamers, such as myself, already have strong opinions on the subject. Yet I was interested to see if the creators could bring anything new to the debate, or if their own experiences were different from my own.

After an introduction from Iain Simons, the co-founder of the National Videogame Archive, Mark Stephenson had the chance to give a short presentation. LittleBigPlanet has hit the culture of video games in a huge way, driving innovation in the realms of user generated content and community spirit. So likewise, I was expecting an equally provocative speech from Stephenson. Instead he spoke of how he felt the LBP series incorporated the ethos of ‘fun’. The ability to experiment and learn with the level creator, make friends and share your experiences with other people were all at the top of his list. He was a great presenter, but ultimately covered ground that we have all trodden many, many times before. The time ran out just as he was about to get into some of the deeper consequences of modern ‘play’.

The cardboard cut-out world of LittleBigPlanet resembles a perfect toy box.

Takahashi Keita was up next, taking to the stage in jeans and a skinny grey hoody. It was almost impossible for me to put an age on this man. Although his face makes him look much older, his energy and mannerisms gave the impression that he had just came out of teenage-hood. It was unfortunate that his ability to speak the English language is still quite basic, because it meant that he had to scale down many of the bigger ideas in his discussion. To his credit, what blossomed in its stead was a very funny, artistic and wholeheartedly Japanese take on the creation of his video games. Takahashi has a wonderful mind that came across well in the interesting photographs and illustrations that he’d prepared for us.

I would love to watch a video with him discussing the nature of ‘play’ in his native language, as the beauty of subtitles would no doubt give a much deeper analysis of his own thoughts and ideas. Still, I gained a new found respect for his work during The Videogame Playground and felt that underneath all the jokes, he was providing an interesting stance. There’s a reason why we all still love playing Mario, Tetris and Bejewelled; they’re pieces of raw entertainment, open to every gender and age group. Sometimes less can be more.

Martin Hollis then joined the other two panellists in order to take questions from the audience. This is where I had hoped the discussion would be hemmed down by enthusiasts and gamers such as myself. No such luck. The floor asked either infuriatingly long and ambiguous questions about the industry or personal queries of their work. We even had a sceptic who still believed that gaming was the equivalent of mortal sin. The most interesting nugget of information came from Takahashi Keita, who mentioned a real, physical playground in England that he had been asked to design. As expected though, he couldn’t give out any specific details for what the playground would actually look like.

The classic N64 FPS, GoldenEye 007.

Once the brief session of questions closed, a reception of drinks allowed the audience to mingle with the industry figureheads on a personal level. Unfortunately, I had to leave at this point because of a train I needed to catch – but I would have liked to have been able to thank all three of them. Not specifically for their presentations, but for being involved in a debate of this kind and for giving something fresh to the progression of video games. After all, these people keep me playing and fuel my enjoyment for writing about the hobby.

With each new game comes a new city. Having become a well established legend in the skateboarding world, your personal filmer Reda decides to show you around a new district called Port Cavetron. Skate 2 had a city in need of liberation, but that’s been thrown out in exchange for an ultimate skate utopia. Security guards will show you the best lines, every plaza is filled with perfectly sized ledges and every building is now splashed with hyper realistic colour.

Reda thinks that it’s time for you to build your own brand. By completing challenges and gaining exposure, you’ll sell more boards and increase the notoriety of your company. Shift one million skateboards and you’ll be crowned the ultimate industry guru.

One of the biggest changes in Skate 3 is the shift towards a crazier arcade experience similar to the early Tony Hawk titles. The physics and realistic controls haven’t changed, but your surroundings feel less like a believable city and more like a giant fun park. The spectacular accident mode known as Hall Of Meat has returned and death races now take place through huge, cavernous cliff faces. It’s all in good humour, but detracts from the sensation that you’re actually controlling a real skateboarder.

1up is a new mode for taking on other professional skateboarders. It’s exactly the same as the game ‘horse’ created in the Tony Hawk franchise, where players have to constantly out perform each other to stop themselves from obtaining a letter. Darkslides and underflips are the only new trick additions and while they’re fun to perform, they can also be mastered in about five minutes.

Skate 3’s biggest improvement is in its tutorial system. The lessons from Coach Frank (voiced by Jason Lee) are far better than the advice given in previous games, with better teaching methods for pumping and grab tweaking. There’s also a new hardcore mode, which ultimately results in your character being restricted to slower speeds and lower flip tricks.

