Orgarhythm for PS Vita: Music Meets Strategy

Orgarhythm is a game that’s going to puzzle a lot of people. It’s certainly not a premise that I’ve ever seen before, much less played. In short, Orgarhythm is the marriage of music and strategy — and some very nice touch controls. It’s a game where you march to the beat, literally.

The premise is simple: There are two brothers, one that embodies creation, the other destruction. Together they settle on a planet and set about pumping out hordes of mini-tribal dudes who seem to really enjoy dancing. The God of Light (the brother who thinks growing stuff is neat and probably listens to Jack Johnson) is making great progress spawning kittens, erecting maypoles or whatever kind of idyllic stuff you might imagine a sparkling deity likes. Meanwhile, the other God (of Darkness) would rather just break all of his brother’s toys. Understandably vexed, the God of Light decides it’s time for a dance off and begins his slow-mo march to battle.

That’s where you come in. Using the touch screen controls on your PS Vita, you’ll direct the God of Light’s backup dancers and tap-tap-tap your way through enemies. The key controlling concept of the game is something called the tri-tap. Tri-tapping is done by tapping the screen to the beat whenever one of three sets of icons comes up.

• Tap the God of Light – This will bring up the first set of command icons.
• Select one of the groups of your color-coded minions (According to the data tracker in the game I am apparently really partial to yellow)
• Select an attack – Strikers, Archers, Catapults, Sacrifice (BOOM TROOPS)
• Then, drag your finger on the screen to send your troops off in that direction
• So: tap-tap-tap + draaaaaaaaaaaaag

As you’re doing all this, a variety of tribal, techno and off-world-sounding music will be pulsating in the background to give you cues on when to tap. So tap-tap-tap and drag to the beat. Easy.
Well, okay, that probably doesn’t sound easy for a rhythm game, but having played through it, I assure you that you’ll hit your stride very quickly and doing the tri-tap will come naturally. Words are wind, though, so check out this quick gameplay video to get a feel for the beat.

This also wouldn’t be a rhythm strategy game without some tactics. Those come into play with the game’s color-coded troops (on both sides), who employ a paper-rock-scissors system.

Using this system, you’ll want to send off the appropriate troops to tackle the appropriate enemy. The type of attack you select is also pretty important (getting into complicated-sounding territory again, I know…), but once you get the hang of the battle system you’ll feel the joy of what it’s like to be the conductor of a very violent orchestra.

There’s a lot more depth to this game than I’ve gone into, but I know what you guys really want to know.

Is the music good?

Yes. It suits the game perfectly and as you tri-tap successfully, you’ll actually add layers of extra sound to that music. It’s pretty cool. You can check out the tunes here. We’re also looking to add more music to that repertoire, so stay tuned for more info on that, all you budding musicians.

Is this the game for me?

If you like rhythm games, are into music at all or appreciate quirky gameplay, then I think you’ll like this game. Multiple difficulties, unforgiving bosses, smooth controls and unlockable content all make an addictive package, plus the in-game data tracker makes it deliciously possible to obsess over the most minute details. There are also co-op and versus modes to keep you entertained.

Will this game increase my sex appeal?

Oh, absolutely. I would not lie about this. With a title like Orgarhythm, how can it not?

Anyway, that’s just a brief look at our upcoming game. It’s music, it’s strategy, it’s unabashedly weird, and it really doesn’t do the game justice for me to just talk about, so I hope you guys’ll check out some of the gameplay videos and listen to the music. I think you’ll be intrigued. For more details, follow us on Facebook and check out the Japanese official site.