NIDZUMI+

Music based puzzle games are nothing new, with XBLA alone having Lumines Live, Boom Boom Rocket and OD Beat Drop, but there is definitely something unique about Chime. Available for the bargain price of 400 MP, with 60% of the profits going to children’s charities around the world, what excuse do you have not to buy it?

I’ll do my best to explain what in theory is complicated but in practise quite easy. You have control of one object at a time, and much like Tetris or Lumines, you can rotate and move the piece around before placing it into the grid. The goal is to create quads: blocks of squares at least 3×3 in size.

Meanwhile, musical samples are played as the beat bar moves across the screen hitting the different shaped quads. Once the quad has been played it disappears leaving a coloured square over the grid. The object of the game is to cover the whole grid within the time limit, getting as many points as possible. The original quads you will create are meagre in size but as your skill improves you will be creating mammoth blocks that release new notes as the bar moves across. Simple.

Chime only has five songs, each with its own level and all of them from well-known artists: Phillip Glass, Paul Hartnoll (Orbital), Moby, Markus Schulz and Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly) – all pro-bono of course. The tracks all have a similar feel but are individual in terms of style and tempo. The Orbital track with its really relaxed sound and beautiful soft vocals when you hit those quads is easily the most fitting track of the five. Beautiful is the perfect word to describe Chime; from the music to the simple presentation, it is very relaxing.

Each of the five tracks can be played in the nine, six, and three-minute game modes, as well as the Sunday afternoon drive equivalent that is free mode. You may be thinking that there is not much longevity here – after all it only has five tracks, but that is where you are wrong. Chime is addictive, like every good puzzle game should be, but unlike many others it is not a stressful experience, making it easy to come back and play again. It is not the sort of game that will have you playing the same level for hours on end though, instead favouring the dip-in-and-out method, which helps keep the experience fresh. The standard online leaderboards and some interesting achievements add to the addictiveness, I just wonder about the possibility of DLC providing the game with a few extra tracks to bulk the package out a bit.

With bolstered visuals, and a larger soundtrack, this could have been a perfect game. What we’ve seen here shows that OneBigGame have massive potential and I’m excited to see what they churn out next time as Chime was nearly spot on. Nevertheless it’s still a lovely game with a compelling nature, and what is more, its charitable and who can really say no to that?