The career in Skate 3 feels ghostly and isolated. The ability to teleport to each challenge removes any need for exploration and the absence of a storyline means that there’s no emotional feedback for what you’re doing. Watching an experience bar fill up, only to be replaced by another feels mundane and uninspired.

As you build your brand, new skateboarders join your roster and can participate in challenges. Friends can jump in from Xbox Live and PSN to fill up your team, earning you more board sales in the process. If you can organise an active roster online, Skate 3 becomes a fantastic and seamless co-operative effort. You can compete against other teams online, work together to complete freeskate activities or just film each other’s moves – it’s the perfect place to build rivalries and banter with one another. Keep your experience offline however and you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about, watching needless and mindless NPC characters take up slots. The lack of offline experience is highlighted further through its removal of local multiplayer.

Skate feed, the tool used to share content has also seen a fairly large overhaul. Players can now create their own skate parks alongside their repertoire of photographs, videos and custom logos. The tools are simple and well thought out, taking inspiration from the excellent level creators found in LittleBigPlanet and ModNation Racers.

The soundtrack is far better than its predecessors, taking a few pointers from recent skate videos. The selection of music is still too broad though, detracting from any sort of personality in the audio. The refined playlists that supported the original Skate has unfortunately all but been forgotten.

Skate was originally a game that I felt accentuated the real skateboarding community. It was a relaxed simulator that worked best when you were playing on a rainy afternoon. Two sequels in two years have taken the franchise in a far more corporate and content driven direction. If you like doing one handed back flips and have a bulging friend list full of skateboarders, you’ll find a lot of enjoyment in teaming up together. But if you’re looking for a drastic new revolution in the skateboarding video game genre, you might be better looking elsewhere.

After Part Two I was just about to enter the grassy expanses of Gran Pulse. The fans were right, this is the salvation for those that felt restricted by the linear approach of the opening two discs. The forests, waterfalls and grassy plains offer a great draw distance and perfect contrast to the futuristic, urban setting of Cocoon. Best of all though is the realisation that nearly everything you can see is ready for you to explore. One of my biggest gripes with the opening hours of Final Fantasy XIII was that everything felt rather surreal. I wanted to be able to learn about Cocoon’s history for myself and felt confined when what I just wanted to branch off and explore.

Perhaps this difference between open world exploration and linearity was done knowingly by the developers, to try and make Gran Pulse feel more like an alien world. All of the monsters are suddenly a dangerously high level and if you’re not careful, you’ll quick find yourself out of your depth. Here though is the ‘meat’ of the RPG, where players can progress through the crystarium until their hearts are content and take on a wealth of side missions. It felt refreshing to let the story take a back seat, despite the map and optional mission system being absolutely appalling.

Gran Pulse is also the first time that players will truly have to grind. Casual players who have managed to scrape by up until now will find themselves with the monotonous task of levelling their party for hours on end. I know that this is a traditional part of RPGs, but for me it just felt unnecessary. Replaying the same battle over and over again is simply not my idea of fun – and shouldn’t be justified as a way of tacking on a few more hours of play time.

The story is clichéd and muddled in places, not helped in the slightest by the lack of a good villain. Barthandelus drifts all over the place and always manages to spout a few lines of nonsense, but I never felt that he had the conviction or means to truly end the world. The fleeting roles of Rosch, Cid and Jihl meant that there were rarely alternatives to become angry over either. Surprisingly, Square Enix instead bound me into its story by utilising an imaginative central cast. Remember how I said that I hated Vanille and Hope? There was a reason for that. At the game’s climactic finale every character has overcome hardship and become (dare I say it) very likeable. The growth of their camaraderie is highlighted further in the excellent voice work that occurs as you travel through the endless game world.  Even after the credits rolled, I wanted to spend more time with them. If I’m truly honest, there were even a couple of tears at the end.

Sixty hours is a long time to play a single game and I can admit that throughout Chapter Thirteen I was more than ready for the end. This isn’t to the game’s discredit though – to consistently offer this level of quality is admirable and instead shows a lack of my own mental stamina.

This was not the JRPG that fans of the Final Fantasy series expected, but I think it’s better for it. After all, the dramatic changes has helped a casual player like myself complete his first instalment in the series. The organic combat and well written story make this a far more focussed experience than its predecessors. Final Fantasy XIII has many, many flaws, but I’ll let Square Enix fix them in the inevitable sequel. A franchise is, after all, a constantly evolving process.

