Kovox Pitch

Genre: Music-Rhythm

Players: 1

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Review:

Kovox Pitch is a Music-Rhythm game released in 2022 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2023. This game puts players in the role of a kid who rigged his moped to become a baseball-shooting pitch machine, hitting the balls in time with the game’s music, with the game having a Russian post-punk soundtrack.

Now, I don’t really follow Russian post-punk, but I thought this game’s tunes were pretty good, clearing the first hurdle that any Music-Rhythm game needs to cross. Unfortunately, I can’t link to any of the songs directly, but here is a full playthrough that’ll let you hear what the soundtrack has to offer. The rest of the presentation looks good at first too, with the baseball kid depicted in 2D hand-drawn style with good animation, in front of blurred backgrounds. Unfortunately, these visuals become repetitive very quickly, as there’s not enough variety in backgrounds, and the kid himself remains the same even when you switch locations.

There are also story scenes between levels about the kid reconnecting with his older brother that are pretty poorly-written, and voiced with a heavy Russian accent, along with a 3D look at the inside of the kid’s house. Do yourself a favor if you play this game – skip this stuff.

As for the gameplay itself, this is fairly straightforward Music-Rhythm fare, but I have to take it to task for a few flaws that add up to make it less enjoyable than it otherwise could have been. Firstly, the difficulty here starts hard and only gets harder, making this a game that not all fans of the genre will enjoy. What’s more, while there is some gameplay complexity farther into the game, Kovox Pitch takes a good while before it gets to that, making for a somewhat monotonous experience early on. Additionally, this game forces players to stick with the B and Y buttons for hitting notes… er, baseballs… and there’s no button reassignment here.

Under all those problems is some good gameplay, but that’s… well, a lot of problems. I really wanted to like Kovox Pitch – the music is great and the gameplay reminded me a lot of the excellent Rhythm Heaven series. Unfortunately, monotonous gameplay and visuals and a lack of control options make this a game that definitely seems like it could have been great but instead just ended up being kinda’ okay.

tl;dr – Kovox Pitch is a Music-Rhythm game where players take the role of a kid hitting baseballs shot from a pitch machine, all to Russian post-punk music. It’s an odd idea, but at its core it works – the music is great and the gameplay is good. Unfortunately, the gameplay and visuals are far too monotonous, and the lack of control options is a pretty disappointing unforced error. As a result, what could have been a great Music-Rhythm game is only okay.

Grade: C

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