[h1] Go play the original Soundodger+ [/h1]
If you have already played it, you may still like this sequel. It has almost entirely positive reviews, so it's likely that you will. But you should be aware that aside from sharing the name and a very small number of visually similar shapes, these are different games.
[h1] So what changed? [/h1]
[h3] The Rhythm [/h3]
Soundodger+ is a focused experience to an impressive degree. The music is often drum heavy, and most of the shapes that appear on the screen either show up exactly on a clearly audible drum beat, or during the notes of a main melody that is carrying the rhythm. This makes the game concept come alive and truly does give you the experience of playing within the song. As you start to naturally sync up to the phrases and rhythms, you expect what's coming next. You will finish the level having listened deeply and intently to the song that was played. If you like the music, it's an incredible experience.
Soundodger 2 places you as the song's adversary. The music is mostly pop, with a lot of bright electronic influence, and every single element of each song is fair game for spawning shapes that you need to dodge. A main drum beat may create shapes, it may not. A melody may create shapes on every note, then every other, then just the starting notes for each phrase, then every note again. The shapes it creates will not be consistent through the whole phrase, they will be whatever shape will keep you busiest on the screen at the time. The challenge here is much more chaotic, which lends itself to memorization, and to support this the game has a very granular practice mode. You will need to play the songs multiple times to truly hear them, as your first playthrough will leave you switching your focus between many different instruments. If constantly keeping on your toes and having high replayability is valuable to you, then you'll probably like this change.
[h3] The Controls [/h3]
Soundodger+ is not just a rhythm game and it wears its other influence on its sleeve: bullet hell and shoot-em-up arcade games. You can move fast, slow, or very slow at will. Very slow movement even slows the song speed, but costs you a small amount of your final score to use. If your reflexes are good enough to use it before you get hit, though, it will be a much lower cost. The geometric patterns of bullets may be complex, but they are always precise and predictable, especially since you'll be listening to the song. The game is built around staying focused, understanding the patterns, and understanding the music.
Soundodger 2 is not just a rhythm game and it also wears its other influence on its sleeve: mobile games. You can move fast and slow, but all of your other tools come in the form of power ups. You unlock them with points. Before a run you choose your build. Patterns emerge from every direction, and any drum beat or song note can unleash any pattern. Shapes mostly follow rules for their movement, until they suddenly don't for an extra surprise. They may even shoot outside the play area. Black holes might spawn and destroy them all. And you don't just need to dodge these shapes, you also need to go collect little circles that are scattered about. If you vibed out with Subway Surfers (or Temple Run if you're older, or Flappy Bird if you're even older), you'll probably like this change.
[h3] The Visuals [/h3]
Soundodger+ has a limited color palette and concise visual library, similar to classic rhythm games (DJMAX, Spin Rhythm, DDR, Groove Coaster, etc). You learn what all the shapes mean and how they each behave very quickly. After that, the focus of the game is on the songs and the rhythm.
Soundodger 2 changes its color palette with every button you press during the song select. It has heavy chromatic aberration effects. One of the first stages has an entire section that is blurred out. Most others shift and blend between colors while you play them. The geometry is constantly switching and distorting. Shapes behave in a variety of ways, and it really just depends on the level. Some levels have backgrounds. One early level splatters the song lyrics all over the screen. Sometimes everything will disappear into a heavy vignette filter. You can limit this somewhat by turning off Tilt and FX in the menu, but it doesn't change much. If you enjoy psychedelic visuals for their own sake, or wanted a rhythm game that leans heavily into being a music visualizer, you'll probably like this change.
[h3] The Focus [/h3]
Soundodger+ made a single bold choice that I have wanted in every rhythm game I've played for years: you can't die. You can get a lower score, but you are free to play any song of any difficulty through to completion. If you've ever played a rhythm game in an arcade or with a bunch of friends over, you'll understand this specific pain. Not wanting to risk losing their turn early, many people will pick a song that is easier than they can actually handle. They don't engage with the challenge, usually get bored, always feel like everyone else is better than they are, and usually drop out of the genre altogether. Finally, there is a game that doesn't have the bizarre 1970s concept of "hit points" (whatever that even is) and instead has just one system. The focus is purely on score and it doesn't randomly and pointlessly bolt on an extra health meter.
Soundodger 2 returns to the genre standard and has a health meter. You can technically add a mod to turn it off, but it goes even further than being just a random extra, so you are really changing some core balance by doing so. During songs, you can collect hearts to heal yourself. In choosing to recognize this extra mechanic at play, this becomes its own entire second scoring system. Some stages are unlocked this way. If you have no one to play this game competitively with, or have no intrinsic motivation toward getting a perfect score, or respond well to punishment as a form of motivation, you'll probably like this change.
[h3] The Refinement [/h3]
Soundodger+ doesn't seem to have any bugs, at least as far as I have encountered. Rendering is solid. Controller support is seamless.
Soundodger 2 has some quirks. If you're using a controller, it'll drop back into mouse mode every time you finish a stage and a big blue cursor will sit in the middle of the screen. Framerates seem to always be shifting, probably due to the heavy effects. Animations all play at different speeds and for different lengths of time and have very different visual styles. Some color palettes cause rendering issues or flicker, one high contrast green and red early stage had strange ghosting problems. If you play with a mouse and have a good setup, you probably won't encounter these. Even if you do, I'd say they're all minor, and probably just a result of the game having so much going on, which you may see as a good thing.
[h3] Conclusion [/h3]
Soundodger+ is incredible and if you don't own it, you should get it. Full price. Support the developer. Get copies for your friends and get them into it. It's completely unique and especially good competitively.
Soundodger 2 is also a rhythm game, albeit a totally different one, and you may also like it. With stages being only a couple of minutes long, you don't really have anything to lose by trying it. You'll be well within the refund period by the time you've cleared the whole early game. And if the reviews here are anything to go by, we'll disagree, and you'll have a great time.
If you're anything like me, though, you'll be hoping for a Soundodger 3 that returns to the series' roots.
