Inside My Radio is a pretty standard 2-D platformer, but with a twist. You can jump, wall climb, dash, and pound the ground, but it must be in time with the beat of the music.  You play as a group of square pixel dudes, and there’s some sort of story involved, but it didn’t make any sense and doesn’t really matter to play the game anyway.  It’s available to download on Wii U, PS4, and Xbox One, but reviewed on Wii U here.

Every action you take except for moving left and right must fall on the beat of the music. If you don’t hit the buttons just right, your actions won’t work.  Normally I don’t like it when game developers make something more challenging by messing with the controls, but it works here very well with little frustration.  Having unlimited lives and very generous checkpoints helps, too.  Every now and then you may have to solve a simple switch-based puzzle or attempt a rhythm music game.  It’s kind of neat how flipping switches can sometimes affect the music that plays in the background, too.  And if you have any trouble, you can always turn on a guide that rotates around your player letting you know when the beat of the music hits.

The game has some problems, though. Aside from a tricky final boss battle, most of the game is pretty easy and very short.  I beat it in just a couple of days, and I didn’t even play for long periods at a time.  And the music didn’t grab me either, but I’m not a big fan of dubstep, which is what most of the tunes sound like.  While there is an extra Time Attack mode where you can try to beat finished stages as quickly as possible (a must for this kind of game), it could’ve used more stuff.  Maybe hidden stars or something in every level that unlocks goodies when you collect them, perhaps?  Aside from that, it’s a pretty decent 2-D platformer.  Not Game of the Year worthy or anything, but entertaining.  It could’ve been about two times as long, though.

Kid Factor:

Inside My Radio is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence. If you get hit by an obstacle or enemy, you’ll dissolve into smaller pixels and appear right back at the last checkpoint.  So not very violent at all.  Reading skill is helpful as everything is text-based, and younger gamers might get frustrated at some of the trickier areas and rhythm style gameplay.

Tags: Game Reviews