This Wednesday on Xbox Live Arcade, 0-D Beat Drop was released. Now, always wanting to give every game a fair crack of the whip, I downloaded the trial version. Wow, it was just awful. Combining a Puyo-Puyo or Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo style puzzler with a rhythm based block clearing mechanism just does not work if you ask me.
But the real reason I’m mentioning it is because of it’s presentation.
It so wants to be Every Extend Extra Extreme, but fails as it’s just incredibly cluttered and far too flashy – really epilepsy inducing – and the main font just doesn’t go with the overall look. The presentation in E4 worked (only just, mind) because it was minimalist and refined, but this is ridiculous. Sure, the same developer was behind both games, but for two otherwise unrelated games to have the exact same graphical style, from the cycling colours motif, to incredibly similar the exact same loading screens, right down to the several “digital read-out font boxes that measure musical stuff”… It is just very strange. There’s not even a way you could justify it by trying to fit 0-D in as E4’s long lost sequel or anything like that, as they are totally different genres.
Here are some videos. First up is Beat Drop, check out the swirly loading bit from Every Extend Extra Extreme, and while you’re there, also look at the ill-fitting, boring font.
Now, some E4. Granted, it does look more cluttered during gameplay thanks to the ten million enemies, but I’m on about the menus, the presentation and stuff. The A E S T H E T I C S.
So, to summarise: E4 = Stylish. 0D = Ugly.
What do you think?
