Cytus Review

When a game is so much fun that I don't notice the passage of time until my iPhone points out the battery is running low, I consider that a very good sign. That's exactly what happened while playing Cytus.

Cytus is a music rhythm game - a genre that's taken off massively in recent years due to its ability to make the least musical of gamers feel like they can actually perform a tune. Or at least that's why I love them.

Unlike some titles, realism is dispensed with in Cytus. Orbs appear on screen with an 'Active Scan Line' moving up and down from one side to the other. The trick to success is to tap an orb just as the line goes across it. It's not quite that simple. Orbs take a split second to grow larger which means optimum points are gained when they have a purple halo around them. Cytus is very forgiving when it comes to the ideal time to hit the orb but for a flurry of perfect scores, good timing is still important. Some orbs have a line attached to them and must be held down in order to get full marks, others need a swipe in the direction of the diagonal line.

On Easy mode, no track is very difficult to complete, much of this being thanks to the forgiving 'Active Scan Line'. On Hard though, action can get furious but, ultimately, satisfying.

With over 15 songs and 30+ variations, there's plenty to master, especially for the perfectionist gamer. Most of the songs are catchy too, covering various different genres from J-Pop to Trance and Jazz. At times, the orbs don't seem to completely sync with the music but I didn't find it very distracting from the fun I was having.

Slightly oddly, the difficulty level doesn't seem to be on a steady curve. New songs are unlocked once previous songs have been completed but the songs leap from Level 1 difficulty to Level 4 then back to Level 2. It's a strange design choice to make although at least the forgiving difficulty counteracts this potential issue.

Cytus isn't going to challenge the rhythm experts of the world. For those who love the genre but frequently stumble their way through it, however, Cytus is an immensely enjoyable title to play.