Beatstream Review

The innovative developer Smule has just released another music based game, titled Beatstream. Each level is created to match the rhythm of songs from the player’s music library. It’s not a novel idea, but the concept is executed well and leads to fun game.

The objective of the Beatstream is to change the color of an arrow to match the color of the barriers it goes through. The arrow is either blue or yellow, so changing the color only requires one tap. A good design decision is that tapping anywhere changes the color of the arrow, so the view of the arrow never has to be obstructed.

The arrow moves along a predefined path full of barriers, and hitting a barrier without being the correct color causes static to be played over the music. If enough barriers are hit, the level is over.

Each level is dynamically generated based on the rhythm of the song chosen by the player. I found the barriers to be somewhat in-sync with the music, but it wasn’t close to being perfect. It really just depends on the song chosen.

After choosing the song, Beatstream must analyze it before the level can begin. This is a fairly slow process and can take around a minute for longer song. Each track can be played on easy, medium, or hard. One annoying flaw is that if a song was purchased in iTunes before 2009, the DRM on the song might not allow it to be played in Beatstream. The developer is aware of the issue and discloses this fact in the iTunes store description.

The app includes some extras too. There are many badges to unlock for various achievements. Also, there is a stats feature, where personal or global stats can be viewed.

The graphics are dead simple and unimpressive. However, the game doesn’t need to do much visually and all of the necessary elements are drawn well enough.

Despite a few flaws, Beatstream is an enjoyable rhythm based game. The graphics won’t impress, but the game play is fun and the replay value is high.