Ride the Synth Wave Fantastic!
It's that time again for a new episode of Chichuki Plays, the show where I go hands-on with upcoming games and show them off. Usually, it's about an hour or so but I don't want to spoil too much of the game for you. This time we're looking at Synth Riders on the Nintendo Switch 2. This game reminds me a lot of a rhythm game that has a wide range of musical tracks to play on.
Before I go into the review, I recommend playing the tutorial because the games takes a little getting used to. I mentioned earlier that it reminds me lot of a rhythm game because you ride along the track hitting different notes. The left control stick controls your left hand/side, and the right control stick controls the right hand/side. You'll also have to be quick on your feet because there will be times when you have to use both hands or hold the move for a certain amount of time. You'll also have to dodge incoming walls as well as make sick jumps along the way.
There are three playable characters to pick from. You can play as Dash 909, Allegra, or BPM-130. I really like the character designs but really like the way Allegra looks. You can also unlock different customizations for characters such as giving Allegra a different hair color or a hooded sweatshirt to wear. Unlock different things and wear the ones you like best.
You can play Solo mode, Campaign mode, or Multiplayer. There isn't online multiplayer and that stinks because this would have been a perfect game to play against your friends and go for the top score. You can still play against friends but it's couch co-op where your friends have to be in the same room. For most of the video, I played Campaign mode. You can play each song in different difficulty modes. Easy, Medium or Hard mode. Easy mode is where I stayed for the video but did venture into medium mode for one song. It didn't go well so I went right back into Easy.
Long story short, Xander, the AI, is taking over, getting rid of the arts in the process. Dash, Allegra, and BPM were tired of the way things were being run or at least were bored. They wanted to make changes and mess with Xander in the process. However, things don't go as planned and Xander figures things out. Will our team be able to take care of Xander?
During songs, you'll have to hold notes for a certain amount of time. That is indicated by a neon bar, but I felt that bar was tough to see coming at it from straight on. There were times when I would miss the hold because I thought it was a tap and not a hold. There are DLC songs you can buy off of the Nintendo Switch eShop that add quite a few songs to play on. There are a lot of songs in the base game too and while playing, I didn't feel there was a lack of songs to play. I think the first song in the game, Tonight by Sunset Neon is a perfect first song. It's quick and catchy. It sounds like a classic 80s song, and I love that music, so I found myself going online and listening to that song. So much so that I'm listening to it while I write this recap up.
Synth Riders is an interesting take on the rhythm game genre. Not having online multiplayer hurts but it doesn't hurt the fun of the main game. Rhythm gamers will want to check this out. Make sure you check out the hands-on video below!