{"id":7293,"date":"2012-02-22T03:22:18","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T09:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/?p=7293"},"modified":"2012-02-22T03:22:18","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T09:22:18","slug":"monkeying-around-with-rhythm-heaven-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/22\/monkeying-around-with-rhythm-heaven-fever\/","title":{"rendered":"Monkeying Around With Rhythm Heaven Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A couple of blogs ago I wrote about my favorite music and rhythm games and I said that if I felt like it, I\u2019d write another blog about Rhythm Heaven Fever. Well, I feel like it so here\u2019s a silly blog with a mini-review and a rundown of the main games featured. So let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mini-Review<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll start with just a short mini-review and overview of the game. It\u2019s basically a collection of short rhythm based games that only last about two or three minutes long. It\u2019s a little bit like WarioWare, which makes sense because they\u2019re made by the same folks! There was a Rhythm Heaven game on the DS, but as I said in my last blog on the subject, I didn\u2019t like it because of the flicking touch screen controls. Well that\u2019s one thing they fixed in the Wii version because all you use is the A and B buttons, and it works a LOT better. I almost think that at one point, they wanted the game to have motion controls, considering a lot of the games involve typical Wii activities like swinging a sword, using a see-saw, etc. But I think at some later juncture, the makers decided it wasn\u2019t as much fun. I wish other game companies did that when it came to Wii motion games! I would say that sometimes it felt like the game wouldn\u2019t register my button presses, but I don\u2019t want to blame my lack of rhythm on the controls ALL the time!<\/p>\n

My main problem with Rhythm Heaven Fever is the same as a quibble I had with the DS version. It\u2019s the challenge level, which I feel was set too steep. You see, the game is a bit misleading in that it makes it feel inviting to play. The box says it has something for everyone, and even in the game they say that everyone has rhythm, even if they don\u2019t know it. But when you actually play the games, they\u2019re not easy and if you are a bit rhythmically challenged, you\u2019ll get frustrated. And even though this game is rated E, I would only recommend it to older kids who have experience with music because I think it would frustrate younger gamers. Yes, you can skip to the next song if you have trouble with one (except for some songs like Remix 7), but I still think a lot of casual Wii gamers will feel off put by the game\u2019s difficulty. I\u2019ve even read some newspaper reviews bashing this game for that reason. If you want a good idea of how the non-hardcore crowd views games, newspaper reviews are a good point of view.<\/p>\n

Anyway, so while I do like Rhythm Heaven Fever more than the DS version, it\u2019s still not perfect. It\u2019s very fun, but also very flawed. I wish that the makers would go back to doing WarioWare games, which I liked better. So for my final rating, just as the game always rated my music scores as \u201cOK\u201d and \u201cEh, good enough,\u201d I\u2019m going to have my revenge and say that the game is OK and eh, good enough. How does that feel, huh, game? Getting a little taste of your own medicine, huh? Oooo, BURN!<\/p>\n

More Than Meets the Eye<\/strong><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s my mini-review. Before I get started with the rundown of the main games, I\u2019d like to point out there are more games that what I\u2019m going to list. By performing well on songs you can earn medals, and when you have enough, you can unlock more goodies. Like Rhythm Toys, which let you play around with things like a car or cell phone. There are also Endless Games that keep going until you miss, like a jump rope game over a metronome, or a challenge where you must hit the button at the right time to wake up a cuckoo clock bird. There are also two player games that I haven\u2019t tried yet because no one wants to play Rhythm Heaven Fever with me. I\u2019m so ronrey. Ha ha! Plus there are some extra games from the DS version to unlock as well.<\/p>\n

