Racing game where you control a tiny line and guide it through various shapes and swerves at super-high speeds. Surprisingly fast and challenging for those that attempt it. You will find yourself with quickening reflexes on extended play.
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I felt compelled to replay through this series of games after rereading an old article I wrote on them a few years ago. Said article was written while I was still in high school, so I cringed a little a lot reading it again, and no I will not link it here. My main takeaway from it though was that there were a lot of aspects of these games that brought me to love them, but I can definitely see why they come off more as short little distractions to most and nothing more. Firstly, all of them are really short, obscenely short considering that they originally costed around $20, and are worth even more now secondhand. Secondly, some of the ideas are just not as fleshed out as they ought to be. And lastly, much of my appreciation of these games comes from how they resonated with and influenced my approach to aesthetics, graphic design/programming, UI design, and so on. So in a way, I kinda want to write these reviews in order to judge them purely by what the games do on their own. Not because I think it's possible to have these reviews be "objective", but more because, it's not like I play these games much at all anymore and I wanna separate the current day experience of playing from my nostalgia and earlier impact.
The Japan-exclusive Bit Generations series, and its successor line-up Art Style, were created by the once Tokyo-based Skip Ltd. with the exception of Digidrive, which came from Dylan Cuthbert (of Star Fox fame)'s brainchild studio, Q Games. The former studio was much better known for their major series Chibi-Robo!, which has since gained a cult following. Their entire history, from their founding to their dissolution is a really fascinating rabbit hole. And with these games being released around the first major turning point in the company's history, very few of the people known for the company's prior games worked on it. No Kenichi Nishi to be found here, but Keita Eto and the team members that would go on to find the tabletop game fiend, Oink Games, did. On the whole, all seven games are visually striking and simplistic, and they also have audio design that's super satisfying and always fits perfectly with what's on screen. Plus, they have some amounts of flair that make them feel slightly less budget-feeling, so overall they have "cool" personalities. I like cool things, so that's a win for me. Also hey, Japan-exclusives that are entirely in English? Neato.
For the first game in the series, Skip Ltd. chose to create what might be most easily explained as this blend of Tron's Light Cycles and F-Zero. You control a singly colored line, and your goal is to get first in a race against five other lines. How you go about doing this can be achieved in a few ways. My choice personally is to find a path through the track that allows you to move as little as possible, since any lateral movement will slow you down a bit (as fluid as the motion may look). You can also boost your max speed a little by "slipstreaming" on the side of another line. This isn't done from behind another line as one might expect as there's no way to have the lines overlap; you'll simply be pushed to the side. Finally, you have the option of using some boosts with the R button, you're given two to start, and you can have a maximum of nine if you use the pit stop† at the end of each lap. The catch is that they also count as your health. Crashing into a hazard with no boosts in tow will force you to retire immediately. You can also brake with the B button, but chances are you won't need it.
†Pro tip, try pressing B just as you enter the stop to end the recharge early, if you do this just right you'll keep your speed and get an extra boost out of it.
The stages are cleverly designed to make use of these different strategies. Some will have you barely squeak out a victory by you needing to move as fast as possible the entire time. Others are more a test of endurance where you'll find yourself in first so long as you don't die along the way. There are also some neat little powerups in some of them, like one that grants temporary invincibility, and another that zaps most hazards off of the screen. The game is, as I mentioned earlier, really short, so if you know what you're doing, beating all 30 stages can be done in about an hour. Though, I'd say the learning curve is strong enough for your first play to take longer. It is a fun romp, but I do think it would've been cool if there were more stages to sink my teeth into. Some of them are little on the boring side as well, though the very inspired and dance-y soundtrack helps keep things interesting. One song in particular sounds especially similar to another by Muse for whatever reason (Lazer-4). I also geekily appreciate the clever naming choice of the GPs, which are named by increasingly faster forms of physics phenomena.
In addition to the main game, there's also an endless mode called Formation that you'll unlock maneuvers for each time you win a GP. The idea is to collect capsules scattered around a track and bring more lines into play. You'll start with one and eventually get as many as seven once you can collect enough capsules. I've never been a huge fan of it though, as its novelty of controlling several lines at once and doing cool motions with them peters out eventually. That leaves not much interest to be had in the actual scoring which is based on how many capsules you grab. The music here (as it is in the rest of the game might I add) is adaptive, and I am a sucker for that at least. Ultimately, I think replayability for this entire game is best found in setting new times on the individual GP tracks; not here.
