Developer: Choice Provisions
Platform: PS4, PSVita, PS3 (Bit Trip Complete on Wii & 3DS)
Genre: Action / Music / Puzzle
One of the most frustrating but at the same time fun games I’ve played back on my Nintendo Wii was Bit Trip Complete.
It featured a collection of the 6 games from the Bit Trip series consisting of Beat, Core, Void, Runner, Fate and Flux. My friends and I would end many of our nights of gaming putting this awesome collection on and enjoying the rhythmic tunes that were created from completing the actions required on screen dependent on the game you were playing. Our go to was always Bit Trip Runner.
The collection was later repacked as a Limited Run Games variant and ported to PlayStation consoles as a limited physical release as well as the easier availability of digital release on the PlayStation store.
Bit Trip Complete was developed by Gajin Games at the time of the Wii release, but have since changed to Choice Provisions. The games all vary in what you need to do but the end result from them all when getting into the swing of them is creating some awesome music. Beat for example was as simple as playing a game which is essentially pong but by your self. Coloured dots would fly at your paddle from the right of the screen and you’d have to hit them back creating the beat. The tempo would pick up, the number of dots that flew at you increased and if you could hit them correctly you’d begin to hear a faster and lovely retro theme be created.
Bit Trip Void was another classic in which you’d take control a black or white dot. Black or white dots would then rush across the screen and dependent on what colour your dot was you had to navigate it into the path of the matching colour dots. The more you ‘ate’ so to to speak, the bigger your playable dot became making it tough to miss the opposite colour dots. Simple, so simple again, but oh my word so frustratingly difficult at the same time.
Our favourite as mentioned Runner saw you take control of the runner character and you’d have to jump and slide across platform levels. Each jump or slide would add to the beat of the game and the more successful actions you completed the better the music sounded till you had created a beautiful retro rhythmic beat.
But despite how simple in design these games were, they were infuriatingly difficult to master, but oh so addictive. “Just one more try” would be the phrase of the night as what should be the simplicity of jumping and sliding in time was simply put… not that easy at all. Much like the addictive colour switch for phones now a days. Such simple premises for games that are anything but simple… they’re addictive because of this.
While the PS4 physical version will probably set you back a bit now due to it’s limited print, the Wii version is still readily available from Amazon and the like, and if you’re happy with digital the PS4 version is there digitally.
Some of the most infuriatingly enjoyable rhythm games I’ve played and I’d highly recommend the complete collection from the Bit Trip series to anyone. Easy to pick up and spend a short blast of time on, or equally, easy to pick up and lose a whole evening too.
– Murr
