A Few New Games to Pump Up the Jams

It’s come to my attention that 2016 is downright getting jiggy with it.  Though Crypt of the NecroDancer and Inside My Radio have seen previous releases elsewhere, it is clear that the PlayStation Store is focusing on introducing a wider variety of musically influenced indie titles.  Also giving the Xbox One Kinect a bit of love, I’ve included Virtual Air Guitar’s Beatsplosion to the list as well.

Crypt of the NecroDancer

Originally released for Windows, OS X and Linux on April 23rd of last year, Crypt of the NecroDancer will be coming to PS4 and Vita February 2^nd.  The self-proclaimed “rhythm based rogue-like dungeon crawler” has been met with nearly unanimous positive review scores following its initial release.  The game utilizes a beat tracking feature that punishes movements and attacks that fail to fall into the tempo of the soundtrack.

And DDR players rejoice: the PlayStation 4 version of the game will support the use of a dance pad.  Unfortunately however, the console ported version of Crypt of the NecroDancer will not feature the ability to import your own MP3 tracks.  The game will have an added soundtrack by Shovel Knight’s soundtrack composer, Jake “Virt” Kaufman.

Inside My Radio

Yet another successful indie side-scroller to be ported from PC, Inside My Radio originally launched for PC on May 11^th of 2015.  The game has since released for Xbox One on September 18^th, and has now received an official release date for PS4.  Developer Olivier Penot announced earlier today on PlayStation’s blog that Inside My Radio will cost $14.99, with a discounted 20% for PS Plus users upon the game’s launch.  The beat drops for PS4 users January 19^th

Much like Crypt of the NecroDancer, Inside My Radio requires players to sync every move to the rhythm of the beat.  As a green little LED named Taek, your goal is to travel through various worlds inside of a dying boombox to save your friends.  Jump, dash and slam your way through unique levels, featuring tracks that can be customized to your liking.  Just don’t miss a beat.

Beatsplosion

Now getting a little weirder, Beatsplosion was released on December 30^th 2015 for Kenect Xbox One.  The game has since been met with very little publicity and current critic reviews are mixed, much like the rest of Virtual Air Guitar’s bizarre Kenect ensemble.  The game play however does appear to be hilarious.  As a “Beat Ninja”, players punch, dodge, jump and duck their way through a handful of musically influenced obstacles.

Beatsplosion has been heavily marketed to appeal to Kenect users looking to get in shape.  Thus, the game features a variety of daily exercises ranging from 3 to 20-minute levels, as well as a tracker to record progress.  Though it has been addressed that the amount of content in Beatsplosion leaves much to be desired, the game is humbly priced at only $12.99.

So, if any of your New Year Resolutions involve either overcoming a musical handicap, getting into shape, or both, I hope this article has been of some use to you.  Get funky.

Source: Playstation Blog