Tunescape is a good option for those who loved Beat Hazard. Play to your own music in this solid "shooter".

User Rating: 8 | Tunescape X360
By TechnologoDoom | Review Date:
The Music-Shooter genre got another shot in the arm recently with the release of Tunescape to XBL. Like its noteworthy XBIG (Groov and Beat Hazard) and other (Rez) predecessors, Tunescape is a frenetic arcade game that uses music not simply as background ambiance, but as a critical part of the overall gameplay. And like Beat Hazard, the best music-shooter game on XBL, it allows you to use your own music for gamplay. Though it may not needed, since the original tracks in Tunescape are quite stellar in their own right: hypnotic and rythmic, good music for some tanscendental play.

There's just one catch: You don't shoot anything in Tunescape. Instead, you move about (with a certain momentum of weight) to catch glowing orbs which are emitted by the giant star (or sun, if you like) as well as tiny stars which will orbit your ship and give you score-multipliers. All the while you'll need to dodge harmful red projectiles as well as be wary of black holes which will invert the flow in its orbit. So "shooter" should be taken loosely: however all the mechanics of a shooter are here without the shooting, including spacial play, interception and avoidance of objects, score-driven performance, and the trans-like state that shooters tend to induce.

And so given all of that, Tunescape turns out to be a pretty fun game. While it doesn't quite reach the visual heights of Beat Hazard, Tunescape still turns in a solid performance that's certainly worth the 80 MS points it costs. The visuals are bright and clear and the in-game music is solid. Multiplayer is also an option, which would make it a nice addition to any party games you have. With the benefit of using your own music, Tunescape is a worthy alternative to Beat Hazard if you're looking for a change of pace or something different.

Rating 8/10
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