I just got hold of this sequel to Frequency and here are my initial impressions:
I would guess that the game has been given a much bigger budget than the prequel as they seem to have spent more time on the presentation, it offers the ability to play online from the main menu and some of the artists involved are more high profile (Garbage, David Bowie and Run DMC). The graphics in-game where you control the music and the background images of the artist in question have also been considerably improved.
The first time you play the game you are forced to go through a tutorial explaining what to do which is a great idea for people new to the game but not if you've played the first and are familiar with the mechanics.
For anyone who's not played Frequency before I would suggest reading the review on the site as this will give you an idea of what to expect . It looks they have decided to go with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach with the way the game plays. You use the same controls in the same way pressing the buttons in time to the commands on screen. One difference is that the "level" is now set out on a plain a bit like the flat level from Tempest instead of a sphere from the first game but this does not really affect the way that the game plays. You are given more visual clues as to how to build up chains for example a new path will be highlighted with a 2X symbol as you approach it so you know where to move to when you reach the end of your current path.
Power ups remain from the first game while a new power up has been added which seems to replace the freestyling from the prequel but I've not figured out how to use it yet.
The structure of the game is based on five levels each with five songs. If you complete the first 3 songs on a level then you unlock the Boss level which seems to be no different other than you are given a "Rez" style introduction i.e. something along the lines of "Boss virus initialized blah blah", which I thought was a bit cheeky. The fifth song is only unlocked once you have gained a certain cumulative score from the other four songs in that level. This gives the game a certain one more go mentality as you strive to increase your scores in each by the amount needed to unlock the bonus song.
They seem to have achieved a happy medium with this game. Offer more of the same to fans of frequency while still making it accessible to the (many) people who never played it.
I would guess that the game has been given a much bigger budget than the prequel as they seem to have spent more time on the presentation, it offers the ability to play online from the main menu and some of the artists involved are more high profile (Garbage, David Bowie and Run DMC). The graphics in-game where you control the music and the background images of the artist in question have also been considerably improved.
The first time you play the game you are forced to go through a tutorial explaining what to do which is a great idea for people new to the game but not if you've played the first and are familiar with the mechanics.
For anyone who's not played Frequency before I would suggest reading the review on the site as this will give you an idea of what to expect . It looks they have decided to go with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach with the way the game plays. You use the same controls in the same way pressing the buttons in time to the commands on screen. One difference is that the "level" is now set out on a plain a bit like the flat level from Tempest instead of a sphere from the first game but this does not really affect the way that the game plays. You are given more visual clues as to how to build up chains for example a new path will be highlighted with a 2X symbol as you approach it so you know where to move to when you reach the end of your current path.
Power ups remain from the first game while a new power up has been added which seems to replace the freestyling from the prequel but I've not figured out how to use it yet.
The structure of the game is based on five levels each with five songs. If you complete the first 3 songs on a level then you unlock the Boss level which seems to be no different other than you are given a "Rez" style introduction i.e. something along the lines of "Boss virus initialized blah blah", which I thought was a bit cheeky. The fifth song is only unlocked once you have gained a certain cumulative score from the other four songs in that level. This gives the game a certain one more go mentality as you strive to increase your scores in each by the amount needed to unlock the bonus song.
They seem to have achieved a happy medium with this game. Offer more of the same to fans of frequency while still making it accessible to the (many) people who never played it.
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