Mevo & the Grooveriders

6.5

Almost Something Worth Dancing To

Review

Coop Fri, 10 April 2009 03:50PM

Game: Mevo & the Grooveriders

/ Platform: PC

Genre(s): Platformer, Music

Name: Mevo & the Grooveriders
Genre: Platformer, Music
Platform: PC

When Audiosurf launched on Valve's Steam service it proved that there was room for expanding the music genre in untraditional ways. Mevo & the Grooveriders tried to continue that movement by blending traditional music-based gameplay with psuedo-platforming and does an admirable job. When it was announced that the game would feature characters from Left 4 Dead it sounded like another sign of approval from Valve, and the game propelled itself from unknown to something definitely worth checking it.

It's true that Mevo & the Grooveriders tries to blend together music and action, and in some ways it meets this challenge. It does, in fact, play music and feature rudimentary platforming, so in that, it's a success. Thinking that it is a rip off of Guitar Hero or Rock Band, however, is giving it too much credit, and in reality it's a much shallower game. There's isn't a huge amount of emphasis on the music or the platforming, and they've found an awkward middle ground. Gameplay has players taking control of a Grooverider, who slowly walks down a pre-determined 2D path. Along the way, arrows will appear and need to be hit in Dance Dance Revolution style as the Mevo passes. There are slightly complicated sections and the inclusion of different characters and abilities, but it never really moves past being a strange, 2D platformer with DDR controls.

As would be expected, the game tracks scores and combos, creating a reason to play beyond the glints of character customization. There's a nice difficulty curve, and while multiple paths give reasons to go back and replay levels, it just isn't very entertaining. It's not really bad or anything, but it's just wholly forgettable. It's almost a neutral experience, and the somewhat uninspired gameplay and minuscule amount of charm balance each other out.

The background music is far from thrilling, and it feels like the notes hit don't blend into the gameplay as much as they could or should. Music and platforming, while directly connected in terms of gameplay, are completely separated when it comes to presentation, and the secondary music that plays after a combo scene doesn't compliment the background music, though it seems like that would absolutely be the point.

Mevo & the Grooveriders isn't a great idea executed poorly, but a good idea executed passably. With so many games making waves by blending together otherwise separate genres, it seems like the stage was set for a music/platforming game to take off. Grooveriders doesn't, and although it has a few moments of cleverness it never truly arrives at brilliance. The problem is, in trying to combine two different genres, they've managed to miss what makes each of the genres charming on their own. The music isn't interesting and the platform is almost stripped out entirely. It's worth checking out the demo on Steam, but there's likely not enough past that to justify continued play.