The pitch for Unbeatable is an attractive one: a visually placing rhythm-adventure hybrid a couple of punk rock riot in a dystopian metropolis the place music is illegitimate – kinda like Jet Set Radio meets a extra story-focused Taiko no Tatsujin, which is nice in principle. However the promise of that idea doesn’t all the time line up with the disjointed but heartfelt mess we truly obtained. Unbeatable positions itself as a mixture of each story-driven exploration and pulse-pounding musical battles, however what which means in follow is a conversation-heavy strolling simulator with occasional rhythm segments and some genuinely sensible moments awkwardly wedged in… plus an countless arcade mode that has some actual promise. That’s the place the rhythm sport “meat” is hidden away, and it’s decently enjoyable for just a few hours with an ideal collection of tracks and loads of challenges to unlock, although it’s a disgrace a part of its choice is locked behind day-one DLC.
Welcome to a world the place music is illegitimate, no one remembers what it’s, and, miraculously, you’re the one one who can deliver it again! The story mode follows the vocalist Beat and her bandmates as they combat in opposition to HARM – a police drive defending the music ban with deadly imprecision. The musical names and quirky characters could be charming if the writing supported them with constant cleverness or emotional weight. As a substitute, what you get is a script that occasionally touches on what it actually feels wish to attempt to grow to be a musician in a world that hardly has house for you. The remainder of it reads like a protracted back-and-forth Discord dialog between youngsters who assume random equals humorous. It really works properly in brief bursts, however will get tiresome throughout the roughly eight-hour marketing campaign.
It’s a disgrace that there’s this a lot filler between the elements which might be genuinely transferring, particularly in direction of the tip. However even throughout these latter elements, Unbeatable lurches from location to location with minimal clear connective tissue. One second you’re speaking to a guard in jail, the following you’re immediately within the jail cafeteria with no transition or rationalization. Then the digital camera cuts once more and also you’re asleep. Then you definitely’re within the manufacturing facility doing work element. Now you’re skateboarding on a pair of headphones by a complete platoon of guards. There’s some logic behind these transitions, however more often than not, Unbeatable’s zones are disorganized – its story appears like a cassette tape of vignettes that simply teleport you between scenes, doing the naked minimal to indicate you ways you bought there, and that occurs continuously all through. It is disorienting within the worst method – not as an inventive selection, however as a failure of primary storytelling. There are even just a few drawn-out dialogue sequences that repeat themselves a number of occasions – you’ll actually see the very same cutscene or dialog recycled for no clear cause.
However what’s most stunning about Unbeatable is how little rhythm gameplay truly exists within the story mode earlier than the ultimate chapter. You may spend the overwhelming majority of your time working by empty environments, speaking to poorly-written NPCs, and collaborating in necessary minigames that don’t have anything to do with the core rhythm gameplay discovered within the arcade mode. As an example, there is a bartending minigame with obnoxiously loud jazz offering sound cues. There is a batting cage that seems out of nowhere. You may shut sluices in a sewer in a “puzzle” that has you working forwards and backwards whereas your incompetent bandmates maintain turning valves again on as a “joke.” Even when rhythm sections do seem, they’re typically fully disconnected from what’s taking place within the story – you could be mid-conversation, and immediately you are in a yard combating somebody with no setup or context. Thirty seconds later, it’s over and also you’re again in your bunk speaking about one thing else.
The story itself facilities on bringing music again to the town by being punk rock rebels, which is a superbly serviceable idea. However the execution is usually so shallow and heavy-handed that it hardly appears like something actual is at stake till the emotional payoff on the very finish, after the credit are already rolling. The villains are additionally written like annoying youngsters quite than any form of credible risk. It is making an attempt desperately to be edgy and rebellious, however by no means truly allows you to in on what you are rebelling in opposition to or what riot really prices on this world.
Because of this, that world feels much less like a plausible dystopia and extra like a caricature designed solely for sport mechanics to occur in. Every little thing is music-themed to an absurd diploma – you tie headphones to your toes to flee jail, Beat stops each couple of minutes to argue with one other character concerning the specifics of being in a band, and each named NPC you meet is vaguely named after musical phrases. It is aesthetic-driven to the purpose of parody, however the message it’s making an attempt to speak nonetheless someway takes itself too severely to lean into that absurdity successfully.