Square Enix had previously fooled me into believing that Final Fantasy XIII was an RPG ‘light’, removing a lot of the traditional customisation and difficulty options that older gamers had grown used to. The use of an auto-attack command personifies this perfectly. But then the band of heroes slowly come together and Squeenix decides to rip the carpet of ease from under your feet. The bosses suddenly become grippingly tough and require the use of multiple paradigm styles. For example, I had to retry the battle with Barthandelus numerous times and level up for a good couple of hours on the Palamecia. The player is suddenly given the choice of any battle team and evolving characters in any job class.

It may have taken over twenty hours, but the JRPG has finally hit the tempo and spirit of one of my favourite games in the series, Final Fantasy X (mostly due to the similarities with the crystarium and sphere grid). I think Square Enix have been very clever, slowly easing casual players into the ‘hardcore’ mould of most Final Fantasy titles, whilst relying on veterans to simply go with the flow. By disc three, they’ve successfully pleased both parties, including me.

The plot has been somewhat slow, relying on the immediate ‘fight or flight’ dilemma to deliver the biggest set pieces. There have been noticeable improvements though, including the revelations of Vanille’s past and the motives of the fal’cie. Hope and Vanille were my least favourite characters in part one, but have finally developed into what I can believe are normal human beings. There haven’t been many genuine tear jerking moments, but the reunion between Sazh and his child brought me pretty close.

Environments have maintained the impeccable standard set out in Chapter One, consistently surprising me with their versatility and detail. The sky views on board the Palamecia look exceptionally believable. I’ve also noticed that they’re slowly becoming more expansive, perhaps hinting at the open world of Gran Pulse which I’m just about to enter. Players have ranted persistently that Gran Pulse is the pay off for playing through Final Fantasy XIII, so it’ll be interesting to see whether it lives up to my high expectations.

The combat hasn’t changed all that much, but mastering it has become a necessity rather than a choice. I used to hate using Snow as a Sentinel, watching him stand like a buffoon and protect Hope while he whines from the corner of my screen. However, effectively watching him block and counter the toughest attacks of Cid Raines, whilst at the same time utilising Fang’s Saboteur abilities to debuff him, is simply beautiful. The active time battle system works incredibly well because you can see plans unfold in real time, rather than having to wait for a few turns just to see if your plan is working. It gives the player a sense of true leadership and strategy, flipping between offence and defence manoeuvres on the fly. Choose incorrectly and you will be severely punished. Also, the inclusion of a retry option when you’re defeated in battle (how long has it taken them to finally include it?!) encourages experimentation. The boss battles are long, challenging and epic in scale. I’m hooked.

I’ve enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy XIII so far. It’s a long way away from being perfect, but I commend Square Enix for taking the next step forward in the JRPG genre. The turn based battle system is outdated and needs a replacement; a future rendition of the ATB gauge maybe the replacement players are looking for. We need far more exploration, but the beautiful landscapes on show in Final Fantasy XIII are the new technical benchmark for what should be possible. The cut scenes are gorgeous, but only time will tell if the final act in the plot makes it all pay off.

If you’re into the RPG genre at all, I feel you need to play this game just to have an opinion on it. It’s been interesting for me to try and formulate my own ideas through these quick blog posts and I hope it’s sparked a few different discussions. I’ll try and upload a final part soon!

What hit me by surprise was just how beautiful this game looks. Having watched mountains of compressed footage on sites such as 1up and GameTrailers, I thought I had become desensitised to the ‘high-definition revolution’ and wouldn’t be particularly impressed by the next-gen visuals. Oh, how wrong I was. Even when running this on an Xbox 360 (which is arguably the inferior version) the 1080p environments are absolutely stunning, breathing effortlessly with life and activity. With each new location I’m happy to walk through as slowly as possible and just soak up the detail. These areas easily capture the awe I had in the third person shooter Gears of War; except that Final Fantasy is producing these for a 30 hours plus experience, rather than ten.

The trade-off is what has been commonly cited as ‘corridor syndrome’. Each locale is technically just one singular pathway, with only a few small deviations for the occasional extra item or enemy. The development team has spent so much time making every small texture spectacular, that they’ve had to cut back on the scale of the world itself. For the gamer that loves exploring huge, open universes or discovering a long forgotten nook or cranny, Final Fantasy XIII will disappoint. Better alternatives for this style of gameplay can be found in Star Ocean: The Last Hope or Resonance of Fate.

