Soundfall review – monotone gameplay lacks dynamic range
Shoot-shoot-dodge-repeat. Soundfall is a game all about rhythm. Music blasts in your ears, the environment bops and dances to the beat, and so do your fingers as you tap-tap-tap on the controller.
Soundfall review
- Publisher: Noodlecake
- Developer: Drastic Games
- Platform: Played on PC
- Availability: Out now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC (Steam – Epic coming soon)
More and more developers are turning to music to put a fun twist on action gameplay, from Crypt of the NecroDancer (and its Zelda follow-up Cadence of Hyrule), to FPS Bullets per Minute and platformer No Straight Roads. These aren’t games about making music, but saving the world to the beat.
That’s your task in Soundfall. Taking its cue from NecroDancer, a metronome pulses at the bottom of the screen and it’s your job to shoot-shoot-dodge-repeat your way through each level sticking to the tempo. Shoot or dodge off the beat and the action will fail.
Most action games have a sort of internalised rhythm, but in Soundfall it’s explicit. Hypnotic, even – your ears as hyper focused as your eyes, determined to maintain a combo. Later levels become something of a bullet hell – or rhythm hell, I should say – and I found myself nodding my head and tapping my feet as I played, dancing in my seat while my eyes refused to blink. Eventually I was tapping through the menus in rhythm too.
