A musical platformer that hits all the right notes
Sound Shapes is one of the most unique and satisfying games I’ve played in some time. Brought to us by Jonathan Mak of Queasy Games (the developer of the criminally underlooked PSN title Everyday Shooter), Sound Shapes blends platforming and music in a way I can’t recall seeing before. Think along the lines of someone getting Frequency in your Little Big Planet and you have the right idea. The result lends itself to some challenging (if occasionally frustrating) gameplay where you create the music in the game as you advance through each stage.
In Sound Shapes, you control a nondescript ball that’s able to roll and jump around. The platforming rules are simple: anything red in the world kills you, your ball can stick to lightly colored objects, and that’s about it. The goal is to make it from one end of the stage to the other collecting coins along the way. Each coin represents a note in the music for that stage, and the soundtrack slowly comes together as you progress.
Sound Shapes does an excellent job luring you in, as the first few levels are pretty simple. Make no mistake though; this game is a very challenging platformer. New obstacles are introduced in each level, from large flame-filled chasms to rocket bombs who slowly fill the screen with impending red death for your avatar. There’s no penalty for dying (there’s a pretty generous checkpoint system), but some sections, in the later levels especially, will test your patience through frequent failure. It’s very tough in an old-school platformer sort of way, and there’s a real sense of accomplishment when vanquishing Sound Shapes’ tougher challenges.
“AHHHHH!” is right!
The campaign is comprised of five albums (see: worlds), each consisting of three to six songs, or stages, apiece. The soundtrack is naturally one of the big draws for this title, and it doesn’t disappoint, featuring electronica artists like Deadmau5 and Beck. After beating each song in the campaign, you unlock the unique items used within to use in your own created levels (more on that later). The correlation between the soundtrack and the action is where this game really comes together. Even creatures and items in the environment contribute to the track with varying sound effects, and likewise, cues in the music assist you in avoiding the different pitfalls you encounter. Do yourself a favor and wear headphones while playing this one, as it does wonders to immerse you in the in-game world in this title more than most. As I progressed, collecting the notes to unveil each little bit of the current song kept driving me through the game. The clever design of each stage shines even brighter in the later stages. In the Cities level for example, the words sung in the song actually appear on-screen as a platform for your ball to roll across. There’s a stage which does a great job mimicking an Arkanoid-style game. Of course, Deadmau5’s trademark mouse ears logo appears frequently in his levels. The album set up is also a natural model for potential DLC packs if that’s the direction planned.
As if the campaign levels weren’t challenging enough, just wait until you unlock the aptly titled “Death Mode,” which appears after beating the main game. These single-screen challenge levels got me close to wanting to chuck a controller (in a good way, I promise!) as you aim to collect a certain number of notes in a short time limit, all the while avoiding death-dealing obstacles. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I came within a note or two of victory when time ran out, or ran into a red death ray with just a handful of notes left to go. The payoff is worth it for trophy-hunting gamers, however, as each of these stages award you with a silver trophy upon completion.
As I mentioned earlier, Sound Shapes is another title in Sony’s “Play. Create. Share.” collection of titles. You are able to create you own stages, crafting your own soundtracks in the process, and then share those creations with other players online. Likewise, Sound Shapes will provide you with a potentially limitless amount of new stages to play, as you can download other gamer’s created levels. The creation tools aren’t as robust as Little Big Planet or ModNation Racers, but simplicity works to Sound Shapes’ advantage. In Little Big Planet especially, I find myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options given to me, and it always felt like it took hours to craft a serviceable level. In Sound Shapes, I was able to create a simple level in about 15 minutes. An unlockable mode called “Beat School,” also available upon completion of the campaign, teaches you how to craft custom beats for your created levels as well, which was extremely helpful in understanding an otherwise unintuitive music maker. More complex levels can be made as well, as the creation tools give you the ability to easily make levels as detailed as those in the main game. A nice touch I appreciate as well is you are forced to fully play through your level before you can post it online, ensuring no unbeatable challenges make their way on the servers.
There are some minor gripes I took with Sound Shapes. The controls, the movement controls specifically, can sometimes be a little stiff; this is a pain when trying to roll along various surfaces and avoid closing in enemies and obstacles. As terrific a hook as crafting musical compositions is, some levels in the campaign felt like a bit of a chore to complete, like you were going through them just for the sake of completing them. Truly, the soundtrack creation is the motivator for Sound Shapes, so if you require more from your platformers, like a storyline or characters for example, you might find yourself bored while playing this title. For me though, these tiny issues didn’t detract from the overall experience.
A simple level editor allows even the creatively-challegened to create robust levels
Sound Shapes is also one of the few Cross Play titles available in the PlayStation catalog, and as a nice touch, you only need to purchase the game once to get both the PS3 and Vita versions. You can cloud sync your save file to ensure the same progress level in both versions, and even better in the trophy department, syncing unlocks any trophies you earned in the other version of the game for the platform you’re currently playing on. That’s right: Sound Shapes has a trophy list (complete with a Platinum trophy) for each version of the game, and you only have to earn each trophy once to unlock it on both if you cloud sync. A bit of bad news though: I had a terrible time attempting to sign into Sound Shapes’ servers to sync my progress, having to attempt it 10-20 times before it would work in some instances. According to the title’s Twitter account though, it’s an issue they are aware of and working on a fix for, so hopefully it’s an extremely temporary issue.
As far as differences between the PS3 and Vita versions, there really weren’t any. I found creating levels easier on the PS3 due to the Vita version using touch controls in the level editor, but other than that, they’re virtually identical.
THE GOOD: Great 2D platforming. Ear-pleasing soundtrack developed by some very well-known alt-artists. Almost endless supply of content thanks to level editor. Two versions of the game for the price of one.
THE BAD: Controls can be overly stiff at times. No story or characters in the game to speak of. Early server issues are a frustration.
THE VERDICT: Sound Shapes is certainly different from any other 2D platformer on the market. The method of having the player shape the game’s soundtrack was a mechanic used by developer Jonathan Mak in the twin-stick shooter genre to great success in Everyday Shooter, and he does just as good a job bringing it to a traditional platform adventure. Once you get by Sound Shapes’ campaign, you’ll stay for the super-hard Death Mode, and the huge stream of content created by other gamers out there. Give Sound Shapes a play (or a listen, if you will), and when you do, make sure you put on your headphones.
VG CONFAB SAYS: BUY IT
VG Confab 