Songbird Symphony

Genre: Platformer / Music-Rhythm

Players: 1

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Review:

Songbird Symphony is a family-friendly Platformer with strong Music-Rhythm elements that follows the story of a young bird trying to find his parents. This is a game that involves some degree of exploration, but not so much I’d call it a Metroidvania. Mostly this is about simple platforming and call-repeat music-rhythm sections.

The presentation here is, in a word, adorable. This game’s characters (most of which are various birds) are all cartoony and instantly appealing, with cute little animations. There’s nothing particularly extraordinary here beyond just how darn cute it all is, but it is very cute. The music here is all wordless, but delivered with “follow the bouncing ball” lyrics, and some of it’s catchy, though to be honest a lot of it isn’t especially memorable (though it is all fairly nice).

As for the gameplay, let me start by saying that while this game is very much a Platformer, there’s not really any challenge to the platforming here. There are no enemies, no difficult jumps. Platforming is how you get around in this game, but it’s not really what the game is about. Mostly what you’ll be doing is looking around for things you can do to help others around you (hitting a switch, gathering together lost items, and so on), and these sections are broken up by occasional music-rhythm challenges.

On the note of “challenge”, the music-rhythm sections in the game are a bit of an odd case when it comes to challenge. They have a huge difficulty spike early on… but the game is also extremely forgiving of mistakes, meaning that players will likely miss a lot of notes, but still end up with a decent score in the end. It’s definitely odd, though I suppose on the bright side it means that there’s more of a challenge for those who want to aim for a perfect score, while less-skilled players can still progress fairly easily.

The overall lack of challenge is a constant issue in this game, although that’s somewhat forgiveable as the game seems aimed primarily at younger players. A bit less forgivable is the length – this is a game that can be completed in the span of 5-6 hours, which feels on the short side.

Songbird Symphony definitely isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s overly easy, short, and the music isn’t quite memorable enough for a game that puts this much of a focus on music. However, it’s also ridiculously charming and extremely cute, and the low overall challenge level makes it pretty ideal for youngsters. If you have young ones who you think might enjoy something cartoony and musical, this will be a great way to go. For everyone else, this is going to be an adorable distraction, but not much more than that.

tl;dr – Songbird Symphony is a family-friendly Platformer with strong Music-Rhythm elements, with a story that follows a young bird searching for his parents. This game is absolutely adorable, and loaded with charm, but it’s not very difficult. Younger players may find this to be a delight, but more experienced gamers are likely to find this to be little more than a brief distraction.

Grade: B-

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