Rhythm Heaven Fever Review

It'd be wrong of me to say that Rhythm Heaven Fever wasn't my first time playing the series. It'd also be wrong of me to say I wasn't tempted to pick it up due to various videos online, as well as the budget price tag. However, it's not wrong of me to say that Rhythm Heaven Fever is one of the most enjoyable games to come out on Wii, despite having a few glaring flaws. When you start up the game you'll notice two distinctive features; first, it's entirely hand-drawn, animations included with separate ones for successes and failures in each game. While it may not be high definition, it looks extremely crisp and beautiful on your TV. Secondly, is that the game starts you with a rhythm test to gauge how close you are to the beat. There's no success or failure here, but mainly to test how good your musical prowess is. For me, I was hovering around the middle, being even split between hitting early and hitting late. What this does is give you a grasp of how hard it will be for you to get into the game early on. Some people will hit the ground running, while others will immediately break both legs. For me, I struggled to get past the first game on the first go, but had immediate success with more to follow because I learned the rules of the game. There are some games that I do still struggle with, while some praise their ingenuity. There are also games that are simple not executed properly. In both of these situations, they'll leave the player frustrated and scratching their head at what exactly the problem is. Fortunately enough, after 3 failures, you can visit the Cafe to say you want to skip over to the next game. You can always go back to another game anytime you want as well in order to Medal or even Perfect it. The only problem with Perfecting games is that there are small windows in which you can earn Perfects, and once those windows appear, you only have 3 attempts or you'll have to play a few more games for another one to randomly appear on ones you've already gotten a Medal in. I found this to be a bit frustrating at times since the game wouldn't let me progress at my own pace. I've heard that this happens in other versions of the series, but I'd still levy the same complaint there as well. However, the moments that make Rhythm Heaven Fever shine are the games that seem to truly embrace the concept and execute properly on them. Fortunately the majority of the games are this way, like Ring Side, Flock Step and Samurai Slice. They overwhelm the player visually but in reality the simplistic nature of the game allows complete control of the situation. The way you gain mastery of the game by keeping the beat so you no longer have to rely on visual cues is excellent, and it keeps me playing the game even though I'm long finished. Score: 8 out of 10 + An excellent style that conquers raw graphical power + Good music - Some games are frustrating