Chardish Games

If there’s one genre I’m an absolute sucker for, it’s abstract music games. Whereas games like Rock Band and DJ Hero try to replicate the experience of playing music, abstract music games (Rez, Lumines, Vib Ribbon, and the like) eschew that goal for the simple objective of trying to connect the player to the music. So when I heard about the music puzzler Chime, I figured it would be worth a try, even if it was created by Zoë Mode, a developer that doesn’t have the best track record of producing quality works. (The uninspired and derivative Rock Revolution and SingStar were both creations of the UK-based studio.)

I was pleasantly surprised by how well-polished the game is, particularly for a $5 XBLA title. The menus do a good job of drawing the player into the experience, which has a decidedly chilled-out atmosphere about it, a mood reflected in the gameplay itself in spite of its energetic soundtrack. While there is a timer on the level, unlike most puzzle games, you’re not limited in the amount of time to drop a piece. The object of the game is to rotate and place pentominoes to form rectangles (or “quads” as they’re called in the game) and fill the entire grid. A Lumines style beat-sweeper is present, traversing the grid once per measure; however, the sweeper has the added effect of causing objects it touches to create noise. Lone tetrominoes each create their own percussive sounds, and filled quads contribute to the music itself. The effect is striking - much like Rez, Chime starts the player in a quiet state and slowly turns up the musical intensity. The more of the board that has been covered by quads, the more danceable the soundtrack gets.

Small complaints about the game do detract from the experience: namely, pentominoes are highly irregular shapes. Unlike the seven familiar pieces of Tetris, Chime features a whopping twenty-four pieces, making it extremely unlikely that you’ll find the exact one you need to fill the slot you’re looking for. Also, the five tracks included in the game are a nice assortment (it’s particularly welcoming to hear Philip Glass’s music so prominently featured), but more substance would certainly have been appreciated. Lastly, the controls are a tad touchy: the Xbox’s analog stick isn’t terribly responsive, and rotating a piece clockwise then counterclockwise will sometimes change its original position, depending on the piece. Nonetheless, these quirks don’t stop Chime from being an enjoyable experience.

It should also be mentioned that Chime appears to be a kind of social experiment: as the game is so fond of frequently reminding us, 60% of the proceeds go to charity. (Since Microsoft is taking a 30% cut, and everyone in the game appears to have volunteered their time in creating it, one wonders where the other 10% went.) Giving $3 to feed starving kids is certainly a great deal when you get a very solid game in return, but the game has an odd habit of constantly reminding us it’s a charity project. (You get 50 achievement points just for making the purchase, which the game calls “doing a great thing and making the world a better place.” $3 is hardly a saintly contribution in light of the outrageous scope of worldwide poverty.) Nonetheless, it’s better to give $3 to charity than to EA or Activision, so praise is due to all involved for using the game as a vehicle to do good works.