Game Reviews: Sequence

Title: Sequence
Genre: RPG, Indie
Developer: Iridium Studios
Release Date: 20 Oct 2011
Languages: English

Price: €3,99

In this DDR and RPG hybrid, you are Ky, a young man who finds himself trapped in a tower. With the guidance of Naia, you seek to reach the top level of the tower so you can finally be free. All you have to do is battle your way to the top. The start and basic setting are quite standard, but seeing that this is a rhythm game, one can understand the story isn’t the main focus: gameplay is. So even though the story is somewhat boring, you’ll find yourself playing the game just because it is fun.

Battle works like this: you have three different fields – one for mana, other for defense and other for spells – and you alternate between the three to play. Save for the spell field, which is only active when you cast a spell, arrows are always coming down. So in order to keep your health from decreasing, you have to hit the arrows in the health field and if you want to regain mana, you switch to the mana field and hit the arrows there. Like it was said before, the spell field is only active when you cast a spell and in battle, it’s sometimes impossible to avoid getting hit because you’re in the middle of a spell and you don’t want to break it.

Spells have a cool down and a mana cost, which keeps you from hitting the spell button repeatedly. You have to keep on switching between fields if you want to see the battle through. The duration of the battle is the same as the music you have to play to, and if you don’t bring down your opponent in that given time, you lose the battle.

I found the gameplay to be fun and different from other rhythm games. You have to go back and forth between fields and pay constant attention as a derail could mean a decrease in hit points or a failed spellcast attempt. But what makes the gameplay really work is how well synched the arrows are with the music. In some other rhythm games, listening to the music doesn’t necessarily help, whereas in Sequence, it does. The difficulty is not overwhelming either – and if you find yourself having an easier time, pumping the difficulty up will satisfy you.

Then, for the RPG elements, you have items you can equip and create. Item creation in Sequence is somewhat frustrating. First, you have to get the ingredients which are obtained by battling monsters – and when you do get everything, you have to sacrifice experience points in order to increase the odds your craftsmanship has to succeed. The more experience you sacrifice, the better your odds. I found this annoying, as sometimes I would sacrifice a ton of experience and, as luck would have it, I got nothing and the experience was lost. This is, however, evened out by the fact that gain experience from desynthing items you already have and no longer use.

One other gripe I have with Sequence is that, to learn a spell, you have to sacrifice a certain amount of experience and then go through a song with certain requirements. If you fail, you lose the experience points and to get them back, you either have to desynth items or battle more enemies – which, as the game progresses, ends up being quite repetitive.

Another big problem was the voice acting. It was mostly wooden, trying to be funny and failing miserably. At first, the character of Naia struck me as a poor attempt at a snarky GLaDOS. It didn’t work, especially because the main character could retort to her obvious sarcasm. It also didn’t help that the aforementioned voice acting wasn’t up to par. Also, certain referenced to the real world – 4chan, memes, – seemed to have been put there in a sore attempt to make the game funnier… which they didn’t.

The story, like I said before, is simple, but surprisingly lengthy for a game of this genre. The conflict, introduced halfway around the game, didn’t really stir me. I do have to give the developers credit for indeed introducing some dissent. The ending is also commendable, as it introduces some mystery while leaving the main events of the game explained. It’s a somewhat weak explanation, but it’s there and I had to accept that even though I did not find it very satisfying, it’s there – however much of a deus ex machina it might have been.

The artwork that accompanies the game is quite nice, however. It’s not super realistic and overcomplicated, but it fits the spirit of Sequence quite well. The design of some monsters disappointed me though, as they were nothing but other monsters with a different color palette.

Overall, Sequence is a fun, fast-paced rhythm game with a twist. Fans of the genre will be satisfied with it, while newcomers will have a fun experience as well. It’s a finely developed indie game and it most certainly deserves a try.

The Good:

Tapping the key really matches the rhythm of the music.

Gameplay is quite fun.

Original music brings it a little life.

The Bad:

Crafting items is quite frustrating.

The voice acting is not stellar.

Final Score: 8.0/10