Game: Fred3ric
Genre: Music, Arcade
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer|Publisher: Forever Entertainment
Age Rating: US E | EU 3+
Price: US $9.99 | CA $10.79|AU $ 13.50 | UK £8.99 | €8,99
Release Date: 20th February 2020
Review code used, but my views are my own!
It’s not an easy game, for a couple of reasons (but mostly my own fault)!
Gameplay
Anyone who remembers playing Guitar Hero on the Nintendo Wii will already be familiar with the style of play in Fred3ric. On your screen is a piano (rather than a guitar) with 7 keys, and notes fly towards the keys on lines, so you have to hit the right key while the note is over it. It’s a classic and simple mechanic, but even the Normal mode is quite difficult. Quick tip – don’t skip through the loading screens the first time you play as they offer the extremely useful advice that the game was designed for headphones and touchscreen.
So there I am, Pro controller in hand, wondering why on earth I can’t beat the first level on the easiest difficulty. The seven keys corresponded to Left, Up, Right, ZL, Y, X, and A, which isn’t the most natural key tracking using a traditional controller, and I frequently lost patience and just gave up. Once I restarted the game a few hours later and saw the intro screens I felt like a bit of a numpty and promptly switched to touchscreen and headphones. Suddenly, the game was much more enjoyable and possible to complete, though still a challenge, and I lost myself for a couple of hours in the catchy music.
The cutscenes are short and sweet, starting with a brief explanation of why you’re having piano battles and slowly progressing through the technological corruption of various famous historical figures to make them your next opponent. They hand you the story without rambling or cutting corners, and the comic style fits the vibe perfectly.
Graphics and Sound
I’ve never been a music person, I’ve always enjoyed listening to it but never had a single rhythmic bone in my body – I can’t even tap my foot to the beat of a song I’ve heard a thousand times. Somehow though, Fred3ric’s musical structure made it possible for even me to figure out the timing of the notes based on what I was listening to. You’ll recognise a good number of classics in the levels, and if you’re anything like me you will be bopping your head along as you play.
It’s a good thing I managed to follow the music by sound because, while the graphics are fun, I really wish there was an option of a plain background while playing. I have an eyesight problem anyway and the bright, cartoony, and constantly shifting background was playing absolute havoc with my sight, often making it impossible for me to see notes coming until they hit the piano keys and then it was too late to respond. It’s a shame because I love the art style in the cutscenes, but during play it’s just overwhelming and headache-inducing.
Difficulty
Be prepared to get frustrated with this game. It’s good fun, and once you get on a roll you can blast through the levels relatively quickly in Normal mode, but if you’re having a day of lacking concentration you’re really going to struggle. I can’t be certain, but I think the main cause of the difficulty is the background as previously mentioned.
Each of the 9 levels starts relatively slowly, then speeds up as you get further through the songs until your fingers are dancing about like a mad person. I assume that each level is supposed to be harder than the last but I can’t say I noticed that particularly, as each level had very different music so it just felt like a different level at the same difficulty; I might think differently if I went back and replayed the first level again though!
Conclusion
A fun and quirky game, that in my opinion is worth what you pay for it but is very overwhelming to look at and that, unfortunately, drags it down a fair bit for me.
Final Verdict: I like it!
