game girl advance: Which came first, the rhythm or the game?

Which came first, the rhythm or the game?

Tycho at Penny-Arcade makes a great point in the last paragraph of today’s news post in response to the recent Gamespy review change. In it he criticizes reviewers for concentrating on music they like or dislike in rhythm games rather than the actual gameplay. According to Tycho, "What I want to know is if these new songs provide interesting, original rhythms I can play solo or with my friends when they come over. Will it extend the amusement I get from the peripherals I purchased?"

The man is on to something. Just because a song is good doesn’t necessarily mean it’s fun in a game. With a game like Donkey Konga, no one expects Pink Floyd’s The Wall or some such music. It wouldn’t work, nor would it feel right. Meanwhile, bouncy pop songs are far more fun for pounding and clapping on a plastic drum.

The music that I like on my stereo is far different from the music I like in my video games. I may bounce like a wounded whale playing “Butterfly” in DDR, but that doesn’t mean I listen to it while writing. On the same token, I may have a saccharine affinity for The Geto Boys, but I doubt anyone would want to shake electric maracas to their music.

The problem, of course, is that a music video game is not the same as a music video. In the majority of music videos, what occurs on screen is propelled and filtered through the music, which is produced to be listened to on its own. In rhythm games, you have the opposite. The music is filtered through the gameplay. Therefore whether a song in a rhythm game is enjoyable or not relies far more on how fun the game is than if it will fall into some form of collegiate musical canon.

Posted by Mike at May 13, 2005 07:37 AM

In defense of the game reviewers that everyone (including myself) seems to be bashing these days, a lot of game reviewers do acknowledge what Tycho is talking about. I've read a number of reviews for some of the Dance Dance Revolution games in which the reviewer notes that the songs aren't anything they'd want to listen to in their spare time, but that they work great for the game.

Interestingly, GameSpot's review for Karaoke Revolution also had some interesting things to say on this topic:

"... there's a pretty big difference between executing DDR steps to a song you don't care for and actually taking the time to learn the words and melody of a song you don't like."

So, clearly this GameSpot reviewer understands that the actual taste of a rhythm game soundtrack doesn't matter much; what's more interesting is that this reviewer notes that the taste of a karaoke game soundtrack does matter, which is potentially a key to the massive success of the DDR series and the relative obscurity of the Karaoke Revolution game.

Posted by: Foopy on May 13, 2005 08:50 AM

I think some of this is logical blacklash for marrying gameplay to the music. Music is, afterall, a standard of reviews ... so when it's so integral it makes sense that it would play centerstage. If a DDR game featured nothing but the sounds of screeching cats lead by a wailing two year-old front singer, one wouldn't dismiss that as "a good game with just some bad music" ... it would be a lousy game.

Course, when the music isn't so obvious, it must become a thorny subjective debate of good versus bad music. I do think gamers are too quick to make a conspiracy of things, and it really seems like this was just an normal editorial decision handled badly.

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