AVICII Invector

Genre: Music-Rhythm

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)

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Review:

AVICII Invector is a Music-Rhythm game originally released to multiple platforms in 2019 and brought to the Nintendo Switch in 2020, focusing on the life’s work of the late artist referenced in the title. AVICII, a Swedish DJ and sound mixer, suffered from physical and mental health problems and took his life in 2018, so this game stands as something of a eulogy, albeit one that reimagines the artist’s music as a guide for course corrections being made by a futuristic starship.

In terms of presentation, this game is somewhat limited, but incredible within those limitations. To give you an idea what I mean, my first impression of this game was one of awe – the trippy 3D space-themed landscape you find your ship flying through in the game’s first level is an absolute visual feast, delivered with an excellent resolution and silky-smooth framerates. Right from the start, I felt like I was looking at one of the best-looking games on 2020 on the Nintendo Switch. But then I played the second stage… and the third… and the fourth… only to find these stages used the exact same area as their backdrop, and while it looked no less-impressive, the lack of variety in the scenery was a bit disappointing after that initial amazement.

Likewise, the soundtrack here is excellent, and while I hadn’t even heard of AVICII before this game, I will say that I regret it took a posthumous work to introduce me to his catalog of songs. And while I’m wary of recommending a Music-Rhythm game that focuses on one artist to anyone who isn’t a fan of that artist, AVICII’s collaborations with a variety of artists ensures that there’s a healthy variety here, albeit generally staying within the realm of electronic-infused pop. A few songs I liked in particular are Pure Grinding, The Nights, and Wake Me Up.

The gameplay here is quite good too, and brings to mind the classic PlayStation 2 game Frequency, which similarly had you circling a Tempest-style well to hit notes laid out on a track, and while I would say this game isn’t quite up to the level of that classic, its gameplay is still well-crafted and does a good job making players feel as though they’re really playing the song through the level’s design.

These sections are occasionally broken up by on-rails free-flying sections that have you navigating a ship through rings. These sections, while fine in their own right, feel oddly out of place in a game that is otherwise about moving to the rhythm of the music. They’re probably the weakest part of the game, although they’re not bad, per se, they’re just… well, like I said, out of place.

This game does support up to four players in a split-screen competitive mode, and while the framerates do take a noticeable hit in this mode, the game is still perfectly playable, and players looking to challenge each other may find this a nice inclusion, although unfortunately there’s not much interaction between players, so it’s really just a challenge to see who can nab the highest score on a given song.

While there are areas in AVICII Invector that don’t quite fit or could use a little tweaking to improve them, overall this is a fantastic, great-looking Music-Rhythm game, and I’d daresay a fine testament to the life’s work of its central artist. If you’re a fan of Music-Rhythm games and you haven’t already gotten this game on another platform, you should consider the Switch release of the game a must-buy.

tl;dr – AVICII Invector is a Music-Rhythm game that has you moving down a rotating corridor in a spaceship and hitting notes in time with the late artist’s music. This game has fantastic graphics and a great soundtrack, and while there are areas here and there that could do with some tweaking, overall this is a must-have game for Music-Rhythm fans.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Winner: Best Music/Rhythm Game – I’m always wary of single-artist music-rhythm games, as musical tastes are an individual subjective thing and limiting a game to one artist can lead to it being monotonous, but the late AVICII’s frequent collaborations with other artists and explorations of various musical styles do a good job of addressing this issue, and the game that contains this music is an eye-popping and highly enjoyable trip that follows in the footsteps of genre classic Frequency. As a result, this game was by far my favorite in the genre on Nintendo Switch in 2020.

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