Beat Souls | PS4 Review

I've played some rhythm games in my time, and none ever clicked like EastAsiaSoft's "Beat Souls" did. This anime inspired punk core rhythm runner does everything right. It makes the game accessible, eases you into gameplay, and challenges you in a fairly progressive fashion. There's an optional tutorial for learning the game's mechanics, and two modes of play to choose from. It features four candy colored yokai, and priestess anime girls as well. Each of which have a certain set of skills that will change certain elements of gameplay. Adding advantages for completion sake. Where the game truly gets it's value though is in an unlockable 'Infinite Hell' mode where you can test your rhythm runner skills against the world via a global scoreboard. It's a mode of play with infinite replay value, as the title suggests. As a package deal Beat Souls hits all the right price points making it a must have for fans of the rhythm game genre.

Divided into two modes of play, and further into 4 character specific playlists with 15 playable sub-playlists each you'll find that the challenge offerings at hand are nothing to scoff at. The two modes of play include an Arcade mode that is divided by the four sets of character playlists in a character versus character scenario, and further by 15 single screen stage inclusive sub-playlists each. These sub-playlists come complete with two difficulty settings (Normal & Hard), or stages as well as a BPM rating, and artist listing. In the playlists you get to choose one of the four characters to play as. Each one made available after having unlocked them through gameplay. They include Makoto, Mei, NeNe, and Rinko. The characters come complete with a short bio telling what kind of yokai or priestess they are, mention of their gameplay skill, and a bit of their backstory. As you take on the character specific playlists, and their sub-playlists the main character of those playlists will act as the boss that is ultimately blasting soul beats down your way alongside noise obstacles.

While these four anime girls steal the show with their colorful charm, and dance moves it's what they can do onstage that really matters. Each girl has a game changing skill with limited or infinite use, respectively. This includes perks such as the ability to negate damage, boost health, or cause mistakes not to interrupt combos if souls are missed. The girls, with their skills working BTS, are placed on a 5 square wide set of scrolling lanes that are filled with patterns of souls, and noise obstacles. The souls you aim to collect tie into the girls' accompanying Otomo spirits which float beside them, but can be moved side to side in closer pairings, or changed from yellow to blue to match the souls that are meant to be collected by said Otomo in a particular fashion. The end goal of each sub-playlist's difficulty specific stage is to avoid hitting the noise obstacles like walls or floor teeth by dodging or jumping over them while flawlessly collecting all the souls to the rhythm of a song that has a set BPM (beats per minute) per difficulty. Additionally the girls have to fill a fever gauge by maintaining combos. Combos come from collecting souls without missing souls, and by not hitting the noise obstacles. By doing this you will gain, in the fever bar, a rating based on your performance. This goes from Poor to Good to Great, and finally Excellent! Combos maintained to each ranking fever phase will cause the girl onscreen to go into a limited time Fever mode which will increase scoring opportunities supposing you don't drop the soul collecting combo.

Sub-playlists for each girl get increasingly more difficult as you unlock the two difficulties or stages per playlist. There's a Normal and Hard variation to each sub-playlist with the Normal stage having 90 BPM, and the Hard stage 120 BPM. Not only does the speed increase, but the obstacles become more numerous while the spacing and colors of the souls become more puzzling. Learning the layout is the key to gaining that Excellent rank. Perfecting it even further by meeting the No Damage/Full Combo sub-goals. Each sub-playlist's stages have that same underlying set of sub-goals in place for the perfectionists out there. 

When it comes to content a lot of Beat Souls is locked behind the game's player Lvl feature, at the start. An RPG-like bar which increases the more you complete the stages, and playlists. Initially you being with a Makoto vs Mei set, and will unlock access to everything else as you progress. When a character is unlocked you can select them, and use them for their particular skill benefit. Beyond the character unlocks you'll find "Infinite Hell" mode is also locked to begin with. Unlocking it is as simple as beating the first few Mei sub-playlists. Once you have access to Infinite Hell mode you have access to the game's only true competitive mode of play. It is in Infinite Hell where all you've learned mechanics-wise will be put to the test. While it can go one theoretically forever there is catch though. If you hit too many noise obstacles or drop too many combos the excitement gauge will fill up to it's GAME OVER state, and your rhythm run will end with your final score added to a mode accessible scoreboard. This is a global scoreboard for the respective console, and uses the players username along with their score and placement listed. 

The Verdict ...

Boy howdy was this game taxing on the old eyes! Not gonna lie. It should have come with a seizure warning. Can't remember if it did or not ... Anyways, Beat Souls hits all the right beats through it's gameplay offerings. The Arcade mode gives the player challenges meant for unlocking characters for endgame "Infinite Hell" mode, and those challenges are all accented by some calming and upbeat synthwave music by accredited musicians. The fact that Infinite Hell offers infinite scoreboard chasing, and in turn infinite replay value it further adds to the game's overall worth. The addition of filters that allow for tweaking the boss character (the character sending down the noise & souls) encounters as well as the stage completion requirements to the players' liking in Arcade mode are one more step towards a truly gamer friendly experience, which this experience is. The biggest thing I like though is that you don't have to press buttons when the Otomo that accompany the anime girls make contact with the souls. Simply having to run into them made a world of difference for me. Me being a gamer who is often times put off by the more intricate button pressing mechanics of most rhythm games. It is, in the end, both accessible to newcomers of the genre, and challenging enough for seasoned veterans. As a budget priced indie it more than earns it's pricing, and as such gets an enthusiastic (but seizure warning inclusive) recommendation from yours truly!