I don’t mind too much though, because the linear approach has produced huge benefits for the storyline and atmosphere. Players arguably don’t need to see everything; by looking out towards the horizon they can imagine what would be there and fill in the blanks themselves. By stopping gamers like me dilly-dallying in an unnecessary side quest, the plot is much more focussed and comes thick and fast. The mythology surrounding Pulse, l’Cie and fal’Cie is rich and believable, with the writers offering a new revelation at appropriate intervals.  The cast quickly comes together in the first few hours and reveal their motives for travelling through the world of Cocoon. Lightning and Sazh are easy to relate too and likeable, with Hope and Vanille clocking in as the annoying ‘emo-kid’ and stupidly over the top, upbeat chick. Why, oh why does Square Enix feel the need to use these character stereotypes in every sequel?

Combat has had a massive overhaul too. Square Enix must have realised that the turn-based system is growing increasingly archaic, because it’s now been heavily tweaked to feel like it’s being played out in real time. Players only take control of one party member, queuing up actions into a meter that is constantly filling with time. Once enough seconds have passed, you can select your opponent and deal out the ‘chain’ of designated techniques. It feels much more pressurised and organic, encouraging you to think on your feet and adapt to new enemies without resorting to a walkthrough. A new system known as ‘paradigms’ can be switched on the fly throughout battle, altering the roles and skills of all present party members. It allows you to have a very forceful guiding hand over them without manually entering commands. Switching between support, healing and offensive setups at the right time can quickly change the direction of a battle and seal a quick win. It feels new, fast and furious. I love it.

Character building is called ‘crystarium’, an idea very similar to the sphere grid found in Final Fantasy X. In a similar vein to the environments, it’s currently very restrictive and capped with every boss battle. It feels like a step backward for experimental Final Fantasy veterans, but gives causal RPG players like myself a huge sense of reassurance when grinding for an upcoming boss. Towards the end of Final Fantasy X I was pretty sure I had made a number of incorrect decisions on the sphere grid, which had lead to my party being a crippled mess. This system might seem slightly patriotic, but it’s clear and accessible for players of all difficulties.

Most RPGs, regardless of quality can hold me up until the twenty hour mark, so it will be interesting to see if Final Fantasy XIII can go the distance. Square Enix has obviously made a lot of changes to make this game appeal to western audience, and at the moment there are more improvements than setbacks. I’ll be interested to see whether this game opens up once I get onto disc three.

Players fill a grid as quickly as possible by placing Tetris shapes together in ‘quads’ that are at least three squares wide and three squares tall. A bar races across the screen from left to right, slowly building the song with every new quad that it passes. Different shaped quads can produce different sounds, making it possible to remix each track as you play. The timer can be set at three, six or nine minutes, increasing the difficulty for those that find themselves sweeping through each level. For those that find themselves stuck trying to clear a particularly nasty nook or cranny, there’s also a ‘free mode’ which lets players complete the songs at a leisurely pace.

Chime adopts a very clean and simple visual approach, with a bright colour palette and minimal effects. Everything is set on a two dimensional playing field, making the entire package feel closer to an indie title than a full retail game. It could certainly do with some improvements, but like all retro styled puzzlers, once you get locked into the music and gameplay you’ll barely notice it anyway.

The five songs fit snugly into the genre of ambient electronica, a great match for Chime’s alternative artistic vision. It would be great to see a larger array of tracks taken from their discographies if a sequel is ever made. The current selection includes:

* Philip Glass – Brazil
* Moby – Ooh Yeah
* Paul Hartnoll – For Science
* Markus Schulz – Spilled Cranberries
* Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly) – Disco Ghosts

The option to upload high scores to a global leaderboard offers some competitive value, but players will likely be fighting against themselves to nail the crucial 100% coverage. Some form of multiplayer or co-operative mode would have also enhanced the experience.

Any weaknesses that I’ve picked out are insignificant to the overbearingly positive experience found in Chime. The core gameplay mechanic is unique, simple and quickly addictive, making it easy to lose a quick half an hour before you head out of the house. OneBigGame has a fantastic vision and at such a low price, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t give it a try.