FRACT

If you’ve ever wanted to be tricked in to learning how to play a synth, boy do I have a game for you.

FRACT has you explore a once-living world, paving your way by fixing the machines that used to make it up. Each machine makes its own music and relies on you to give it input. As you continue exploring and bringing the alien world back online, you continue to layer different sounds, creating a song. There’s also an in-game synth with different effects, beats, and the like. You control these with a sort of sound grid, activating squares corresponding to sounds at particular times. I hear this is called a matrix sequencer, but I’m just reminded of this game.

The art style is very minimalist, making up for detailed backgrounds and textures with vibrant colors and simple palettes. Combining the almost futuristic art choices with the cool electronic sound track makes for a great atmosphere to solve little puzzles and create music in.

If you’re interested in making music or just having a cool, rhythmic experience, check out FRACT next week. And you can listen to an interview I did with the game’s music creator here:

Developer/Publisher: Phosfiend Systems

Release Date: April 22 on PC

Cosmic DJ

If you’re looking for something a little more on the humorous side, but still allows you to create cool music, Cosmic DJ may be right up your alley.

In Cosmic DJ, a terrible DJ has destroyed Jamtennas across the galaxy and it’s up to you and your sweet beats to put them back together. Each level features a mission that you have to accomplish with your song. My mission was to remind two lovers of how they fell in love, so the first part of the song was inspired by the diner they met in. The sounds you get correspond to what’s happening at the time, so for the diner scene, I got diner noises to add in to the beat alongside guitars, drums, and synths. Once you complete a section, it moves you on to the next section and the next until you’ve built and entire song to put the lovers back in touch with their hearts. The Jamtenna is fixed! Hooray!

To create the sounds, you’ll be using one of two tools, a matric sequencer like in Fract, or a set of virtual pads. Each pad corresponds to one sound and repeat periodically. It’s a quick way to get a sense of the beat you want, then you can perfect it in the sequencer to make it sounds awesome.

You can also save and share the songs you make, so you can claim to be a legit DJ, lending you valuable street cred.

Look for Cosmic DJ on PC, Mac, and iOS later this year.

Release Date: Mid May 2014

Evolve

For the past two posts, the last game has been kind of a dud. I didn’t want to break that trend for today.

I didn’t want to, but here we go. Evolve is so awesome.

The concept is 4v1, a team of hunters versus one OP monster. The hunter team consists of the Trapper, Assault, Medic, and Support, each with their own abilities to take the monster down. The monster kills and eats small animals in the map to build up shields and be able to evolve. When you evolve, all your stats go up from damage to armor, so it’s in the hunters’ best interest to take the monster down early. The hunters have all sorts of tools to try and track the monster down, but the monster also has his own tricks to try and throw the hunters off his trail.

When I demoed with Tushar, I was the monster. And good lord did I wreck shop.

They let me evolve to level 3 and after trapping me in a big bubble, I felt like Rorschach from Watchmen. “I’M NOT IN HERE WITH YOU. YOU’RE IN HERE WITH ME.” And thus the bloodshed began. Medic was taken out quickly with a series of rock throws and melee attacks, but it turns out you can revive teammates. I certainly didn’t know that since she was back on her feet within a minute. As my health started to wane, I ended up finally taking out the medic and support for good, then focused my attention on assault while the trapper hid in a hole and wouldn’t come out. I then destroyed the generator that would let them respawn and was victorious.

Even though I felt almost invincible, in those final moments of battle, I was really worried. As the monster, you really do feel all powerful, like everything all four of these people is doing can be just shrugged off. It’s a really empowering feeling and it makes for great gameplay. As for the hunters, as long as you work together and find the monster quickly, it shouldn’t be too hard to take him down, but communication is key.

If you want a new, high tension, insanely entertaining game, check out Evolve later this year. The full release promises more monsters and more game modes, though honestly, I’d be okay with just the one.

Developer/Publisher: Turtle Rock Studios/2K games

Release Date: Late 2014