Rhythm Sprout: Sick Beats & Bad Sweets

Super fun characters and silly game play

Rhythm sprout is a very relaxed, short, humorous, chart based rhythm game. The story along with the gameplay is simple yet satisfying, while the plot twists and associated music styles surprise you would you least expect it. I would say it is well worth its price tag, especially on sale, but I do have a few qualms with it. While I found the single-track idea interesting at first, it is essentially three different tracks, considering there are three different notes you have to press. I think I would have preferred if those tracks were separated more clearly, because it would reduce some of the visual clutter. I think that the scrolling lane also felt kind of uninteresting, especially in comparison to the visual aspect of other rhythm games like Rhythm Heaven and Bits and Bops. I would say that the story, along with the boss battles and occasional enemies, did help to mitigate that though. I also didn't enjoy the soundtrack all that much, but that comes down to personal preference. It focuses on electronic up-beat music, with a mix of lo-fi and high-energy songs. The nature of the music left me feeling like some of the rhythms were wild and unpredictable, and weren't too enjoyable on a first play. That being said, the game has some doors for replayability. It has many optional levels after the main campaign, and there are also challenge modes to enable. I do wish it had workshop support, as I feel most scrolling rhythm games benefit greatly from it. As far as accessibility, there is a beginner mode that increases timing windows, removes the third input, and gives you more health. It is a very good option for anyone new to the genre or overall inexperienced. I would also heavily advise changing the controls, the default keyboard layout is very tight, and it makes hard to perform rolls. As a final note, I must warn that the difficulty sees some significant spikes, especially in the King Sugar Daddy fight. Trust me, you may even cry when you reach that point.