Remixes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another type of game I won\u2019t go into here are the remixes. After every four stages, you\u2019ll play a song that mixes up those four. Kind of like a boss stage. They also have a different theme, like tropical, prehistoric, outer space, heavy metal, etc. My favorite is Remix 3, which has lyrics. It\u2019s a cheesy song, but fun to play as a game (not sure why it has a chef theme, though). It\u2019s a little embarrassing for me to admit I like it, but here\u2019s a YouTube link<\/a><\/strong> if you want to hear the song. Also, when you finish Remix 7 (which you can\u2019t skip), the game shows the credits but you\u2019ll still have games to play. But they\u2019re just \u2018sequels\u2019 to the main game with new songs and harder rhythms, so I won\u2019t go into those either. So without further ado, here are the main games and my silly descriptions of them. You can tell I had fun describing some of them.<\/p>\n

Hole in One<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK so all of a sudden I\u2019m a professional golfer. I\u2019m pretty darn good, too, as every swing I take; the ball goes straight to the hole. Look out, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods! Only problem is my caddy choices, which consist of a monkey and a mandrill (you\u2019ll soon learn that Rhythm Heaven Fever is obsessed with monkeys). So I have to listen to the cues the two primates give me so I knew when to hit the golf balls they toss my way.<\/p>\n

Screwbot Factory<\/strong><\/p>\n

One minute I\u2019m a pro golfer, next I\u2019m working in a robot factory. Maybe I do that in the off seasons? Anyway, this one is a lot like one of the games in the DS version. Hold the button down to screw the robots\u2019 heads in, but make sure to release at the right time so the heads aren\u2019t screwed on too loose or too tight. Different sized robot heads keep you on your toes.<\/p>\n

See-Saw<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well I guess my golfing gig didn\u2019t go so well, because now I\u2019ve been reduced to being a playground equipment safety inspector. Me and my partner just jump on see-saws all the time to make sure they\u2019re safe. And then we explode at the end. Watch where you are on the see-saw so you know when to hit the button when you land. Kind of reminds me of Circus Atari.<\/p>\n

Double Date<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK so I just met the woman of my dreams and she says she\u2019ll go out on a date with me. Luckily she\u2019s really boring and only wants to sit on a park bench. Looks like I\u2019ll be saving money dating her, too. Before our first date, a weasel comes along and says he\u2019s got a date, too, and wants me to do him a favor. You see, the park bench is near a school playground and the weasel wants me to watch out for stray balls and kick them out of the way so they don\u2019t hit him and his date. At first I wanted to say that he\u2019s just an animal and he can go on a date anywhere he wants, so why does he have to pick HERE? But you know, I don\u2019t want to look like a jerk in front of my date, so I agreed. So I had to kick soccer balls, basketballs, and footballs that bounce in different ways. I did pretty well, so the weasels were happy and my date said she had a good time. Sometimes it would be neat if real life were more like video games\u2026<\/p>\n

Fork Lifter<\/strong><\/p>\n

So it\u2019s dinner time and someone is flicking peas at me from a mile away, and I have to listen to music cues to stab my fork at the peas when they zoom past. Even if the peas aren\u2019t perfectly on the fork, I\u2019ll cough instead of making a gulping sound. This is dumb; I\u2019m not going to eat like this again!<\/p>\n

Tambourine<\/strong><\/p>\n

So a monkey comes along and wants to play tambourine with me, and I need to repeat the same rhythm he plays. If I miss, he gets the most sickly look on his face and a frog jumps on his head!<\/p>\n

Board Meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m a big business pig. Oink! And now I can attend big business board meetings. Apparently these meetings just consist of my fellow business pigs spinning around in their office chairs and stopping at the right time. I\u2019m not sure how this helps our business model or boosts our profit margins. But at least the secretary who counts us off on our chair spinning antics is cute. Oink!<\/p>\n

Monkey Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is it with this game and monkeys? I\u2019m a monkey riding on a second hand of a clock, and must high five each monkey that comes out of the numbers of the watch. The animations of the monkeys are very misleading, but it helps to just watch the second hand. It gets hard when you have to high five the purple monkeys on the backbeats. I had a tough time with this game, even on practice.<\/p>\n

