Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.
In this explanatory review, we’re covering Super Crazy Rhythm Castle by developer Second Impact Games:
Super Crazy Rhythm Castle (The Explanation)
Super Crazy Rhythm Castle is a 4-player party rhythm game developed by Second Impact Games and published by Konami. It challenges players to hit buttons in time with the music to score points and earn stars, with up to three stars to be earned in each of the game’s many stages.
The plot of the game follows four unlikely heroes as they try to dethrone the crazy King Ferdinand of Rhythm Castle. The unhinged King won’t give up his throne willingly though and will conjure up dastardly tricks and traps to keep the heroes from reaching him. It is up to the players to work together (or not) to tackle a multitude of endeavors all while keeping up with the rhythmic beat and multitasking different objectives all at the same time. It’s not called Super Crazy Rhythm Castle for nothing, you know.
Whether playing alone or with friends, the goal is the same. press the buttons in time with the beat when prompted and try to accomplish other tasks at the same time. For example, in one stage, you will be keeping the beat whilst another player, or a CPU companion is collecting coins on behalf of the King for his side hustle. In another instance, you will trying to defeat powerful enemies by keeping a combo going in a beat ’em up video game in an elevator and having to swap from fighting to healing, all whilst trying to beat all the enemies without dying or the time running out.
It all sounds relatively straightforward on paper but the execution itself is quite the challenge. So much so that you would have to work well in a team or have the reflexes of a cat in order to even scrape up one star. The first couple of stages are simple enough but the difficulty arc begins to ramp up exponentially, meaning anyone with less than nimble fingers and lightning quick synapses will have some difficulty. Now, I may be overselling it a little bit, but that is only because my reflexes are not as sharp as they used to be. That, and when numerous button prompts are flying down the screen, I am not able to compute quick enough and end up a fumbling, bumbling mess, and that is just on regular mode with just three different buttons.
However, if you are a Guitar Hero or rhythm game extraordinaire, there is also a harder difficulty mode that you can turn on and off freely. This mode adds more button prompts and extra usable buttons to really turn up the heat. As I am still stuggling with the regular game mode, I don’t think I will be challenging the higher difficulty any time soon.
While the gameplay is not to my personal tastes, I do appreciate the game’s rocking soundtrack. Super Crazy Rhythm Castle has over 30 different music tracks covering all sorts of genres from Rock to Hip Hop, Dub-step to remixes of classic Konami video games like Castlevania and Beatmania. The music alone is great to listen to even if I don’t have the skill to actually play the game.
To wrap up, Super Crazy Rhythm Castle lives up to its name in that it is Super Crazy with plenty of Rhythm that takes place in a castle. Although I couldn’t gel with the game personally, if you enjoy multiplayer rhythm games with plenty of mayhem and chaos thrown in for good measure, then you may get a kick out of this game.
Super Crazy Rhythm Castle (The Gameplay)
Game Specifications:
Developer: Second Impact Games
Publisher: Konami
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Music, Party, Puzzle, Action
No. of Players: 1-4 (Single System), 2-4 (Online)
Release Date: NA| EU: November 14, 2023
Price: $39.99
File Size: 3.6 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
