In 2010, Chime was released on Xbox Live Arcade, created by Zoë Mode, and with all profits going to charity. Once I heard about Chime Super Deluxe, I was excited to see what changes would be made, and I wasn’t disappointed. Having just been released on the Playstation Network , Chime Super Deluxe boasts twice the amount of songs than its predecessor, loads more play grids and various multiplayer modes.
Chime is by all means a relatively simple game. You are presented with a grid and your goal is to completely cover it. This is done by building ‘quads’, at least three by three in dimension, from blocks that look like they got lost on their way to Tetris. The real hook of the game however, is that as you place blocks and create quads, you are dynamically building the music track.
Essentially, you start a level and only the very basis of the song is playing. As you construct quads, you may notice a melody has been added, and before you know it, the beat is kicking in and you feel like you are actually creating the music. To an extent, this is actually true. The songs remix dynamically as you place your blocks, meaning that you never have to listen to the same song in its exact form, over and over again.
The music selection is superb, ranging from laid-back, ambient electronica from the likes of Plaid and Paul Hartnoll (of Oribital fame), to the upbeat chiptunes of Sabrepulse. The music choice not only fits the feel of the game perfectly but also remains interesting enough through its dynamic remixing to keep you engrossed throughout your playing.
As you progress through the songs (read: levels), the play grids become increasingly more complex, as do the blocks that you have at your disposal to fill them. Soon you begin to realise there is considerable skill involved to advance through the five stages of each level. (A feat which I am yet to do!)
As mentioned above, there are also multiplayer modes this time around. It supports 4-players locally and there is the choice of co-operative and versus modes. These are a nice addition to the game, allowing you and your friends to all join in either in competition with each other, or just to try and achieve the highest score you can co-operatively.
For the price, I would recommend Chime Super Deluxe to anyone who is a fan of puzzle games, and especially to someone who also enjoys electronica. However, there are only 10 songs in the game so be prepared to replay them quite a few times. Hopefully, we will see some DLC will in the future to add some more tunes and grids.
| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |    |
| Bright, clean and simple | |
| Gameplay | |
| Frantic music-based puzzle action! Easy to play, difficult to master! | |
| Sound | |
| A fantastic mix of music which, thanks to its dynamic remixing, doesn't grow old | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| A great music/puzzle game | |
I really liked the original. I actually bought it for XBLA. The downside was the number of songs, although this doesn’t look like it has drastically improved on that count. I found my self playing the same level over and over so often found the music not so “dynamic” as it first seemed. I wonder if this is different with is version? I’ll certainly be grabbing it first chance I get for that co-op play though!