By The genre of music rhythm games is not very popular among independent developers. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it is very difficult to come up with something new in it. The authors of A Musical Story also did not reinvent the genre, but using standard mechanics they told a good story about the musician, linking each of his memories with a pleasant track.
Snapshots from life
Just from the screenshots you can understand how stylish the game is. Although the color palette is not too rich, the atmosphere in each frame is conveyed brilliantly, thanks to simple but effective animations and the ability of the developers to speak without dialogue or even captions.
The main character is a guy named Gabriel, who is trying to build a career as a musician with his friends. There will be many bright and not so bright moments along his path: sincere love, addiction, attempts to combine a lifelong dream with everyday work, touring, and so on. Separate chapters are devoted to everything, each of which includes several unique compositions.
The soundtrack, clearly inspired by 70s Nokyccasinos.org.uk music, is amazing – a rare occasion when I wanted to listen to it outside of the game. The tracks are performed on various instruments from simple guitars and drums to melodica. There are even a couple of tracks with vocals. All songs are accompanied by a mini-game, during which you need to press buttons in accordance with the tempo of the music.
Control is carried out by two buttons – either press them quickly, or hold them down if the sound is drawn-out. It seems that everything is very simple – all musical rhythm games are structured in approximately the same way – however, the authors A Musical Story decided to complicate the familiar gameplay. If we are usually given visual cues (for example, button symbols are moving and should fall into a circle), then here in normal (recommended) mode there is nothing like that.
Past again
The idea is not so good – you need to remember the tempo of the melody, and it can last up to ten seconds. Plus the rhythm of some tracks is confusing, which also doesn’t simplify the process. The most unpleasant thing is to miss one of the first presses, because after that you need to wait until the melody starts again.
If you miss even once, you will no longer be able to receive a star for completing the chapter, and stars are needed to open the bonus scene. Perhaps there is something wrong with my sense of rhythm (although I had not noticed such problems before), but the gameplay was more often irritating, and the disappearance of the star almost made me give up. Especially if you rushed for a split second and ruined the whole song.
The solution is very simple – go to the menu and select simplified mode. The crossed out star will be an eyesore (it’s impossible to get it in this mode), but a moving dot will appear on the scale each time, telling you when and which button to press. Yes, the game was conceived differently, and this level of difficulty is not considered recommended, but it eliminates the need to sit too long at the same composition, spending four or five attempts on it.
When the gameplay is not boring, A Musical Story is much more fun. While listening to beautiful music, you look at beautiful pictures and get imbued with the story of an ambitious musician, to whom life throws new challenges and memorable moments. It turns out to be a pleasant interactive film without words, which after a two-hour playthrough you still want to return to and try to complete it without mistakes.
Pros: unusual idea; stylish graphics; great soundtrack; ability to switch to mode with hints.
