Rhythm games are allowed to have more creative ideas and ways to implement them as long as the gameplay is enjoyable and the rhythm is strong. Take a look at the goofier genre favourites, including Rhythm Heaven, Elite Beat Agents, and Bust-A-Groove.
If these games hadn’t been so groovy, they would have had far less success in the gaming industry. I don’t even blink when the concept of a pigeon-filled Battle Royale where the objective is to survive four rounds of rhythm-based gameplay to become the Master Headbanger is put up. It feels correct.
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale aims to fuse the fast-paced music and competitive nature of a rhythm game with the frantic action of a battle royale. Playing as an elastic, beat-blasting pigeon, you may customise your musical persona with a variety of unlocking costume items that are tailored to your success.
Pigeons need to know who is the Master Headbanger, so compete through three rounds of musical challenges to place among the Top 5 in the Final Round. There, competitors compete in a Winner-Takes-All format to determine the winner.
In Headbangers’ Tournament mode, which assigns a game to play at random every round, thirty pigeon lobbies are slotted together. After a few playthroughs, you’ll have a general notion of what to expect because every round consists of the same set of five to six games.
Ten pigeons will be eliminated from the game for each round, and five will remain to compete for the victory in the penultimate round. The only mode that is currently accessible is tournament mode; custom lobbies do not appear to be an option, but you can enter the game with a sizable group of friends and engage in competitive play.
If you happen to have one pigeon back out during the lobby phase, be prepared to wait the whole ninety seconds until bots fill the void and the game begins. Tournaments do have this annoying propensity to only try to bring in exactly thirty pigeons at a time and not continue to search to fill the room.
The fact that there is only one option—Tournament mode—further highlights how lacking a practice mode is. During the first few rotations, learn to accept losing tournaments as you gain experience with the game and its subtleties.
Launching with a decent variety of 23 games (plus 4 bonus-round mini-games), the competing pigeons can expect a nice distribution of diverse sorts of rhythm. You’ll encounter “Simon Says” types that are played at ever-increasing rates, either by pressing buttons or following analogue stick commands.
Some games may test your ability to identify musical samples; you can guess a variety of instruments or see if you can identify a sound through a jumble of other meaningless noises. As I got better at each game, I had a great time learning it.
The pigeons’ intense competition to be the greatest at each round adds to the game’s attractiveness. I’ll always yell “LISTEN” and “Gueeeeeess Iiiiiiiit” in unison with that pigeon, so props to my boy for hosting the Guess It game.
You will be unhappy to realise that the game number is a little bit artificially exaggerated, though, after playing a few games. The tournament’s fourth and final round features 5 games altogether; 4 of those games are simply more difficult versions of earlier games, therefore there are less than 20 games overall, which can grow monotonous rather quickly.
Even more so if your roll of the dice is similar to mine, in which case you’ll be playing a lot of Fitness and The Battle Box because I didn’t play two games (Faster Than Sound and Run Pigeon Run 1) until roughly the 20th out of 30 matches that I participated in. Given that Glee-Cheese Studio intends to update and add material until 2024, it’s possible that this issue will be resolved in a few seasons.
Any participant can swipe the floating object boxes that move across the screen during each round. These item boxes offer a pleasant little risk/reward in each game; the rewards can be anything from helping hands in the current game to XP and Crumbs, Headbangers’ currency for customisation, but they can also set off a cunning sabotage to reduce your chances of victory.
Playing the game well and snatching up item boxes is a great way to multitask, as it may be a legitimate tactic to keep the helpful (or damaging) hands to yourself if you keep them away from your opponents.
By placing in every tournament, you can earn Crumbs to spend in the Headbangers equipment shop and Pigeon XP in the 40-level roadmap of Season 1. The absence of microtransactions for Crumbs is a welcome sight, and since qualifying for the Final Round will earn you a respectable sum each round, you won’t need to work too hard to get some awesome stuff.
You can really stand out from the crowd by creating some very interesting combinations of musical genre-themed attire on your pigeon thanks to the surprisingly large amount of customisation options. You’ll also be mixing and matching a lot during your visit because each level earned on the Season typically requires 1-3 tournaments to unlock.
I enjoy what Headbangers: Rhythm Royale has to offer as a lover of rhythm games. Though it’s a fairly specialised addition to the Battle Royale library, the game’s easy accessibility and lighthearted humour make it a great choice for fans of both genres.
The experience can get stale due to the lack of a practice option, inconsistent game selection odds, and technological difficulties, but it’s still really awesome to beat 29 other people at simple yet competitive rhythm games and flap your neck like a pigeon.