Fans of wacky party games and rhythm games will want to check out Super Crazy Rhythm Castle, which was developed by Second Impact Games (a studio co-founded by the creator of the Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe series of Flash games) and released by Konami November 14th on PC and console. In Super Crazy Rhythm Castle, you are part of a team of one to four challengers determined to conquer the castle and overthrow its corrupt king. Everything in the castle is powered by music, so you need to use your rhythmic skills to get things up and running in order to overcome the various obstacles the castle and its king throw your way. Adding a new twist to conventional rhythm games, each level contains different minigame subtasks that interrupt the rhythm play and have you scrambling about while the music continues to flow.

There are both local and online multiplayer options allowing you to connect with friends to tackle the challenges together or to compete against one another in versus mode. Whether using co-op or versus modes, each player can select between two difficulty levels—Regular and Pro—which will determine whether rhythm play will involve pressing three buttons or four, with a few more notes to hit and slightly more complicated patterns in Pro mode.

A Funhouse of Rhythm Mania

Super Crazy Rhythm Castle keeps to its name in terms of level design. The cartoon-style artwork adds some extra zaniness with interesting layouts that complement each challenge. While there are some rather bizarre-looking rooms throughout the castle, the use of color, lighting, and shapes to highlight the important parts make each situation fairly easy to read as you go into it, though it isn't uncommon to have a poor initial playthrough of a level as you learn exactly how everything functions.

One of the things I love that adds to the chaos is that there are three versions to the layout for each level, based on the difficulty selected by the players (Regular, Pro, and mixed). This changes things up a bit more when playing with different groups of people and can add an extra challenge depending on which version you use.

The default controls for both keyboard and gamepad felt comfortable to me, and each can be customized to different bindings. However, when using a single copy of the game, the controls for each input type will be the same for all players using that form of input, so there is a limit to the customization.

Catchy Tunes and a Practice Haven

Of course, the most important thing in a rhythm game is the music you're going to be listening to while you play. This one has a good mix of high-quality rock and pop songs that are pretty much guaranteed to get stuck in your head, along with some catchy flamenco tunes found on a few levels. The music and level design are also themed to complement each other, so the music always feels appropriate for the activities in the minigames. The one tragedy is that you'll regularly need to interrupt the tunes with some discordant sounds to get past certain challenges, but you can always listen to the songs uninterrupted in the music lab.

The music lab unlocks after you get past the first five levels of the game. Whenever you complete a level for the first time, any new music from that level becomes available to play in the music lab. This offers a distraction-free space where you can hone your skills in a more traditional form of rhythm game. The lab also lets you skip to different sections of the music before you start, making it easy to practice any difficult sections without the need to wait through the rest of the song.

Performing well in the music lab will also unlock different content, such as additional avatars and a few more-complex tunes from classic videogames that can only be played in the lab.

Challenging, but Fair

The game is fairly forgiving, though it may not seem like it at times. New levels may take a while to learn, particularly when you aren't quite sure what your side-task is, and there are certain levels that are extremely difficult to beat solo, while others are more challenging as a duo. But even the Pro version of each level has a fairly simple pattern to follow for the rhythm part of the challenge, and you don't need to have perfect accuracy to three-star a level, nor do you need to three-star every level to progress in the game.

The main challenge is finding the right balance between being docked for the rhythm game and being up and about to complete your other tasks. This aspect of the game becomes a puzzle in maximizing efficiency and finding shortcuts in order to win. A less-fun challenge can be found in online multiplayer when your connection is less than ideal. Since it's a rhythm game, any lag can make things difficult. On top of that, the dialogue can't be skipped (only slightly sped up) when repeating a level, so it can get a bit frustrating if you find yourself struggling.

The game is still fun solo, but since it's primarily supposed to be a party game, you'll ideally have at least one friend joining you, and hopefully more. While the requirements to complete each challenge increase with more people, a team with two strong players can carry two much weaker players through a one-star run of most levels without having anyone sit out. Though you may want to solo or duo some levels to get a higher rating in order to continue, it still makes for a great party game even if certain members of your team are somewhat rhythmically challenged.

Quick Reference

Super Crazy Rhythm Castle is a combination rhythm and party game for one to four players.

Best played with a skilled buddy in local co-op.

Strengths:

• High-quality music.

• Interesting, quirky gameplay.

• Variations to accommodate different skill levels in one group.

Weaknesses:

• Certain levels have an extreme level of difficulty for some party dynamics.

• Dialogue can't be skipped.

• The interrupted play can be annoying to rhythm purists.