Beat Fever is a 2017 music tap rhythm game developed by WRKSHP, a free app that takes its players to another world where they can play all kinds of top and classic hits with various difficulties to unlock in a single player campaign, PvP mode as well as weekly new events to participate it.
Music tap rhythm games is a genre of those that enjoy the musically geared and on the go gaming crowd. For us, who have been part of the Dance Dance Revolution generation, this is the closest mobile genre that we could get. Beat Fever comes out rather strong as it works on not only delivering a game but also a community. The story campaign is rather strong and works like a simple comic as we can design and customized our avatars as we unlock more clothing and accessories with RPG elements of levelling up. There are missions to complete each day with daily bonuses to proceeding further in the campaign mode or diving into the events. However, the fun adds an extra layer as it also requires its players to collect Beat Monsters that will help towards the journey to add perks to each mission.
Beat Fever has a decent song selection. It covers many genres with classical music such as The Nutcracker and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony to Top 40 music like Counting Stars and #SELFIE or electronic dance music due to a few collaborations with Spinnin’ Records. The song difficulties can be unlocked as your character becomes stronger and ranges from easy, normal, hard and pro. However, the harder the music gets, the less it is about a handheld experience and one that requires a hard surface so you can react faster.
It may however be an overwhelming experience for those jumping in for a quick music dose as there are many aspects to tend to with levelling up your character while adding in the need to collect Beat Monsters and levelling them up through power-ups and prestige level-ups and fusing. Even after being in-game for over a month or so, these elements and their purpose still feel a little blurry. WRKSHP does work hard on making the experience easier by having quick tutorial videos available on Youtube and if you watch it through the Daily Hub on Beat TV, it even gives you bonuses.
Is Beat Fever a perfect experience? There is still a lot of polish to be had here. There are frequent bugs and interruptions every few days. The world might be too complex for those looking for a quick experience. The biggest criticism is the fact that the energy we get are fixed while the progression in the story campaign requires more energy which makes it hard to be invested in the game when the higher levels end up having the ability to only play one song and having to go back and wait for it charge. There is always in-app purchase options however, there is also the option to go into another game instead for free. Perhaps a balance in that area is one that would be needed and appreciated.
Beat Fever is currently available on iOS and Android.