I don't think there's anyone still interfacing with Fuser that is willing to go to bat for every underperforming aspect. At Best, you'll get someone who is in love with the (astonishing) tech of the game enough to sideline the rest of the package. And honestly? That's more valid than usual here, if only due to the game's wide discrepancy between "Freestyle" and, well, every other mode. You might as well launch a separate .exe with the differences.

Yet even then, it's all a little muted to me. While I don't use it derogatorily, "toy" is the word that best describes the whole thing. Its primary purpose is to be immediate and as wrinkle-free as possible. It's good at that! What it's less good at is capitalizing on moments of bliss, when every stem on the platters works with the key and mode and tempo. Sure, you can capture it, maybe employ it later, but it's really difficult to further establish or scrutinize it. The way the songs passively loop into themselves is the toughest nuance to love for me, as it is both the driving force behind the game's success and also the one unchanging aspect that makes it so it's almost impossible to feel completely in control of expression.

Reviewed on Jun 16, 2021


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