Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians

This one is so cool. It's an excellent game! It's a platformer, yes, but it still succeeds in being original. The game is beautiful to look at - escpecially the scenery - but it's the music that makes it such a fun game. The music is not only great, it is fully integrated in the game play. Beatbuddy needs to flow with the music, with the beat, in order to pass obstacles and beat enemies (get it? get it? "beat" enemies? erm...). Fun detail, in Beatbuddy's world, the language is beatbox... Haha. :)

I got this one on Humble where it seems to appear quite a bit, but I'm glad to see it is on GOG and if you enjoy platformers don't worry that you won't like this one (Humble has a Linux version that works perfectly; I haven't tried the GOG version but I'm guessing it should work under wine and maybe directly via mono once installed). The game that Beatbuddy most reminds me of is Machinarium (also on GOG; I'd recommend it), which also has excellent musical immersion but has some annoying gameplay issues that Beatbuddy does not have. Beatbuddy is one of those games that anyone interested in game design should play even if you don't like platformers. Graphics are great, the music is great, and the game is not too long or too short or too hard or too easy. The storyline is the one place it isn't as good, adding a little gratuitous misogyny that could have been so easily avoided, but it is still better in that respect than most games. Due to poor health I've spent some time lately playing games, but honestly I don't particularly like most of them. My favorite games of all time are Donkey Kong Country 1-3 (on SNES) and Sim City 3000 (SC4, now on GOG, is not quite as good IMO but not bad). This is the first game I've played that really reminds me of the fun of the Donkey Kong Country series. The game isn't that similar, but is similarly fun :).

Beatbuddy's commitment to the melding, rhythm, music and gameplay is fantastic, and for the most part it gets it done very well. The art style is beautiful; lush diverse environments with deep colour palettes and and buttery smooth animation that brings everything to life. The story is simple in the best way, with colourful and lively characters each with their own distinct voice (it becomes even more evident in the game!) The music itself is very addictive, and so well crafted and divided between different elements of the gameplay you find yourself getting into the swing of things without even noticing. Gameplay-wise, the puzzle platformer's not too challenging, but the steady layering of new mechanics, enemies and obstacles keeps things interesting throughout the run. My only big fault with the game is at times the controls can be frustrating, which can really shock you out of the experience. Outside of this however, Beatbuddy will keep lovers of 2D puzzle platformers and music well entertained over its run. A must play IMO

Good game with some puzzle gimmicks. Initially i was expecting some of Aquaria like gameplay, especially due underwater environment and music relation (remember tunes in Aquaria?), but in truth they nothing like similar. There is no openworld, not much of exploration, a lot of rhythm based arcade puzzles, almost no fighting. In term of visual design its, in some aspects, have similarities to Aquaria, its even beautiful sometimes, but still not feature that much underwater world as Aquaria. Sometimes its can even be called dull. Overall its much more cartoonish. Plot is OK, but nothing like epic, with tiny bits of humor. Overall, its decent arcade, not hardcore underwater platformer with rhythm and puzzles. But nothing more.