Songbird Symphony by indie studio Joysteak tries to combine platforming with rhythm game elements. The rhythm game genre these days is pretty niche so making it a key element of your game is a bold choice.
Write your own symphony
Songbird Symphony tells the story of “Birb” as he leaves the safety of his nest in search of his parents. Along the way, Birb discovers that the world is no easy place to roam in. His encounters with the many colorful characters throughout the world, weave a bigger story than originally planned. As the story continues, Birb is slowly grasping the world beyond the confinements of his nest and finds out his true origins. In a way, he’s writing his own “songbird symphony”.
Platforming
The platforming in Songbird Symphony feels solid. There are no real enemies to worry about but getting from point A to point B might be deceptively harder than you think. Think more of puzzle platforming than your standard platforming. Backtracking will surely be needed to open up the level in order to complete it. Collecting music notes along the way is a nice extra to go for. Each music note adds some new elements to the level’s soundtrack as a nice bonus.
Rhythm game
Elements of Rhythm games are added in different places. Each end of a level has a boss challenge in which you need to rhythmically hit certain buttons to continue. These challenges get harder with each level completed. Along the way, you’ll learn new “notes”. These new notes are just new buttons which get thrown in the mix during these rhythm challenges. Since the buttons you need to press aren’t on a grid it’s kind of hard to see which rhythm is implied. These minor imperfections threw me off quite a bit. Each of these challenges can be retried to improve your score. Some of these notes/buttons can be used to alter platforms in the platforming section of the game.
Pixel art
Songbird Symphony has great style. The Pixel art used and the use of vibrant colors makes Songbird Symphony look extremely charming. The many characters Bird encounters all have a comical feel. The story is uplifting and the art style helps invoke that feeling too. The music elements are obviously very important during the whole game. As mentioned before you alter the music by collecting notes. The music during the boss challenges is well orchestrated.
Conclusion
Songbird Symphony brings puzzle platforming, a great story and some rhythm game elements to the mix. The charming look certainly sets the mood just right. Personally, I felt the rhythm elements a bit unnecessary and taking away from the fun platforming. I never felt like the two blended enough. In a way, they felt like speed bumps to me.
