Invector: Rhythm Galaxy PC Review
Summary: A rhythm game with a story and a mixed bag of music.
4.1
Rhythm Ride
I’ve played quite a few rhythm games from audio surf to beat saber, Blast Beat to Power Beats VR and I don’t remember them ever really having a story before. Enter Invector: Rhythm Galaxy. For those who played Avicii: Invector… this is apparently very similar (having not played Avicii: Invector I can’t comment on just how similar). My closest comparison that I could think of was a cross between Audio Surf (yes I know I’m pulling an old title there) and Wipe Out Fusion.
The basic game play, obviously given the genre, involves tapping keys in time with the prompts on screen. Now before I go much further I do need to note something about when/where to tap… when the game first starts it asks you to calibrate the game… I was briefly confused before it clicked what it meant. Essentially the game will give you some beats and you have to tap when the icons are where you think they should be… the game will then adjust the “detection” of your taps based on that (presumably to allow for discrepancies in setups that might cause delays between visual and audio etc). Once in the game it took me a while to notice that I wasn’t meant to be tapping as my ship passed over the icon but rather where a little reticle ahead of my ship was in relation to the icon… once I realised that things got a bit easier.
So obviously the main game play is going to be quite familiar, but to make things a little different there are some segments in which you leave the “track” and have to fly your ship in order to travel through rings, you also have a boost button that is available after enough successful button taps. For someone who is quite rusty with these sorts of games and is more used to having two elements to keep track of (ie beat sabres left and right hand slash), things were a bit overwhelming at first when I had to tap the icons to the beat with one hand and navigate left or right etc with the other… it felt a bit like the ol’ pat your head while rubbing your tummy trick.
In relation to that story element… that comes up during campaign mode (which you’ll want to play if you want to unlock the extra tracks)… it doesn’t really have any baring on the gameplay and is not exactly a deeply fleshed out story so you can really take it or leave it… I mean it’s kind of a nice touch to give the game a bit more (potential) depth… but is in this case ultimately forgettable.
So that more or less leaves us with the music. Obviously with the previous edition the soundtrack was Avicii and that was it… if you liked his music you would have been fine. Here it’s a list that is presumably curated by Warner Music Group (publishers of this game) and can be a bit hit and miss (which is not really unlike many rhythm games, but perhaps more jarring considering the former outing). Given the campaign mode features a story it can feel a bit “off” when the music styles don’t seem to match the visual or general feel of the game… not strictly a problem if you are only really playing for the notion of tapping buttons to the beat… but if you are looking for a cohesive experience it might not sit quite right.
Final Thoughts?
Overall, it’s a visually striking game and I was quite mesmerized by the world you get to play in. Because the story really didn’t grab me I wasn’t super fussed about the disparity in the music options and instead took it as a chance to enjoy some tracks I am familiar with along with possibly finding some new artists to do a deep dive into later (which may be somewhat the intent of the variety on offer). If you like rhythm games and don’t mind a broad range of songs then you may just enjoy jumping in your ship and boosting your way around the neon tracks of Invector: Rhythm Galaxy.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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