Review: Superbeat: Xonic

Posted by Collin on November 23rd, 2015 | 0 Comments | Tags: Nurijoy , PM Studios , Superbeat: Xonic

As a music/rhythm game, Superbeat: Xonic takes inspiration from the DJMax games. Musical notes appear on screen and you’ll need to match your timing with the notes to obtain the high score. On the surface, this new rhythm game for PlayStation Vita may not seem to have a ton of content, but after playing for a while, you’ll realize there is quite a lot to do despite having only two gameplay modes.

Superbeat: Xonic only has two main gameplay modes: Stage and World Tour. In Stage mode, you’ll either play chosen songs in either a 4 Trax, 6 Trax, 6 Trax FX, or Free Style. 4 Trax is Superbeat: Xonic’s beginner mode, as songs that you choose have less notes to play. 6 Trax and 6 Trax FX increase the number of notes that need to be played, which also increases the difficulty. As you play new songs and increase your personal player rank, you’ll unlock more songs that can be played in the Free Style mode. The World Tour mode tasks you with playing multiple songs while trying to complete a challenge, such as completing the songs with a certain combo number, or having less than 10 missed notes. The first set of challenges are pretty easy, but the difficulty of the challenges ramps up quickly. However the World Tour mode does not tell you when you’ve failed a challenge. For a challenge that requires you to have less than 15 mistakes in 3 songs, you could mess up more than 15 times in the first song and the game won’t tell you. You’ll either have to mentally count, or wait till the very end of the challenge to find out. It is frustrating when you’re trying to complete a challenge, and by the last song you are praying that you haven’t failed the challenge. A nice variety of songs round out the overall soundtrack. There are over 50 songs to play and unlock, ranging from electro house music to metal. Each song also has their own visualizer that plays in the background of songs. They are nice to look at, but if you take your eyes off the notes to look at the visuals, you are almost guaranteed to miss notes. Even on easier difficulties.

Each note can be played using both the face buttons and analog sticks on the PS Vita, or can be played by using the front touch screen. In the 6 Trax FX mode, some notes will require you to use the L and R shoulder buttons. The game does offer other variations that can be used. Increasing the speed of the notes approaching, reducing the time you know when the note will appear, etc. are small variations that allow you to choose the way you want to play. As you level up, you’ll unlock new sounds that play when you hit each note and new DJ icons that will change various stats such as increasing experience gained or increasing the amount of missed notes needed to fail a song. There are a massive amount of sounds and DJ icons to unlock. For completionists, you’ll want to complete the collection of icons and sounds. A Backstage option allows you to see what you have unlocked so far and what rank you have on each song. Finally, a DJ Ranking allows you to view local and world leaderboards to see who has the best score in each game mode.

Even though there is a lack of modes in Superbeat: Xonic, the Stage and World Tour modes offer a wide range of content for players looking to level up and unlock everything. The game offers a wide range of songs to choose from and each of the variations will lead to many different ways to play the tracks. Mastering each track and achieving everything the game has to offer will take some time and dedication. So if you are looking for good music/rhythm game with a wide range of songs and a bit of challenge, check out Superbeat: Xonic.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here.