Just Shapes & Beats Reviews
Just Shapes & Beats isn't bursting with content, but the execution, level of polish and number of options here makes it well worth picking up.
Overall, it’s extremely hard for me not to smile while playing Just Shapes and Beats, even when some of the boss battles are absolutely kicking my butt. With some experience under your belt or simply some practice through remembering the major patterns in general all levels can be conquered, just some are definitely harder than others. An absolutely game-changing revelation I had while playing in Online mode, and would watch players who were obviously much more experience than I was, is that in many cases life can be easier simply staying still if you know the right spot in the right map. If done successfully this can mean simply hitting the button to dodge periodically rather than trying to move and keep track of everything going on around you. It takes some practice and discipline but there’s no arguing with the results they got. If you enjoy great music, a load of surprises, and just a bit of craziness Just Shapes and Beats is a unique and very worthwhile experience on Switch!
I can’t say Just Shapes and Beats is a bad game, just is a game that’s not really for me. I prefer my rhythm games to be a bit more tactile in nature. If the core gameplay looks compelling to you, there’s certainly a lot to get out of this game here. A pretty sizable soundtrack, even a co-op mode with both local and network support. There’s a total of 39 songs, though you’ll have to unlock a good amount of them. There’s a challenge mode that tasks you with clearing two songs and a boss, and you earn in-game currency based on your performance used to unlock more songs. The playlist mode is basically just a free play, no string attached mode. This is the Hardcore Edition of the game, which also adds a Hardcore difficulty to both the Challenge and Playlist modes. This mode makes each song quite a bit harder, and changes up the experience quite a bit for each song. If the normal difficulty gets a bit too mundane for you, this should spice things up a bit. I don’t think I could personally recommend this game, but if the idea of it sounds appealing to you, it might be worth the $20 asking price. The story only takes a few hours to get through, but if you enjoy the gameplay, there’s tons of replayability to be had.
Just Shapes & Beats is one of the most passive aggressive bullet hell shooters I’ve ever seen, and an interactive Fantasia (that’s more accessible and interesting than the actual one made by Harmonix). It’s a trippy, insane adrenaline rush where every move and beat is superbly choreographed. Although it came out back in May, now’s a good time as ever to revisit Just Shapes & Beats to establish it as one of 2018’s quiet sleeper darlings.