Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon | Nintendo Switch Review

Playing out like a sentient AI's wet dream, 'Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon' sees you combating a robot army in the year 2084 that has conquered mankind, and is hellbent on outlawing music and dance. A tool which the rebellious Dr. Dysco has weaponized for use against them. You play as a lone disco dancer sent forth to rescue said doctor so that the rainbow laser in his possession can be put to use. Using rhythm and guns you dance, and blast your way through a labyrinth of trap laden, and robot infested rooms which hold the keys to the exit as well as Dr. Dysco himself. 

As the music plays on shuffle so too do the pulse pounding techno-trance beats in sync with all of the moving parts of the elaborately constructed dungeon. Robots shoot to the rhythm, move to the rhythm, and supposing you can keep the beat better than them, will die by the rhythm. Disco dancing, as it were, is your and mankind's only hope for survival.

Obviously inspired by old Atari games of the 70's and 80's, 'Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon' is a simple top down dungeon exploration adventure with it's own rainbow infused gimmick. It contains twin stick shooter mechanics, and gameplay elements centered around rhythm. As the disco dancer heroine of the story you are tasked with rescuing Dr. Dysco. This entails exploring, and clearing all rooms of threats. All while collecting keys, staying alive, and blasting your way through mobs of shooting robots. 

While some things like robots can be destroyed there are trap-like elements that cannot be destroyed. This plays into the game's visual design. Outside of the rainbow colored layout of the dungeon and dungeon lining the objects to be avoided, and be destroyed are colored in a specific manner. A peach color means the obstruction or robot can be killed via the gun power-ups you collect. Hashed black and white blocks, however, are indestructible, and will do both damage to your dancer as well as knock them back. Making you to have to mind their timed movement patterns by the rhythm of the current track playing in the background. 

Clearing rooms in a speedy fashion or without taking damage will reward you with bonus points alongside the base points for the destruction of robots, and destructible objects. Sometimes simply entering a room and collecting the health item, key. or gun power-up is also sufficient. Regardless of clearing requirements your progress is determined by your ability to maintain your rainbow colored health bar. This is done by picking up dropped or found health power-ups when health is lost. Should you die the penalty is determined strictly by which difficulty setting you have it on. 

Easy mode is more lenient, as one might expect, in that death only resets your score back to zero, but allows you to continue onward without stalling. Normal mode will both reset your score upon death, and will start you back at the last room you completed if you die. Lastly, Hard mode is the permadeath mode, and once you die in it, it is GAME OVER. Hard mode is also the ultimate scale of skill when it comes to leaderboard rankings as it is the toughest challenge of them all, and demands that you play the game as intended, by rhythm.

As previously stated this is also very much a twin stick shooter with movement controls tied to the left thumbstick, and shooting controls tied to the right thumbstick and it's cardinal directions. Upon picking up weapon power-ups you can cycle through them using the shoulder buttons. The weapon types vary by damage, and by shot type as well as range or reach. You'll find weapons like a stinger missile, a flamethrower, and a crossbow, among other things. These weapons also play into some of the puzzle solving elements. For example, the crossbow can shoot through walls to hit enemy robots. Needless to say learning what weapon does what is the key to victory. Using weapons to efficiently, and quickly clear rooms is also important in accordance to the game's high score focus. The quicker you dispatch the things that can be destroyed the better off your health, and score will be.

In the way of music it's a mixed bag of lyrically blessed trance, and techno beats. A sort of synthwave soundtrack fitting of the robot apocalypse you find yourself a part of. There's lyrics about paganism, and no escape, as well as lyrics detailing a robot band whose first performance in front of humans is ish. It's varied enough to span a full playthrough, and can be put on shuffle or left alone to suit the player's desire.  This along with visual adjustments that cater to bloom effects, and flash offer a tailored experience for gamers who are sold on the game's premise.

The Verdict ...

For the simple yet challenging retro inspired experience that it is, 'Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon' does a good enough job in melding the mixture of music and twin stick shooting. While a playthrough is limited to a single dungeon it is the difficulty settings that make the game both beginner, and veteran friendly. It's what makes the experience good for at least one playthrough per setting. That being said replay value feels kind of limited outside of the three difficulty settings, and though the score chasing is definitely a thing variety is a wee bit lacking. It's only saving grace being the odd tunes that play out as you shoot for that high score. Depending on what you are looking for, be it the leaderboard chasing or the retro experience, 'Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon' may or may not whet your appetite. I'll leave it up to you the gamer to decide as I'm personally torn between it being okay and being niche to the point it's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea.