Rhythm and RPG somehow came together with a great story in INFINITE GUITARS, at the cost of a few bugs.
It’s a new year, but there’s always time to revisit the recent past; in this case, you’re in for a wild ride. The story starts with Nikko Nikko, a Canadian developer who looks to be recently founded and decided to dive straight into the wild world of game development. They didn’t test the waters or start small; this developer went all-in with what might be one of the more difficult genres to approach for the first release…. The genre in question is Rhythm. However, their first release, INFINITE GUITARS, released on 30 March 2023, is also an RPG with some turn-based tactical aspects.
The world of INFINITE GUITARS is definitely an odd one; everything is driven by Currant, an electrical source that powers everything from buildings to people. However, your adventure takes place on several islands in space, and things go downhill quickly. Right off the bat, you’ll be shown a quick cinematic to give you a vague idea by an unknown person. That same unknown person will then ask you a few questions. This is already an odd but interesting start to INFINITE GUITARS. Still, the questions are to determine the difficulty level for the different aspects of the game between – Rhythm, Action, and Turn-Based Strategy.
Your adventure in INFINITE GUITARS takes place with JJ in a dream, though his strange dream was abruptly ended by Miguel. Now, this is where you’ll have to start taking the wheel, literally… Miguel gives JJ the option to fly their ship or let it fall, and this isn’t a regular dialogue where you just choose. Your choices in most conversations will affect JJ’s Attack (ATK) and Defense (DEF).
One option will give you +2 DEF and -1 ATK, while the other will give you +2 ATK and -1 DEF. The numbers might seem small, but they add up very quickly. However, you won’t quite know what you’re getting until you pick an option. So, you’re in for a gamble either way, but to give a little hint – Bravery and recklessness are the key factors regarding how dialogue options can affect JJ.
As you already know, INFINITE GUITARS is quite heavily built around music. Not just because it’s a rhythm game, but your world is built with music in mind, specifically rock. JJ and Miguel’s ship doesn’t dock or drop a normal anchor; instead, they drop a massive audio jack connected to a chain that plugs into a socket on the island. As you get to know JJ and Miguel, you’ll see a distinct difference between them.
JJ is lazy and uncaring, while Miguel leans more toward being relaxed and focused on the task. Things take a crazy turn very quickly for these two, and their characteristics change just as quickly. This normally confuses most, but you just need to hang in there; it improves.
Before things become too sidetracked, JJ and Miguel’s main objective is to find a rumored infinite power source. This brings them to the first island they visit and sets JJ’s adventure in motion. Miguel gets taken, and it’s up to JJ to save him. Granted, he will need to make a few friends to pull off his rescue mission; more soon. You’ll need to learn how to brave the land as just JJ and his robotic friend, Ruckus, in INFINITE GUITARS.
Buckle up; this is about to get weird. INFINITE GUITARS operates on several different fronts that range from 2.5D to Rhythm-based RPG. Starting off simply, you’ll basically run around as JJ and Ruckus while collecting scrap and rare parts. Sadly, it’s not as innocent or easy as it looks. While running around and exploring each area, you’ll need to watch for Bots that will start fights with you and environmental effects that can cause some decent damage to you.
Now, you’re not stuck without a paddle at least; dodge rolling is key to preserving your Drive (Health). However, if you manage to flop and take some damage, you’ll also have the option of spending Charge to heal yourself. Sadly, this is sometimes easier said than done because the environmental effects paint a nice target for long-range attacks on you.
Nothing is ever quite as perfect as it looks, and sadly, INFINITE GUITARS isn’t perfect either. Navigating around is easy, but with the world being drawn in a flat 2.5D cartoon art style, there’s almost no perspective or way to differentiate between flat ground and a ramp that takes you up.
Be prepared to get stuck in odd crevices and corners. This is an unfortunate downside to a mostly great game, but the trouble doesn’t quite end there. Naturally, as a Rhythm game, it’s supposed to play to the rhythm… Though this doesn’t quite happen as you’d expect, you’re almost guaranteed to take some bad damage outside of fights.
Life in INFINITE GUITARS isn’t just running around to collect Scrap; the biggest part of this release is the Rhythm side. So, get your headset on and get ready to stick to the beat. You’ll be living on the beat while exploring to open doors using Conduits and to attack in a fight, though it’s nothing too unique if you’ve ever played Guitar Hero and the similarities are uncanny. Just hit the buttons on the beat, hold, and rapid tapping. It’s all there, but there is a catch. You’ll have to maintain a decent accuracy if you score above the required Sync level.
Regarding fighting in INFINITE GUITARS, there are two sides to the coin, and it starts with being turn-based. When you’re attacking, you can use a regular attack that runs on a random charge bar; scoring a higher charge will net you some Charge to use on healing or Overdrive other attacks for some extra kick.
However, the real damage comes with special attacks, which not only deal way more damage (sometimes enough to wipe out your opponent’s entire health bar in one shot) but also with extra buffs or debuffs that can lower ATK and DEF. Granted, these attacks come at the cost of Drive, which you earn back based on your Sync level, and they add a nice twist with the use of the good ol’ Rhythm mechanics.
The other side of a fight is slightly different; your opponent will randomly pick a target from your party, and you’ll need to dodge their attacks. Luckily, this is the easy part, and it comes with the perk of giving you some extra charge if you can dodge the attack at just the right time. Sadly, this is also a little boring. Aiming for RPG elements mixed with Rhythm is nice, but it’s one of those cases where you must pick a lane; sticking with the Rhythm front on both attack and defense would have been great for INFINITE GUITARS.
No RPG would ever be complete without other NPCs or a town with the odd shop for upgrades. Granted, INFINITE GUITARS only introduces you to the town, shop, and upgrades later on… And even then, you’ll need to do a different quest before getting weapon upgrades. Not everything needs a roadblock to keep a story interesting, and sadly, this made life a bit more tedious.
You’ll likely see unnecessary padding in the story, but it might be worth it if you want those weapon upgrades. Upgrading will require one of two things – Infinite Shards for general upgrades and special components to change your weapon attack type. Keeping this in mind, you’ll need to be careful with how you build your party to maximize your damage output against certain enemy types.
On the visual side of life, INFINITE GUITARS does so many things right but does a few things wrong. Using a 2.5D cartoon art style combined with looking like a side-scroller was a great move. It helps the story build up while keeping everything approachable; the lack of foreground and background shading in certain areas makes it difficult to see what’s a wall and what isn’t. There is one other major issue, though this isn’t entirely a visual issue and more a technical issue.
As we all know, most consoles use wireless controllers that use either Bluetooth or dedicated wireless. However, Bluetooth comes with the drawback of input latency; this is seriously damaging for Rhythm games if the timing isn’t right and even worse if you can’t do a quick self-calibrate just to align the timing.
This is a relatively small feature that isn’t actually necessary. Still, one or the other would make the Rhythm side of INFINITE GUITARS a lot more enjoyable because not everybody has the option or even wants to use a long enough cable to minimize input latency for what is supposed to be a casual game.
INFINITE GUITARS really shines in sound engineering and music; granted, it has to since it’s a Rhythm game. Though it goes above and beyond with background music, each new background song sets the mood and helps to carry the story until you get to a more dangerous area or a fight, and the music dramatically shifts from calm to Funk Rock. This is where the real spirit of INFINITE GUITARS comes into play while pulling everything together in all the best ways, but it still suffers a bit with the previously mentioned input lag issues.
Overall, INFINITE GUITARS has so much potential to be an excellent Rhythm game with a fun but casual story. It features a good mix of different genres, and they all work quite well with each other to give you a great experience with the story. Sadly, it still has a few issues that need to be addressed before it can shine, namely the visual issues and the minor technical bugs that can drag a good game down.
