Super Crazy Rhythm Castle

Genre: Music-Rhythm / Party Game

Players: 1-4 Competitive / Co-Op (Local / Online)

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Review:

Super Crazy Rhythm Castle, released in 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, is a family-friendly Music-Rhythm Game with some Party Game elements. Players take the role of a character trying to move up a gauntlet of rooms in the titular messy, ramshackle castle, with each room presenting the player with a Music-Rhythm challenge.

The core Music-Rhythm gameplay here is pretty simple – L and R hit left and right notes coming down a Guitar Hero-style track, and Y hits the center notes. However, the game quickly makes it clear that it has no intention of sticking to this very traditional formula.

See, you’re not just doing the Music-Rhythm stuff, but doing it in conjunction with other activities that come up, with each room doing something different and often unpredictable. In the very first room, players must alternate between the Music-Rhythm gameplay and running around to sort through multicolored cushions that shower down into the room and need to be deposited in their specific receptacles. In a later level, one player is hitting Music-Rhythm notes while another needs to run around and collect pickups that playing the correct notes produces.

For these challenges that require an additional player, the game provides an AI-controlled companion, but the game seems to be catered primarily toward multiplayer play, with moments of asymmetrical play that have players doing different things at times. This works pretty well, adding to the offbeat and unpredictable nature of the game in ways that I found to be really fun.

The mix of standard, traditional gameplay and a grab bag of Party Game mechanics that changes in each room makes for a fun and varied experience that’s a lot of fun, though players hoping for a straight-up Music-Rhythm experience may feel a little deflated. You can technically play the game’s songs in a “pure” Music-Rhythm versus mode, but this is clearly not how the game is intended to be played, and included as a courtesy more than to give players that direct Music-Rhythm experience. What’s more, players need to wander around and explore the bizarre castle to even find the rooms they need to complete, which slows down the game’s pacing, as does the game’s somewhat slow unskippable dialogue.

Of course, another important element when it comes to Music-Rhythm games is the soundtrack, and here Super Crazy Rhythm Castle is kinda’ all over the place, jumping from tracks that are apparently deliberately bad to others that are quite good. As a result, there’s definitely some great music here, but you never know going into a level if you’re in for something good or a stinker… or perhaps both, when some levels have music that changes partway.

However, for songs that I would consider highlights in this game’s odd mix, check out Gold, Rainbow Melodies, and… some other songs I unfortunately can’t find links for online. I should also mention that this game does contain some remixes of classic Konami game themes, but don’t expect this to be a major part of the game – there aren’t many of them, and they’re something that have really just been tossed in as a bonus.

For the rest of the presentation, it’s… well, also all over the place. The game’s characters and locale feel like an abstract mishmash of all sorts of different things tossed together in a blender. The player walks to the castle via a keyboard bridge in the sky, and there are certainly musical elements highlighted throughout the game’s decorations, but mostly it’s whatever the game decided to use at the time. A room full of gold like Scrooge McDuck’s vault? Yeah, okay. A main villain who you only see through a TV screen through much of the game? Sure, why not. A character named Eggar who is literally a walking, talking egg? Makes about as much sense as anything else here.

All of this is depicted using 3D visuals that are okay, though there’s definitely some slowdown in areas where you’re moving from one level to the next, something that thankfully doesn’t seem to affect the gameplay. Also, while we’re on the topic of presentation, there is one element I need to be sure to praise, and that is this game’s sound design, which gives each of this game’s characters a distinctly unique and silly voice. For example, Eggar’s speaking voice sounds like eggshells being rasped against each other.

Overall, Super Crazy Rhythm Castle’s bizarre mix of elements is not going to appeal to everyone, and those looking for a straight-up Music-Rhythm game may find themselves disappointed that this game is more interested with playing around with the genre’s conventions than playing things straight. However, while I didn’t like everything this game had to offer, I was delighted at how it remains unpredictable, and I respect how it aims to do something different with the genre, and those looking for a Music-Rhythm game that breaks the mold of the genre should definitely check this out.

tl;dr – Super Crazy Rhythm Castle is a game that combines family-friendly Music-Rhythm gameplay with a variety of wacky and unpredictable Party Game elements to create something that aims to subvert the norms of the genre. The creativity and unpredictable nature of the game is delightful, but while it often creates fantastic gameplay, it also frequently becomes tedious or annoying, especially if you wanted to play a more traditional Music-Rhythm game. As such, this game won’t be for everyone, but those looking for something different will likely get a kick out of it.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Music-Rhythm Game, Best Multiplayer, Best Sound Design

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