Neonize Challenges You with Rhythmic Shooting

When I think of rhythmic music games, I think of Dance Dance Revolution , but I’ve never thought about playing something like that mobile.

Neonize from Defenestrate Studios takes a rhythmic-tapping formula, puts it onto your smartphone, and presents it with flashy, colorful neon graphics.

The neon, geometric style presents a cross layout, each representing a side from which enemies appear. At the center, the stationary player ship needs to defend itself, requiring you to tap whichever area the foes come from. What’s more, playing along with the beat of the track, tapping the screen at a precise moment will start building up the multiplier bar, which allows combos for higher score. Even the weapon changes, so a perfect tap results in a flashy green beam. The foes explode in colorful sparks that are actually fairly gentle on the eye. There are also many “medals” (achievements) to get, and leaderboards for the competitive folk.

Having spent a little bit of time playing Neonize , I found it as difficult as advertised. One mistake pretty much costs you the playthrough. The levels are divided into phases, each having a specific configuration of enemy ships. With changing tempos rising up to be pretty fast, which decreases allowed reaction time, Neonize mixes it up further with enemies that require taps on two opposite sides. The only real problem I had is getting perfect taps. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t “find” the beat, and the on-screen visual indicators don’t seem to help. I thought it would be when the foes are right at the center of the rings, but sometimes it’s the very moment when they leave them. In spite of my efforts, I couldn’t get a lot of perfect taps at all.

The developers meant to make a difficult game, so I’m hoping future updates will bring more music tracks, some visual clarifications, and maybe a “casual mode” that lets you simply tap rhythmically into combos and not worry about memorizing or losing. Either way, it’s a good concept for a mobile game with pleasant, sharp graphics.

Neonize is synching up to smart phones on August 22nd, where it will be available for free with ads, or for $1.99 without. Look for it on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.