LogFAQs > #976698254

Game #8 Complete! Echoic Memory

Final Thoughts:
I was all over the place on this one. At first I kinda liked it. Then I hated it. Then I liked it! Then I hated it? I think probably, overall, it was ok. Okay? I know that's always a super interesting and HOT take, but it's how I felt. (Bad+good+bad+good)/total amount of playtime = average. That's just math, okay?

This is a game I feel like could've benefited from a couple of things. The first was a better tutorial type system. I didn't know what the hell I was doing at first and I'm not good enough with musical cues to make up for that. "Hey adjust the song until you get it right" "Okay how?" "Shut up I'm dancing here you fucking dork." That's how the game felt at first and it was more annoying than anything. I was sort of just guessing at points and it wasn't fun.

Then I got it and it was pretty good for a while! I figured out I didn't need to get the tracks perfect to sync up and as long as I could tell what the hell I was listening to, I could figure out the song. Honestly, it was more fun that way and the whole "adjustment" part is not needed. Like, this is the worst use of the crank out of any game so far, and there are two games here that don't use the crank at all. I didn't like having to adjust the songs because 1) it felt like a chore and 2) once I knew what I was doing every single song was adjusted the same way. As soon as I got to a song, I would slow it down as much as possible until you couldn't hear anything, then crank in the other direction for like a second, and you'd get some close approximation of the song. That's it. Every time. It was work by the end of the game and when you get to those big 20 grid tests it is brutal to have to do this over and over and over (and over) again.

BUT here's what works. You get a song. You get a bunch of slightly off pitch versions of other songs and you look for the one you need. That I liked. It was very puzzle-y and it worked well. You hear the right version of the song and then you go through a bunch (including several that sound similar) and you're like "oh wait...is that it?" But then the tempo is a bit off or there is an extra beat or there's a weird breathing sound and you have to keep looking. That part was actually fun for me, for a while. Having to really listen and getting that AHA THAT'S IT moment was pretty cool and it saved the game for me when that clicked.

Then after doing that for a while you get the downswing again because that's all there is to the game. The story is boring as hell and poorly written and a whole bunch of stuff here feels like it either repeats itself or doesn't matter. I don't know how many more saccharine stories of fake robot memories I can listen to, but I know that number is significantly less than what's in the game. It is a story that starts nowhere, goes nowhere, and ends nowhere. There's a bit in chapter four that is kind of interesting where all the robots actually start telling the same story and it feels like its building somewhere, but the rest of the game is a bunch of independent stuff that I didn't really care about.

And when the game is the same thing over and over and over (and did I say over?) again, the concept wears thin. It was fun in chapter 3 and 4 and then chapter 5 comes around and I was like "oh man there's really more of this, huh?" I was dreading failing a block because I didn't want to start over. Luckily, things also got easier the more I played so most of my failures occurred in chapter 3 and I didn't fail a single time in chapter 5. Games need growth or twists or something, and doing the same thing, but more really wears thin.

This isn't even mentioning the technical issues, and luckily all my crashes occurred after one or two matches. If it happened at like match 16 I think I would've just called it a game and moved on. So it's a little fun, a little boring, a little creative, a little repetitive, and a little broken. Is that clear enough for you?

Should You Play It? I think so. I think I'm on board with this. Look, it's free. It comes with the Playdate. If you don't like it, you can stop. There's something good in here though if you can dig through the not good stuff.

Final Score: Another 5. Maybe a 6? Or a 4? Depends on when you ask me.

Games Completed: 8/108

Game Rankings:
8) Boogie Loops
7) Whitewater Wipeout
6) Lost Your Marbles
5) Flipper Lifter
4) Echoic Memory
3) Casual Birder
2) Pick Pack Pup
1) Crankin's Time Travel Adventure