Beat the Game is an awesome new audio experience for the PC that desperately wants to be a “real game” but ultimately comes off more as a tech demo or proof of concept for a Kickstarter fundraiser. What starts off as a potentially cool adventure game blurring the lines of Psychonauts and Borderlands ends up being an experimental DJ game where you get to explore sampling and mixing various sounds and musical riffs. I was instantly taken back to 1996 and a relatively obscure game called EVE created by Peter Gabriel where you explored all of these static scenes to uncover music and sound samples then mix them together to create your own original compositions.
Beat the Game pretty much borrows on this idea and creates a visually interesting 3D scavenger hunt around the premise. You play as Mistik, and after crashing your hover bike into the only soda machine in the desert you find yourself exploring a relatively small section of the sandy dunes as well as a small underground area in search of various sound samples. There are 24 of these sound bites hiding around the environment as either objects to find on the ground or by scanning objects flying around the album-style background art. The more samples you collect the more creative mixes you can construct in the pop-up sound mixer. Once you have found all 24 sounds you can head to the rave under the old water tower and create the ultimate dance party mix.
While this all sounds terribly fun (and it is), you will find all the sounds and finish this “game” in 30-60 minutes. It would be even shorter if Mistik didn’t walk around at a snail’s pace, although you can accelerate your game by using a robot to explore the desert much more rapidly and marking any pick-ups, then have Mistik go directly to them. A few of the sound collectibles are hidden within a clever day/night mechanic that can be toggle by visiting a nearby refrigerator or consuming some hallucinogenic drugs found lying about.
The game plays just fine with a controller although serious DJ’s will need to use a mouse to access the volume sliders and effects dials on the mixer – there is no controller functionality for these. It’s also easier to sample some of the distant objects on the horizon using the mouse, as the control proved a bit too jerky to reliably track and sample a moving object for the required five seconds.
I have to admit it was pretty fun toggling the various sound samples in each of the eight channels to create thousands of possible soundtracks that continued to play as my own personal score when I exited the mixer and returned to exploration, but that made it only more painful when the game came to an abrupt halt. I had DJ’d my first rave and was driving off in my new creepy truck, assuming I was heading to the second chapter only to see the credits start to roll. HUH?! This was like 45 minutes into the game. I was playing a free review copy and felt slightly burned. I can’t imagine what people who spend $10 on this are going to say/think.
Shortness aside, Beat the Game is still pretty cool with a great visual appeal that even supports 4K resolution. The cutscenes and various videos are topnotch quality and deserve a more fleshed out game than this small sampling. Music lovers and DJ’s are sure to enjoy this probably more than those seeking a true adventure game. Truth be told there is little to no gaming here at all; just an interesting little experimental indie title that might be worth a look if it ever goes on a serious sale.
