This week on LIT, we fight between Symphony and Crypt of the NecroDancer! Symphony was released in August of 2012 by Empty Clip Studios for PC, and Crypt of the NecroDancer was released in April of 2015 by Brace Yourself Games and Klei Entertainment for PC and PS4. Both of these games are musically driven, so let’s see which one really sings.
STORY
BECCA: Symphony begins with a distorted voice informing you that it has infiltrated your music library and will use the composers to spread evil! You must free the music and the composers from the 5 demons within. Each song creates different levels, and you fight through them to save your music. Everything is musically themed from the items to the difficulty levels. This is such a unique way to interact with the player; and the deeper you get, the better this game becomes!
WILL: In Crypt of the NecroDancer, you are a feisty young bard named Cadence who is searching for answers and finds herself cursed with a spell that causes her heart to beat like a drum. She discovers much more than she bargained for down in the Crypt. Without giving away all the secrets, I can safely say the story in this game is amazing. It is well-developed, engaging, and spans through three unique play-throughs.
WINNER: It’s a tie! Both stories are just so unique and entertaining.
GRAPHICS
BECCA: Symphony’s graphics are absolutely gorgeous. When you’re in the midst of a fight for your music, musical notes and lasers shoot out of your ship. Enemies have unique shapes, and the song changes the colors of the levels and speed of the staff you sail upon. You can unlock items/weapons throughout the game, and each weapon fires in a unique way. The blasters just fire small lines while the subwoofers fire music notes! The graphics for this game are covered in music, and I love it!
WILL: Crypt of the NecroDancer has a retro Legend of Zelda feel to the graphics in a way that it is pixels and the almost side scroll but still free world feeling. The art in the cut-scenes is unique and very appealing. All in all not much to report here, the graphics are just what they need to be for this game: simple and functional.
WINNER: And it’s another tie! The graphics for the games fit their respective plots and atmospheres very well!
SOUNDTRACK
BECCA: Symphony’s soundtrack is”¦ well”¦ whatever you want it to be. It provides an album of its own with just a few preloaded tracks. However, the most unique part of this game is the soundtrack. When you open the game and move through the initial cut-scene, you have the option to load in your own soundtrack! It works with iTunes, mp3s, and pretty much every other file you can think of! I was thrilled and loaded in several songs. Each song creates a unique level, and it made everything that much more enjoyable.
WILL: In Crypt of the NecroDancer, everything revolves around a good solid beat, and the soundtrack gives you just that. Every track has a great bass line and some spunky energy. If you are not a fan of the electronic or techno style of music, this game is not for you. I personally will be listening to the soundtrack when I am just doing things around the house. Very well made.
WINNER: Well, it’s definitely a tie here. The soundtracks are amazing, whether you create your own or jam to some spunky beats.
MECHANICS
BECCA: The mechanics for Symphony are simple! Lots of mouse work, and plenty of holding down the mouse button. You have free reign of the staff, so you can dart around and collect points and power-ups from defeating enemies. The developers kept the mechanics simple, so you could enjoy the music and fight through the challenging levels.
WILL: I have never played rhythm based dungeon crawler before, and it is a concept that made me very wary. After playing Crypt of the NecroDancer, I can say I am all for it now. This is the coolest dungeon crawler I have played. You only need to use the arrow keys to control your movements, and you have to move with the beat of the song playing. It really makes combat and gameplay very interesting.
WINNER: The mechanics for each game are simple and functional, so it’s yet another tie.
REPLAYABILITY
BECCA: Symphony has great replayability. If you work through the soundtrack provided, you can load whatever songs you like. You can reevaluate your music any time you load the game, providing different songs and more gameplay. The difficulty levels make me come back and fight to get 100% on each difficulty and each song!
WILL: Crypt of the NecroDancer has several different storylines and difficulties that allow you to enjoy the game many times over and in a new way, be it a new character or playing with your buddy in the couch co-op mode. This is one of the most versatile and replayable dungeon crawlers I have seen.
WINNER: Aaaaaaand, it’s another tie! Which means”¦.
Our winner is”¦.
EVERYONE!
Both games win this week. We fell in love with our respective games and fought hard for them! After reviewing the opposing games, we fell in love with them as well! Each developer did an incredible job. Be sure to check out both of the games, and we’ll see you next week on LIT!
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