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View Full Version : Review Cleril Reviews: Frequency (PS2)



Cleril
12-11-2009, 04:08 PM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Frequency_Coverart.png

Frequency was made by Harmonix a long time ago but the game is still played or known of by a select few. Harmonix as most know now is a maker of music based games, Frequency is no different.

Frequency has a simple plot. You are a DJ or "FreQ" and play songs for no real reason other than to hear the thumping base pound in the song. The plot is of course irrelevant in this game.

There are two modes of gameplay, three if you count multiplayer over a local area but I won't because it's the same game.

Game Mode

This mode is concerned with playing songs to earn points which unlock harder difficulties and then more songs. You must unlock every song if you wish to use them in Remix mode.

The menu controls are like any other game but when playing a song you have a choice of controls. You play the song on tracks, each track representing a different instrument such as the drums or synth. The song is broken up into sections and in each section you have to complete each instruments track to sync up the song. If you do this well for a few sections the song will play itself for a while allowing you access to the freestyle tracks, the Axe and Scratch, which using them will give you points to add to your score. You alternate between tracks using the D-Pad's left or right controls. To activate notes, much like in Rockband you line up with them and hit the corresponding button since the only note color in this game is green, and you play it with a standard PS2 controller.

You do have a choice of how you go about activating notes. There are three different notes for each track, a drum has the bass pedal, snare, and high hat usually, for example. You can use the Square, Triangle, and Circle buttons to activate the left, middle, and right notes or use other play styles such as the L1, R2, and R1 combination, which you will use for later difficulty levels as the game gets much harder.

Speaking of difficulty the game must think you are a computer. Even at the Normal difficulty setting the game can be impossible to beat, therefore not allowing you to remix every song in the game, of which there are 28 total. I myself had to use cheats to gain enough points to unlock the new songs because of this difficulty. It doesn't break the game but it may force you to just cheat your way through if you like remixing songs.

Throughout the tracks there are power ups which if you complete that section of an instrument you will earn either a score multiplier or a autocatcher which will complete any track for you. The multiplier helps you get those oh so valuable points while the autocatcher will grant you relief from harder tracks.

Remix Mode

When you unlock songs you may go here to remix them to your liking. You simply use the sounds from the original song and place them where you want on the track to make a new song. You can add effects to individual track like Stutter, Echo, Chorus, and Volume. If you want to know where the original song as it's notes placed you can use the "Guides" effect and ghost notes will appear to show you where the original notes were.

You also have access to use the Freestyle instruments like the Axe and Scratch which you may use at your discloser as there is no way to win or lose in this mode. You are free to create a masterpiece of crap or a heavy techno beat. Think of Wii Music but you have all the instruments of the song at once and don't have to repeat a section if you mess up since the game loops the section until you are ready to move on. Also, the music is not of MIDI quality.

The controls are the same except instead of activating notes you make them instead and you use the right thumb stick to choose effects for each track to use if you want them. Other than that this mode is for pure creativity of the player, which is a good thing.

It should be noted though that you can play your own remixes if you want to. The points don't help you in game mode though which isn't a problem anyway.


http://www.vgmuseum.com/scans/psx2/frequency_back.JPG

The graphics consist of geometrical shapes for the levels and the notes are shaped like diamonds on the flat tracks. The colors in the game are bright, trippy, and downright distracting. In other words, the graphics are nothing more than odd but trippy. They do move with the beat of the song though.

The songs used in the game are your varieties of techno, house, metal, trance, and funky songs. Anybody with a decent taste of music will enjoy most if not all songs and if you don't you can always remix them to your liking.

Okay, so do I get it?

The question is can you find it. The game didn't receive well with the public because of the graphics and oddness of the game at the time. Therefore finding this game is near impossible as I have yet to see it in any Gamestop, ever. I obtained it through my temple which it was donated to but nobody paid it any mind so I took it home and gave it life, er, sound...?

The answer is yes, get this game if you can find it, that is, if you have any sense of rhythm at all or want to be a DJ in training.

jango
12-11-2009, 04:21 PM
good job mate, another good review .. time you got some rep from me tbh :)

Cleril
12-11-2009, 04:28 PM
good job mate, another good review .. time you got some rep from me tbh :)

Thank you very much my good sir! Though I am just copying/pasting from another site all of these reviews. I did write them of course but these were written months ago, in fact, Afrika is technically my latest review. ;)