Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians

The début title from German indie start-up Threaks, Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians is certainly not lacking for ambition. As a music-based underwater two dimensional puzzler, I can say with confidence that I’ve never played anything quite like it. The game isn’t wanting for talent either, with the developer having corralled several notable composers of indie hits such Journey and Chime and drafted in Rihanna Pratchet (Mirror’s Edge, Overlord, Tomb Raider 2013) to pen the dialogue.

But can all of this promise and talent come to together to delivery an exemplary game?

If you’re at all familiar with popular puzzle games, Beatbuddy’s core mechanics won’t sound that special on paper. Expect to be hitting switches, manipulating physics, finding and using keys and generally clearing routes to the end of each level.

However, with an emphasis on rhythm and timing, a meaningful aquatic theme and strong puzzle design up there with the likes of Portal, there’s definitely a lot going on beneath the surface.

Further variety comes in the game’s many vehicle sections which adds a shooting mechanic. Since the vessel’s gun fires from a fixed position on the right this adds another design wrinkle, with the ability to rotate the whole stage putting both a figurative and literal new twist on things later in the game.

So, considering all of the above plus a the really strong presentation, why am I not championing this as the next indie smash hit?

Well, a minor issue is the music. Though the tracks themselves are really well done and cover a number of genres (the Prince inspired number is particularly great) you’ll end up hearing them a hell of a lot by the end. Though different elements such as vocals will fade in and out depending on what you’re doing and where you are there is only one track per stage. Given that most stages will take around 45 minutes to beat you can expect to hear the same basic elements of each song dozens of times.

My other main problem is that the game never really stops to take a breath. The constant background beats and the eventually tiresome audio loops drive you persistently onward. Beatbuddy never actively encourages you to stop and admire the beautiful artwork or get invested in the story. The stage music continues on even when characters are talking so I ended up mashing through most of dialogue just to keep the momentum of the level going.

The game could have used cutaway scenes when important dialogue or moments were taking place. Perhaps more cut-scenes were out of the developer’s budget range but maybe something more straightforward would have sufficed, perhaps some ‘talking heads’ scenes often used in games like Fire Emblem. Such additions could’ve punctuated the action, thus allowing a break from the incessant stage music, allowing the experience to sink in a bit more and smoothing out the overall pacing.

It also could’ve bolstered the game’s length. While four to five hours isn’t too bad for a downloadable title at this price (£11.99 in the UK, 14,99€ in Europe through Steam) it wouldn’t have hurt to have a little extra playtime. As it stands, the game pads out the final hour or so with an increasing amount of enemies and deadly hazards and the only replay value comes in the form of collecting gems scattered about the six stages that unlocks developer photos.

Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians may have won a stack of European indie game awards, but personally I can’t give it that kind of high praise. Those handful of little problems bog it down enough to cause unnecessary player frustration and otherwise not deliver on it’s full potential. However, it’s still a unique game with a lot to love and I’d definitely recommend it if you’ve enjoyed rhythm and puzzle games in the past.