In Japan, music / rhythm games are a virtual phenomenon that all started with Konami's "Bemani" series. The presence of these types of games in other markets doesn't seem to be quite as big as it is in Japan, though that's finally changing. Arika's Technic Beat is one quirky title that has managed to make its way over, courtesy of Mastiff.

Unlike most of its Japan-bound cousins, Technic Beat just uses the standard PS2 controller. There are no fancy peripherals to buy here. Fortunately, its suggested retail price is also quite low, making purchase even less of a commitment. And, unlike other titles such as Frequency and Amplitude, this game feels at home with the regular controller anyway. No ridiculous shoulder-button-pressing action or awkward finger positioning is necessary to play Technic Beat well.

Beyond what I've mentioned, however, comparison with other games is impossible because the gameplay system in Technic Beat is an unusual combination of "musicy" elements and "puzzley" elements that makes the whole package categorically unique. Here's how it works: you control a character who can freely move around on a static platform. As the song plays, rings or "markers" start to appear on different parts of the platform. A moment after each one appears, an inner concentric ring grows until it matches the same size as the original marker. When that happens you're supposed to "trigger" the marker with a button press. If your timing is good, that will trigger a note or sound effect that goes along with the music. That's the "musicy" part of it.


The "puzzley" part comes in because markers can appear at any point on the board, and you have to actually move your character on top of the marker if you want to activate it. It gets interesting because you can activate multiple markers at once if you stand close enough to each one. Plus, you have the ability to move markers around independently. Any marker that gets triggered will subsequently trigger any other marker it intersects (with automatic proper timing), so in this way you can chain triggers together. You've got several characters to select from, each with different abilities and different ways of manipulating markers. The variety is pretty impressive considering how strict the gameplay rules are.

This combination can feel awkward. Even though your button presses should go along with the rhythm of the music, you've got to do all these other modulations of the controller that are not in rhythm at all (moving your character around, picking up markers, etc.). As a result, it seems more difficult to get into the groove of the music, and once you do, it seems more difficult to stay in that rhythm. Another factor that contributes to this sense of detachment is the fact that you are not really playing many notes in the music at all. In many of the other aforementioned games, you essentially press the button(s) in time with one track of the music. Because of the chain system in this game, very often you'll just press the button once, and then maybe four, five, or 10 notes will play by themselves. The camera perspective and graphics make it feel a bit harder to perform well, too.