Working Dough<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some reason, this game reminded me of Mario\u2019s Cement Factory. Balls of dough come out of a conveyor belt, and my co-worker bounces them to me. I then have to repeat his rhythm, and make sure to push the right button to bounce small and big mounds of dough. Kind of like the rhythm challenges in Space Channel 5.<\/p>\n

Built to Scale<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is just like one of the first games you play in the DS game. But instead of just flicking at the right time to send a peg into a hole, you have to push the A button to bounce the peg, and then push both buttons to send the peg into the hole as the squares roll past.<\/p>\n

Air Rally<\/strong><\/p>\n

So now I\u2019m a pink dog and my best friend is a yellow cat. We both like to fly planes. And play badminton. At the same time! Keep the rhythm to lob the ball back and forth, but you\u2019ll have to listen as well as watch because he\u2019ll hit the ball at different distances, and sometimes clouds hinder your view. When my cat friend sings \u201cBa-dum-bum-bum\u201d he\u2019ll lob the ball high so you have to hit it at a different rhythm. Fun, but hard.<\/p>\n

Figure Fighter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m a toy called a \u2018muscle doll.\u2019 I\u2019m really skinny until you push down on a button connected to a tube, which inflates me and makes it look like I have muscles. Actually that would be a good idea for a toy; I\u2019m surprised someone hasn\u2019t made that yet. Anyway, in this game the muscle doll will tell you how he\u2019ll hit a punching bag (jab, one-two, etc.), and you must hit the button to inflate him at the right time so he punches right when he\u2019s inflated with muscle. Sometimes you\u2019ll even punch the bag right off the hanger!<\/p>\n

Ringside<\/strong><\/p>\n

And now I\u2019m a pro wrestler. Man, I\u2019m really buff and HUGE! I\u2019m ten times the size of the lady reporter who is trying to interview me after the match. And I\u2019m all dripping rather unnaturally with sweat, too. So disgusting. Anyway, so depending on how the reporter asks a question, I need to push buttons to either nod my head, flex, or pose for the camera. This is actually one of the easiest games on here, and the first one I scored a \u201cPerfect\u201d on (well, the only one so far). Because of the kookiness of this game, I bet it would be a candidate for a lot of viral videos and internet memes, too. \u201cWubba nubba nub, is that true?\u201d \u201cEh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Packing Pests<\/strong><\/p>\n

One minute I\u2019m a big business pig, and the next I\u2019m demoted to working in a cubicle packing candy into a box. Man this is one crazy economy! Make sure to toss the candy in the box but swat the spiders away. Don\u2019t ever eat candy made from this company, folks, they have a really bad spider infestation problem.<\/p>\n

Micro-Row<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scientists are looking through a microscope at molecules, so now me and my microscopic friends need to dance for them to keep the scientists guessing. Pretty easy, just keep the beat and when you need to scoot three times in a row, the other molecules do a good job giving you a visual cue.<\/p>\n

Samurai Slice<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one reminds me of the Samurai Jack cartoon. The main character looks kind of like him, and he fights little ghosts that look like mini-Akus. Swing your sword at just the right time when the ghosts pop out of a black cloud, and push both buttons to do a combo when a crowd of them emerges. There\u2019s a backstory that will hinder your view, so you have to listen as well as watch.<\/p>\n

Catch of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do you call a female fisherman? Fisherwoman? Fisherlady? In this game you\u2019re a cute lady angler and must push the button to pull the line when the fish bites. Each of the three fish has a different rhythm, and you must count in your head to know when to pull up the hook. Those are some tricky fish!<\/p>\n

Flipper-Flop<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a seal that looks like that little round Pokemon critter. I\u2019m part of a crack team of militant seals, and our Eskimo drill sergeant gives us commands to march and do rolls. Those 9 flipper rolls are brutal!<\/p>\n

