Rhythm Core Alpha

Genre: Content Creation Application

Players: 1

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Review:

Rhythm Core Alpha is a Music Creation Application that was originally released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2010, and it was later grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS eShop when the Nintendo 3DS released. This Application allows players to compose their own synthesized music.

Unfortunately, this lofty ideal comes with a few issues. First and foremost, this Application has a multitude of controls that will be mystifying to those just picking it up, and potentially outright intimidating. While I would say that Rhythm Core Alpha isn’t quite as difficult to wrap your head around as Rytmik Ultimate, it is still very, very far from user-friendly. There are no tutorials to guide you through the way this Application is used, and only some help menus to peruse.

Once you actually get to know how this software works, you’ll discover that numerous basic elements of the software are poorly-designed. Players must scroll up and down a long list of instruments, but the touchscreen-based “pause/play” button is at the very top, and there’s no shortcut on the gamepad. What’s more, placing a note doesn’t let you hear what it sounds like, nor can you hear what an instrument sounds like when selecting it as one of your array of instruments from the menu – you have to set it and then play it on the touchscreen piano instead, which is frustrating. Also, trying to scroll horizontally while placing non-drum notes can have the game thinking you’re trying to place a long note, making navigation extremely clunky.

However, even if you’re willing to put up with the difficulty of learning this software and the poorly-designed interface, you’ll be stuck making songs with poorly-synthesized instruments that sound terribly artificial, and not even in a fun “chiptune” sorta’ way. As much as I couldn’t comprehend how to use Rytmik Ultimate, at the very least the sound quality in that software seemed good.

Now, as I said in my review of Rytmik Ultimate, I am not a musician, but even so I have to think that there can’t be much use for a Music Creation Application that’s hard to understand, poorly-designed, and sounds terrible. Yet that’s what we have here with Rhythm Core Alpha. If you’re looking for something to create fun tunes on the Nintendo 3DS, look elsewhere.

tl;dr – Rhythm Core Alpha is a Music Creation Application that’s difficult to understand, poorly-designed in multiple ways, and ultimately creates poor-sounding synthesized music. Whatever you’re looking for in a Music Creation App, I don’t think this is it.

Grade: D

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