One of the many studios that had space within the Indie Mega Booth at this year’s PAX East was Dejobaan Games. The Massachusetts-based developer is known for many things. Near the very top of that list is what they call their games. Take their most noteworthy release, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity.
Anyhow, they had two new titles on hand; Drunken Robot Pornography and the even stranger sounding 1… 2… 3… KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby). I decided to take a look at the latter. Why? Because I’m a sucker for music games and flat shaded polygons, which Drop That Beat is all about. Like other examples of the same genre, it taps into your own personal music collection to create unique levels.
Gameplay-wise, it’s actually very similar to the their aforementioned hit, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA, in sense that it’s a base jumping game, with the goal being to avoid structures that are coming towards you. Points are awarded for coming as close to surfaces as possible, but without making actual contact.
But whereas in AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA, it’s clear that you’re a person falling between buildings, Drop That Beat is far more abstract, to the point that even the orientation of the action is not all that clear. As I played the game, the previous player who was watching on summed it up best with: “It’s a perfect combination of Rez and that part in Return of Jedi where you fly inside the Death Star 2.” Could not have put it any better.
Drop That Beat was recently released on Steam as an Early Access Game. That means you purchase a game that’s still in development. According to the game’s creators, there’s still much work to be done. This includes making the environment react even more so to the music, as well as a more refined “stunt system”. But even at its early state, it’s the perfect game for those who, again, love Rez and Return of the Jedi’s final act.
It’s currently available only for PC, though given that it uses Unity, one must assume that a Mac port cannot be too difficult. The asking price is $9.99.