If you're like me and like the ideas in Dotstream but found them to be a bit undercooked, I'd recommend playing its sequel Light Trax (aka Lightstream) on the Wii. It improves upon virtually every idea from this game and is a lot more fun and challenging. I'll be linking my reviews of the other Bit Generation games in this one as I play them so if I wanna read them all I can move between them super fast. This is especially so because they'll have a bit of continuity. Feel free to give them a read as well, I'll probably write some interesting things about the other games since I hold a couple of them in higher regard.
Bit Generations series reviews:
Dotstream⠀⠀⠀⠀(Start)
Boundish⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Dialhex⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Coloris⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Orbital⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Digidrive⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Soundvoyager⠀⠀⠀ᐁ (End)
The Japan-exclusive Bit Generations series, and its successor line-up Art Style, were created by the once Tokyo-based Skip Ltd. with the exception of Digidrive, which came from Dylan Cuthbert (of Star Fox fame)'s brainchild studio, Q Games. The former studio was much better known for their major series Chibi-Robo!, which has since gained a cult following. Their entire history, from their founding to their dissolution is a really fascinating rabbit hole. And with these games being released around the first major turning point in the company's history, very few of the people known for the company's prior games worked on it. No Kenichi Nishi to be found here, but Keita Eto and the team members that would go on to find the tabletop game fiend, Oink Games, did. On the whole, all seven games are visually striking and simplistic, and they also have audio design that's super satisfying and always fits perfectly with what's on screen. Plus, they have some amounts of flair that make them feel slightly less budget-feeling, so overall they have "cool" personalities. I like cool things, so that's a win for me. Also hey, Japan-exclusives that are entirely in English? Neato.
For the first game in the series, Skip Ltd. chose to create what might be most easily explained as this blend of Tron's Light Cycles and F-Zero. You control a singly colored line, and your goal is to get first in a race against five other lines. How you go about doing this can be achieved in a few ways. My choice personally is to find a path through the track that allows you to move as little as possible, since any lateral movement will slow you down a bit (as fluid as the motion may look). You can also boost your max speed a little by "slipstreaming" on the side of another line. This isn't done from behind another line as one might expect as there's no way to have the lines overlap; you'll simply be pushed to the side. Finally, you have the option of using some boosts with the R button, you're given two to start, and you can have a maximum of nine if you use the pit stop† at the end of each lap. The catch is that they also count as your health. Crashing into a hazard with no boosts in tow will force you to retire immediately. You can also brake with the B button, but chances are you won't need it.
†Pro tip, try pressing B just as you enter the stop to end the recharge early, if you do this just right you'll keep your speed and get an extra boost out of it.
The stages are cleverly designed to make use of these different strategies. Some will have you barely squeak out a victory by you needing to move as fast as possible the entire time. Others are more a test of endurance where you'll find yourself in first so long as you don't die along the way. There are also some neat little powerups in some of them, like one that grants temporary invincibility, and another that zaps most hazards off of the screen. The game is, as I mentioned earlier, really short, so if you know what you're doing, beating all 30 stages can be done in about an hour. Though, I'd say the learning curve is strong enough for your first play to take longer. It is a fun romp, but I do think it would've been cool if there were more stages to sink my teeth into. Some of them are little on the boring side as well, though the very inspired and dance-y soundtrack helps keep things interesting. One song in particular sounds especially similar to another by Muse for whatever reason (Lazer-4). I also geekily appreciate the clever naming choice of the GPs, which are named by increasingly faster forms of physics phenomena.
In addition to the main game, there's also an endless mode called Formation that you'll unlock maneuvers for each time you win a GP. The idea is to collect capsules scattered around a track and bring more lines into play. You'll start with one and eventually get as many as seven once you can collect enough capsules. I've never been a huge fan of it though, as its novelty of controlling several lines at once and doing cool motions with them peters out eventually. That leaves not much interest to be had in the actual scoring which is based on how many capsules you grab. The music here (as it is in the rest of the game might I add) is adaptive, and I am a sucker for that at least. Ultimately, I think replayability for this entire game is best found in setting new times on the individual GP tracks; not here.
If you're like me and like the ideas in Dotstream but found them to be a bit undercooked, I'd recommend playing its sequel Light Trax (aka Lightstream) on the Wii. It improves upon virtually every idea from this game and is a lot more fun and challenging. I'll be linking my reviews of the other Bit Generation games in this one as I play them so if I wanna read them all I can move between them super fast. This is especially so because they'll have a bit of continuity. Feel free to give them a read as well, I'll probably write some interesting things about the other games since I hold a couple of them in higher regard.
Bit Generations series reviews:
Dotstream⠀⠀⠀⠀(Start)
Boundish⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Dialhex⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Coloris⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Orbital⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Digidrive⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀|
Soundvoyager⠀⠀⠀ᐁ (End)