The silver lining is that in case you’re large into music, you’ll recognize lots of these references, however Unbeatable tragically struggles to resolve on a tone. It is concurrently making an attempt to be an irreverent internet-humor comedy and a heartfelt story about discovered household and inventive expression. These two approaches may theoretically coexist, however Unbeatable not often demonstrates the writing chops to drag it off. The result’s a sport that hamfists its themes into every interplay with breathless exposition and compelled drama, with cutesy characters who desperately need you to assume they’re intelligent.
When Unbeatable truly allows you to play its rhythm sport, you may get by it by urgent precisely two buttons. You are both hitting floor opponents or leaping to hit aerial enemies, all synced to the beat. It is functionally much like Theatrhythm Last Bar Line. To its credit score, the rhythm synchronization at the least works properly – this overview was performed on PC at 1440p with a 180Hz G-Sync monitor, and the beats lined up completely with the refresh charge.
The issue is that, with solely two actual inputs, Unbeatable has nowhere to go for added issue besides “extra notes, sooner.” On Regular issue, songs are nearly laughably simple. Crank it as much as Laborious or Knowledgeable, and immediately the display screen is crammed with so many simultaneous inputs whereas the digital camera shakes, zooms, and bounces round that it turns into overwhelming with out essentially being rewarding. You are simply making an attempt to parse visible chaos. That mentioned, there may be at the least a welcome choice to show off the VHS filter enabled by default, which simply makes all the pieces look unnecessarily glitchy, in addition to a diminished digital camera movement choice, which is an effective accessibility characteristic given how a lot it will probably bounce round throughout rhythm sections.
The music choice itself is at the least first rate general. The story mode is a little more middling; apart from the primary themes and songs performed by the digital band, the marketing campaign’s filler tracks really feel like what folks think about Portland’s indie music scene seems like after they’re making enjoyable of it. However the saving grace is that Beat’s band places out just a few bangers earlier than the tip of the story. The arcade mode additionally has good music from high to backside, which matches a good distance towards making it much more enjoyable to play than the story itself. There are tracks from artists like Alex Moukala and Peak Divide which might be genuinely nice. It’s just a little questionable that a few of them are locked behind day-one DLC, however you don’t have to pay additional for loads of glorious beat maps that come alongside free of charge.
The arcade mode is structured like a correct rhythm sport with unlockable songs, an expansive and fun-to-complete problem board, leaderboards, and a wide selection of issue tiers starting from Newbie up previous Knowledgeable and past. It has the replayability and polish that the primary story mode fully lacks. Drop the “journey” and that is the place the precise, full sport lives.
One factor Unbeatable does nail is its seems to be, with a powerful punk rock aesthetic and standout anime fusion artwork route. The 2D character cutouts layered into cartoonish 3D environments look nice, particularly in areas just like the city and seaside, the place the late afternoon gentle dances off the ocean. The pause menu additionally has this cool scratchy vinyl aesthetic that basically sells the punk vibe. Whenever you pause a session, there is a neat record-scratch impact. These are the moments the place you possibly can see the imaginative and prescient beneath Unbeatable’s jank.
However sturdy artwork route cannot save poor sport design. As an example, the digital camera is often positioned in ways in which make navigating every stage complicated. You may usually have to run towards areas of the display screen which might be partially obstructed by partitions to set off the digital camera to pan to the following room, resulting in fixed moments the place you are simply wandering round making an attempt to determine the place you are speculated to go. And these environments really feel empty and lifeless, extra like stage units than precise locations.
The UX is equally messy. At first, it seems to be fairly clear because of a simple menu system and sharp dialogue containers which have a cool, comic-book-inspired vibe to them. The rhythm gameplay cues are stable in the primary rhythm sport (the one you play throughout key story moments and within the arcade mode), however are completely incoherent in a few of the minigames, like the sport the place it’s important to do high quality management for bombs within the jail or combine drinks to screechy jazz music. And greater than as soon as, dialogue containers will pile on high of each other or slide to the underside nook of the display screen as NPCs run straight into the digital camera or off-camera totally.
Maybe probably the most irritating factor about Unbeatable is that there are moments that basically do present promise. There’s a practice sequence the place your band is taking part in music whereas combating enemies that’s genuinely cool, nevertheless it doesn’t arrive till a number of hours in. These highlights come method too late, and are instantly adopted by extra filler. It is nearly like the whole sport was constructed round probably the most promising sections of Unbeatable’s spectacular demo from again in 2021, padding them out with fetch quests, repeated cutscenes, and pointless minigames quite than making extra of what truly labored. That demo framed these moments as consultant of the complete expertise after they’re truly the exceptions amidst hours of aimless wandering.