Exhibition Match<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m an all-around athlete in this game! Now I\u2019m a baseball slugger. My friend is a cute girl pitcher in a pink uniform, but man, I look hideous! I look like King Hippo or something. She\u2019ll pitch the ball and it goes behind a curtain and I must count in my head to swing the bat at the right time as the ball emerges (just count to four after the pitch). At the last pitch, the curtain rolls up and you find out why the ball has such a delay. A monkey catches the ball and tosses it! Those darn monkeys are at it again!<\/p>\n

Flock Step<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m a long-legged bird and must march and jump in time with the other birds in my flock. Try not to trip as it gets really crowded. For some reason, this game was really \u2018trippy.\u2019<\/p>\n

Launch Party<\/strong><\/p>\n

Different rockets count down to zero in various ways, and you must hit the button when it gets to zero to launch them. You must watch the rocket and listen to the music cues. One of the rockets looks like a bowling pin. Is that an Orbulon WarioWare reference?<\/p>\n

Donk-Donk<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even the game doesn\u2019t even try to describe this one. You\u2019re one of three tuning fork things with heads, and you pilot a rocket like a tandem bicycle. You have to alternate between eighth notes and triplet notes in 6\/8 time. They don\u2019t tell you that in the game, but I tend to pick apart music game rules sometimes.<\/p>\n

Bossa Nova<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re a caveman named Bossa, and your lady friend name Nova ride on a cloud and lob away flying objects like volleyballs. They come at you in a Bossa Nova rhythm, but it gets tricky when the cloud turns and you must change rhythms on the fly. Make sure not to be off and hit Nova in the back of the head as she hits things behind you!<\/p>\n

Love Rap<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty tolerant towards different kind of music, even genres I don\u2019t like. For instance, I had to learn to tolerate country music since me and a lot of my relatives live in the South in places like Texas and Alabama, where country music is big. But there is one kind of music I still can\u2019t stand and that\u2019s rap. So I don\u2019t like this game much. Depending on the lyrics, you have to repeat what the lady rapper says at the right time with your partner. Not much of a rap song anyway since the lyrics only consist of \u201cCrazy into you\u201d and \u201cFo\u2019 Sho\u2019.\u201d So yeah, I didn\u2019t like this game, plus it was hard, too!<\/p>\n

Tap Troupe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Never been big into tap dancing, myself. Having to push the buttons on the off beats always tripped me up here. So what\u2019s so weird about this game? Well the dancers wear boxes on their heads, and all you see is their legs until the very end when the screen pans out and you see that they are REALLY TALL!<\/p>\n

Shrimp Shuffle<\/strong><\/p>\n

So now I\u2019m a shrimp in a low tide dance team called the Shrimp Scampers. The game describes this one like being in a chorus line, but I thought it was more like doing the bunny hop. It was hard because the beats felt a little off to me. If I were a shrimp, I certainly wouldn\u2019t be dancing in this game. Those Japanese do like their tempura. I also imagined that if this were a Kinect game for kids, little ones would love jumping along with the shrimp.<\/p>\n

Cheer Readers<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re part of a pep squad, but instead of being at a game, you\u2019re cheering along students in the library studying! You know how at stadiums sometimes a whole section makes pictures with large panels? Well that\u2019s what you do here with books. Just watch the others and make sure to flip your book at the right time with the silly cheers about studying. Actually, aside from the library setting, this game isn\u2019t too far from the norm. School activities like cheerleading, marching band, and choir use a lot of the skills found in the games in Rhythm Heaven Fever.<\/p>\n

Karate Man<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the last game you are a karate dude and must punch trash thrown your way. It\u2019s all in time to the beat of a song, and picture cue will tell you when to hit on the off beats or to perform a combo. And that\u2019s that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of blogs ago I wrote about my favorite music and rhythm games and I said that if I felt like it, I\u2019d write another blog about Rhythm Heaven Fever. Well, I feel like it so here\u2019s a silly blog with a mini-review and a rundown of the main games featured. So let\u2019s go! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}