There are lots of rhythm games in the market especially on handheld devices. Name it and you can just practically search through the app store and find games like DJ Max Technica, Guitar Hero, Tapsonic, etc. And it would take some time for someone (who’s into rhythm games) to play all these titles. As a rhythm game lover, I downloaded most of the possible good games I could find out there. Cytus, developed by Rayark caught my eye and it didn’t disappoint.
If you guys are familiar with Osu and DJ Max Technika, it’s pretty much similar to these games. The main difference is Cytus has its own gameplay and music library. Unlike Osu! that pops random bubble out of nowhere, Cytus has this horizontal line guide that helps you to tap or follow the note, making it similar to DJ Max Technica in a lot of ways.
Gameplay is pretty simple. Just tap the round notes (colored bubbles) when the black line in the middle passes through them. The black line is officially called the “Active Scan Lineâ€. There are three types of notes, the ‘tap-only-note’, the ‘long-press-note’ and the ‘follow-it-note’. If you’re a rhythm game player, those terms are self-explanatory. The objective of the game is hit the key at the precise moment the scan line hits the said”note”. (Well, all rhythm games are like that) And the highest grade someone can get is the typical Japanese score which is ‘S’. (No ‘SS’ this time)
Players can also change how the notes appear on their screen. It can be done by selecting the modes before starting a song. The default one is the slowest which is the practical way to dominate a song. The second mode is the ‘grouped’; round notes will appear by groups depending to the song’s rhythm. Last one is the sudden note; where you should wait for microseconds for the notes to pop up before passing through the Active Scan Line.
The game consists of three different levels. Level 1, is named “Constructors†has 9 songs. Level 2 is “Destructionâ€, also with 9 songs. Lastly, Level 3 is “Cytus†which consists of 10 songs. Each level has its own difficulty. Constructors is much easier than Destruction and Cytus has the hardest part. Songs have only two difficulties; easy and hard. Some songs can be unlocked by liking the Cytus page on Facebook.
The song library of the game is a mix of techno, jRock and jPop music. But the main motif is a ‘techno-grungy-steampunk-style’. (I hope I got that right) I didn’t hear any of these songs being played or used outside the game. So I guess the songs are exclusively picked by the developers. The songs used are slightly similar to the Korean songs used in DJ Max. The only difference is most of the songs in this game are performed by Japanese artists.
Every song is represented by different arts and emblems. As an art enthusiast, I find these logos quite amusing. The background while playing is a bit dull. The individual art for each songs are quite attractive. Some might say that it lacks animation while playing, but I think it’s passable because this can also be played on cellphones, animation on background while playing on a smaller screen might affect a player’s momentum. So let’s just leave it to that.
The catchphrase of the game is:
“LET’S EXPERIENCE MUSIC ’N ART, BEAT ’N REBOUND!â€
I guess they’ve done it right. This game is a proper mix of art, music and game.
It’s pretty cheap for a decent game; it only cost USD1.99. Both available on Android Market and iTunes.
My only con about this game:
When players are almost done and finished all the songs, they would definitely ask for more. Yes, it lacks songs. I hope Rayark would add more songs in the future.