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Sound Shapes
PlayStation Network
LittleBigPlanet – Dubstep Edition
4/5 stars
I usually have a good idea of what a game will be like before going into it. “Sound Shapes” is a game that I never paid any attention, simply because every gaming website and database (except for MeltedJoystick.com after I corrected it personally) lists the game as some sort of rhythm game or music (read: noise) maker. I had no intention of playing through “Sound Shapes,” but installed the copy that came on my “Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1” in order to find yet more angles from which to attack that terrible compilation. “Sound Shapes” was to be the ultimate jab in my mockery of Sony’s definition of the ‘best’ games on their digital platform.
Yet I cannot actually do what I intended. For “Sound Shapes” is NOT a rhythm game or a music maker, but a surprisingly pleasant 2D Platformer based upon the same Play/Create/Share mentality as Sony’s best 7th Generation fare, such as “LittleBigPlanet” and “ModNation Racers.” Not only did “Sound Shapes” completely turn my opinion of it 180 degrees through experiencing it, it also is the only game in “Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1” that comes anywhere close to living up to the title.
Presentation
“Sound Shapes” is a very minimalist and artistically designed game. It is 2D, but doesn’t use sprites so much as it uses Flash-style art assets. There are a few pixilated objects in the game, but the pixels are so huge, it is obvious that they are simply art created to look like sprites without actually being sprites.
“Sound Shapes” has a rather strange graphical pallet. Most objects in the game are flat and monochrome, while the graphics engine has no shading or lighting built into it. As a result, the stages look extremely stylized and stark, with some of the garish colors being a bit too bright, making them nearly painful to look at. Likewise, the lack of shading and lighting can cause problems with same-colored objects blending seamlessly into each other.
The soundtrack in “Sound Shapes” seems to be what the development team wanted to focus the entire game around. Every animated object in the game makes a noise when it does its thing, and objects placed horizontally across one of the game’s screen-sized rooms typically follow a beat that flows from left to right (though not always). The end result of this focus on environmental and enemy noises is that a very odd type of techno/Dubstep ‘music’ can arise. This is an incredibly creative use of sound, and one that I would relish and thoroughly appreciate were it not for the fact that the music created by the stages is universally annoying, repetitive, grating, and can be distracting when the player is focusing on a challenging platforming section.
However, while I dislike the overall style of music available in “Sound Shapes,” I won’t deny that the a-melodic, a-musical nature of all of it can lead to some very effective auditory illusions that combine with the visuals to create a strong impression of the point the stage creator was trying to make. “Sound Shapes” is both a game and an exercise in abstract thinking.
Story
“Sound Shapes” has no overarching narrative. Each of the game’s distinct ‘albums’ of stages do a reasonably good job of artistically portraying a concept – ranging from the soulless despair of the typical office job to the aftermath of nuclear war – using both the game’s stark visuals and bizarre music.
While I would normally tear a game apart – even a platformer – for not including any basic information about the main character or any form of excuse narrative to tie the stages together, “Sound Shapes” actively tries to be more of an ‘artistic experience’ than a ‘game’ that actually needs a narrative. With the small number of ‘albums’ included with the game, “Sound Shapes” also seems to want to rely on user-created content for the bulk of its material.
Don’t get me wrong, though, I am completely perplexed by the fact that so very little about the game’s context has any official backstory to it. The player simply controls a nameless circle with a dot in the middle (looking very much like a stylized eyeball) that happens to be surrounded by a colored membrane of sticky goop. No explanation is provided, but as an abstract work of art, “Sound Shapes” seems to be begging the player to supply their own interpretation. I don’t particularly like or appreciate abstract art, but since I do at least understand the intention of the development team, I can’t actually give “Sound Shapes” a score for story-related concepts.
Gameplay
Broken down to their core mechanics, “Sound Shapes” and “LittleBigPlanet” are identical experiences. Yes, they have vastly different artistic styles. Yes, they have vastly different narrative qualities. But as games, they are both platformers that rely on a small stable of acrobatic moves, a limited number of power-ups, frequent respawn checkpoints, and the collection of stage-creation assets throughout the campaign stages.
The gooey eyeball the player controls in “Sound Shapes” sticks to certain surfaces (which are arbitrary from stage to stage). It can roll left and right (even upside-down when stuck to a ceiling or rolling around the outside surface of a suspended object), ‘run’ by temporarily negating its stickiness, and jump. The only real constant in “Sound Shapes’” stages is that RED IS BAD, as touching any red object results in death and a respawn at the last touched checkpoint. The player is given infinite lives, but the overall goal is to collect all of the goodies within a stage while also completing the stage quickly in order to grab a high spot on the game’s online leaderboard.
The crafting portion is also very similar to “LittleBigPlanet,” presenting the player with a blank canvas (or blank musical staff, depending on perspective) upon which to fiddle with a fairly large toolbox of gadgets and objects. Each stage must be constructed of a number of connected screens which all stand alone from each other, much like the original NES “The Legend of Zelda,” though with an enforced sidescrolling perspective.
Upon completing the campaign in “Sound Shapes,” a ‘Death Mode’ and ‘Beat School’ both become available, but the in-game warning of ‘may melt your face’ that accompanied these bonus modes made me avoid them completely. I enjoyed my experience with “Sound Shapes’” campaign and didn’t want to ruin it with timed remixes that are purposefully frustrating.
Overall
“Sound Shapes” is a stark example of what can happen when a marketing department completely fails at their job. Instead of the ‘music maker’ it is advertised as, “Sound Shapes” is, in reality, a very nice little platformer in Sony’s Play/Create/Share tradition. While it is definitely a trippy game (and probably even more enjoyable when under the influence of chemical substances) and overly abstract, it still manages to nail the gameplay mechanics. “Sound Shapes” is the only title included in “The Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1” that deserves to be there. I would love to see a sequel built upon a solid foundation of classical music theory instead of techno-dubstep mindrape.
Presentation: 2.5/5
Story: N/A
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
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