Hit Machine!, musical fun
I have never been into Guitar Hero nor Rock Band but I do understand why they are so popular. I remember playing Dance Dance Revolution and having a blast but feeling my cool points being spent almost as fast as my quarters. So, I can understand how air guitaring can be a little more fulfilling, less likely to get you beat up and a good reason to spend your hard earned cash.
However, it was only a matter of time before casual-free gaming took a stab at musical gaming with Hit Machine from OMGPop.com. OMGpop is a really cool gaming community website with addictive games like Blockles, a multiplayer Tetris game and Draw My Thing. The draw on all of these games is the quick loads thanks to the Adobe Flash plug-in.
Hit Machine is actually a pretty competent music game, and a bit of addictive fun. Six rows of bars roll down the screen towards six keys and you must press the corresponding keyboard keys (a,s,d,j,kl,) to strike the note just as it passes. Fail, and the game boo’s you. Hit the notes gracefully and you will be rocking out to the tune, beating the crap out of your opponent and earning lots of points. Points can later be used to unlock new musical content.
There are no major songs and artists, but that is to be expected from a free flash game. The quick and casual nature of the game quickly makes up for it. Also, the music videos are a nice treat to stay in the mood. There are a handful of music videos that can be chosen by each player at the beginning of the round.
My only complaint is the timing. Although they have done a great job at adjusting the timing of the levels per meters of the songs but there are moments when I question my timing of the keys vs the actual timing of the song. To get a good score I found myself worrying more about the visual timing than the musical timing, which does hurt the immersion a bit but its excusable. Worst case scenario, you play a really cool timing game with great background music. Also, Im not sure exactly what instrument or part of the music is represented by the keystrokes. In many spaces they seem irrevelent to what is actually in the song and at other times it goes well with the instruments, vocals or percussion. But I can say that the times when everything is in sync, the game really works and is worth the time.
Definitely check this one out, especially if you are on a budget or dont own a gaming console. So stop reading this review and go play Hit Machine for yourself
