THUMPER

Holy shit. Yes. Oh my god, I love this game.


The developers describe it as a "Rhythm Violence" game, and that sums it up pretty well. I was intrigued when I first saw it on Nontendo machines, but when it came to Switch I had to have it.
Having played the first level (then played it through a couple more times to chase high scores), I can say this is right up my street. Imagine an on-rails action thing where the trick to nailing shooting the baddies isn't reacting to on-screen prompts, but getting in time with percussive rhythms, and you'll be half way there.

This is like a child's misremembered experiences of playing Tempest a bit too young and being freaked out by it.
This is like a weird vinyl album cover brought to life.
This is like the kind of nightmares you have when you're ill or under the influence and it doesn't make sense or mean anything but it's terrifying anyway.
This is like being in just the right mood/ level of inebriation to lose yourself dancing to some proper electro music.

It's fast, it looks unique and brilliant, it's fun and addictive to play and the soundtrack is appropriately thumping.

I was definitely going to get this, until NL said that it was as hard as Farage pleasuring himself over a Tory Brexit. Now I'm worried it might be too much for me.

Is on the wish list fo sho.

I guess it is hard, but it's super forgiving. After death you're dropped right back in at the last checkpoint (levels are divided into 1-1, 1-2 and so on pretty regularly) so I'd imagine it's easy to "complete" so long as you don't care about getting a good score. You're a musical man, though, I reckon you'll be a dab hand.

If you can play it VR then it's well worth a go.

This and Rez are the two VR games I'm pretty keen to try.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I guess it is hard, but it's super forgiving. After death you're dropped right back in at the last checkpoint (levels are divided into 1-1, 1-2 and so on pretty regularly) so I'd imagine it's easy to "complete" so long as you don't care about getting a good score. You're a musical man, though, I reckon you'll be a dab hand.

That's probably the push I need to pick it up. I'll give Fast Racing RMX one more shot over the weekend first, to ensure that I'm no good at it.

I wish it had a demo as I'm on the fence right now. It looks visually insane enough to tempt me, but rhythm games beyond Guitar Hero have never truly been my cup of tea. Hmmm.

Don't have the best track record with rhythm games... but this is the kind of weird experiment that I like to get behind. Hope the sequel's called BAMBI.

It's that time again!

With the number of dreadful puns you've made Balla, your boothisman.gif privileges were permanently rescinded quite some time ago.

SirDrunksALot wrote:

then played it through a couple more times to chase high scores

Oooh High scores has me intrigued, does it have leaderboards?

It got a From Ibbsters on Twitter.
A From Drunka cancels that out though, It's on the wishlist.

The_Jaster wrote:

SirDrunksALot wrote:

then played it through a couple more times to chase high scores

Oooh High scores has me intrigued, does it have leaderboards?

Does it ever! It even lets you flip between global rankings and friends, which is what got me hooked: I'm just below Joe Skrebels, but my score is more than double Bitsocket Scott.

Treesmurf wrote:

It got a From Ibbsters on Twitter.

DOWNLOADING THIS NOW

EDIT. I HAVE DO A DOWN OF LOADS AND IS VERY GOOD. I'M AN GO DO MANY PLAYS FOUR SCORES (AND SEVEN YEES AGO OMFG LOLOL!)

Boisss I got ranked ,11th 8th globally  on level 1. GOTY
https://twitter.com/MussFX/status/865556640984055814

https://twitter.com/MussFX/status/865569555409760256

It's a nice feel, eh M. Muss? I remember being in the top 20 on a Swapperoo level back in the day.

Muss wrote:

Treesmurf wrote:

It got a From Ibbsters on Twitter.

DOWNLOADING THIS NOW

This is a man who posts upskirt pictures of anime figurines on his Twitter. I'm fairly sure we should all buy anything he gives a to.

ZeroJones wrote:

It's a nice feel, eh M. Muss? I remember being in the top 20 on a Swapperoo level back in the day.

It was pretty cool, couldn't believe it. Wish I'd named mySelf AAA after a local hero at the arcade

Also I was completely on the fence about getting it until luke bought it and ibby hated it

I played the first two levels of this tonight. It's damn good, but it's not going to be a game I can play in long sittings by any stretch. It's made me feel genuinely pent up and on edge. The thumping drums, the ever-increasing intensity of the track and the pounding electro beats coupled with actually playing the game - more stressful than trying to shoo a wasp out of the car.

A level at a time for me. Phew!

And I won't be going for those high scores either. Despite my (ahem) natural rhythm prowess (there's a reason I'm more of a melody man than a pulse man), I was not great at this.

It's fun though!

Hmmm... I might get this - I'm a tad worried. I'm a bit worried it'll be like when I played Guitar Hero round a mate's house and decided to debut on hard because 'I'm a musician don't you know' and "died" in 3 seconds - I'm really quite bad at doing the quick timing things. Is it really difficult, as is suggested?

It's... really quite tough, but it eases you in, and the sections are bite-sized. It's doable, but I'm not sure that being musical helps much.

It's hard as nails, for sure, but the fact that each level is broken up neatly into checkpoints means you never feel like it's an impossible task to beat a level. Plus, the feeling when everything clicks and you nail two or three sections on the trot flawlessly is a great feeling.

A good sense for rhythm definitely helps but this is very much a game to be played in short bursts and even though I really like it I wouldn't say anyone on the fence should go out of their way to get it right away.