Game Freak? Yeah, I'm a real freak for continuing to dive into GF's non-Pokémon games. Today on the menu is their rhythm-platformer hybrid.
Harmoknight's a simple game: jump over and smack obstacles in your path to the beat of the background music. Er, a little before the beat? This is one of those rhythm games where anything beyond perfect timing counts as a miss, there is no "late" timing. Still, there's an inherent joy to filling out the backing track with a melody created by your own platforming prowess.
As a rhythm game, this game makes some pretty bad missteps. Several songs get reused twice, or even thrice. Most of them share a very similar lietmotif as well. It doesn't matter too much to me personally; A lot of musical platformers reuse their compositions for multiple stages, even the GOATed BIT.TRIP.RUNNER. No, the actual issue is the bosses. Their musical variety is highly limited by being a game of Simon Says, call-and-response. It's a lot of waiting and watching the cinematics, as opposed to the reactive gameplay of the normal platforming stages. Kinda fun the first time, underwhelming on replays. Missing certain actions will also kill you outright instead of just penalizing you, like falling into a pit, or missing the final hit on a boss. Certain levels also just stink. Minecart and Clock Tower stages change tempo on a dime, something you can only work around through raw memorization.
The real star of Harmoknight's character and world design, penned by the one and only James Turner. You may know him as the guy who designed Shadow Lugia, but I'm particularly fond of his work in this game. Musical imagery has been integrated into pretty much anything you can spot: cymbal plants, bongo boars, tambourine spiders, drum springs, ocarina ghosts, and so much more.
I feel like Game Freak has a real tendency to whiff certain aspects when they branch out and experiment, but I hope they never stop trying. They have all the money you could ever dream of from making Pokemon titles, they deserve more opportunities to make more left-field projects. I probably go easier on them than I should, but I like rooting for "small indie studio" Game Freak.
Harmoknight's a simple game: jump over and smack obstacles in your path to the beat of the background music. Er, a little before the beat? This is one of those rhythm games where anything beyond perfect timing counts as a miss, there is no "late" timing. Still, there's an inherent joy to filling out the backing track with a melody created by your own platforming prowess.
As a rhythm game, this game makes some pretty bad missteps. Several songs get reused twice, or even thrice. Most of them share a very similar lietmotif as well. It doesn't matter too much to me personally; A lot of musical platformers reuse their compositions for multiple stages, even the GOATed BIT.TRIP.RUNNER. No, the actual issue is the bosses. Their musical variety is highly limited by being a game of Simon Says, call-and-response. It's a lot of waiting and watching the cinematics, as opposed to the reactive gameplay of the normal platforming stages. Kinda fun the first time, underwhelming on replays. Missing certain actions will also kill you outright instead of just penalizing you, like falling into a pit, or missing the final hit on a boss. Certain levels also just stink. Minecart and Clock Tower stages change tempo on a dime, something you can only work around through raw memorization.
The real star of Harmoknight's character and world design, penned by the one and only James Turner. You may know him as the guy who designed Shadow Lugia, but I'm particularly fond of his work in this game. Musical imagery has been integrated into pretty much anything you can spot: cymbal plants, bongo boars, tambourine spiders, drum springs, ocarina ghosts, and so much more.
I feel like Game Freak has a real tendency to whiff certain aspects when they branch out and experiment, but I hope they never stop trying. They have all the money you could ever dream of from making Pokemon titles, they deserve more opportunities to make more left-field projects. I probably go easier on them than I should, but I like rooting for "small indie studio" Game Freak.
2 Comments
What a great review that you've cooked with! This was going tk be another one that i was thinking of reviewing on, but I haven't played the full game to know about what you've addressed there.
Come to think about it, i was obsessed with this game once playing the demo to an extent of me getting everything out of it, and I haven't even bought the full game. the only time that I've gotten the full game is when I've gotten it through other means way after the 3ds lifespan.
Come to think about it, i was obsessed with this game once playing the demo to an extent of me getting everything out of it, and I haven't even bought the full game. the only time that I've gotten the full game is when I've gotten it through other means way after the 3ds lifespan.
Spinnerweb
28 days ago
This game was okay I guess. Didnt know Game Freak made it despite owning it for 10 years, but now its small scope and repetitive gameplay make sense.