Frequency
It took Sam 1200 words to say what the rest of us can in just 5: You MUST buy this game.
Published: November 30, 2001
I've already said this before when I reviewed Frequency for IGN: This game is pure digital crack. I haven't been so quickly addicted to a game since Tetris. Sure, a lot of factors came together to help win me over so completely, primarily my love for music of this type, but Frequency has still managed to hook friends that aren't even into anything remotely related to electronica.
If you haven't had a chance to check out Frequency, here's the the gist: songs from various artists take the form of tunnels that you fly down. On each of the tunnels are tracks containing all the core parts of a song like guitar, drums and vocals, with added electronica enhancements like synth. As you rotate around the different tracks, linked pattern appear on the left, right and middle sections of the track, simply play through the sequence and you'll lock it in for the remainder of that section of the song. If you can lock in all the sections of the song before the end, you'll open up the ability to lay down some freestyle turntable scratches or a synth note barrage axe track.
Powerups randomly appear along the tracks as part of the sequence you'll have to play, and if you can complete the section, you'll keep the powerup as a reward. Multipliers boost your score for 8 measures and autocatchers automatically lock in the track, giving you that piece of the song until the next section, and tossing the points you would have gotten had you earned them the hard way onto your score. By locking in tracks and then hopping to nearby ones quickly, you can chain together sections for a combo.
And that's it, really. Lock in the tracks, get the points, keep your health meter up (it drops every measure, so the only way to keep it up is to lock in tracks) and you'll beat the song. Of course, it is music, and open music at that, so the choices in how you craft the tune are entirely up to you. As you play more and more, and learn how to nail the patterns, you can start building the song as you'd like to hear it, so you can layer in bass, then guitar, then vocals, then kick the whole package into overdrive with the drum tracks. It's really fun to play around with exactly what sounds cool, and when you can do it well, any observers will be totally impressed. And, of course, it's all downhill from there as you proceed to harder difficulty levels with more tracks to play (there's 25 songs in total) and harder patterns to master.
I've mentioned before that it's been a trick of DJ's to let the music drop out and then slowly layer in a piece at a time. This is essentially what you do when you get good at the game, but it's still under the whole pretense of a level. If you just want to kick back and custom mix some of the stuff you've heard, there's ample opportunity. With Frequency's remix mode, you can head back into the tracks and wipe them clean, rebuilding them from their individual parts as you see fit. Think you can kick out a better drum beat during that section of the song? Prove it, drummer boy. Know you can lay down a funkier bass line than those so-called "artists"? Now's your chance. And therein' lies the fun. When you can slowly build a song or kick in a really tight beat on top of a lesser backdrop of music, it stirs the emotions and not only sounds cool, but gets you more into the game as a whole.
Multiplayer is also a blast, but is tweaked slightly for more players. Up to four can go at it at a time (far, FAR less than what the original online option would have provided), but instead of locking in an entire section, you just collect the pieces of a track one measure at a time. This way you can mix it up and try to use the powerups that are on hand to help yourself or hinder your friends. There's no multiplier, but the autocatcher is back, offering up the same boost. Along with it you have the crippler (disables another player's activator, leaving them unable to capture any notes), neutralizer (reverses any work a player has put into a track, freeing it up for you and killing their points along with it), bumper (take a wild guess as to what that does to the other person) and freestyler, which transforms any track into a set or turntables or axe for an impromptu scratch or synth session). The effect of a couple of guys who are really good at the game all locking in different parts of the song is awesome, and at times it can amazing as sections enter in unison.
Frequency has the look of Tron given a violent shove into the realm of pastel neon. It's not bad, and it perfectly fits the game's very precise, measured gameplay, which is a good thing. It's simultaneously minimalist and a sensory overload, something that raver kids all over the globe will no doubt be grinding their teeth in enjoyment over. Everything has a clean, organized look, like a computer, but with random things like five frame animated textures of the artists performing the songs. It's fun, and kinda kitschy, which is probably why I dug the look so much.
Eight arenas offer something different for onlookers to experience, though you'll have a hard time taking anything in when the songs get more complex. While each his it's own unique look and feel (neon bars, zooming pastel planes, space, etc.), they all share the same vortex-like qualities, so you feel like you flying down some corridor either in slo-mo as the world whooshes by you or near the speed of light. It's a trip, and if you're not playing, almost as much fun to watch and listen as it is to play.
Oh, and then there's that music thing I was telling you about. The amazingly kick ass, perfectly picked, expertly broken down selection of music from just about every major genre someone who's going to pick this up would be into. There's hip-hop (Akrobatik), rock and industrial (No Doubt, Powerman 5000, Fear Factory, Curve), trance (Paul Oakenfold, Orbital), house (BT, Lo Fidelity Allstars, Crystal Method), drum n' bass (Roni Size) -- basically everything you could want in electronic music. If a song or artists didn't sound like it belonged in the realm of electronica before, it does now, as every song has been laced with little touches of synth or digital effects.
You'll be playing these songs over and over and over again, and the fact that all of them break down into their separate parts so well, and that most of those parts can hold their own, well, on their own really says something about what the developers have crafted. Whether you're getting ready to go out to a club or wish you had the car, money, clothes, companionship, and dancing skills to actually do it, Frequency will help you feel like you could attract throngs of adoring fans with your mad mixing skills -- even if you're a 6'2" white guy with a fro that would put most of his black friends' 'dos to shame and the collective dancing skill of a cracked-out drunken monkey on rocket skates.
If you haven't had a chance to check out Frequency, here's the the gist: songs from various artists take the form of tunnels that you fly down. On each of the tunnels are tracks containing all the core parts of a song like guitar, drums and vocals, with added electronica enhancements like synth. As you rotate around the different tracks, linked pattern appear on the left, right and middle sections of the track, simply play through the sequence and you'll lock it in for the remainder of that section of the song. If you can lock in all the sections of the song before the end, you'll open up the ability to lay down some freestyle turntable scratches or a synth note barrage axe track.
Powerups randomly appear along the tracks as part of the sequence you'll have to play, and if you can complete the section, you'll keep the powerup as a reward. Multipliers boost your score for 8 measures and autocatchers automatically lock in the track, giving you that piece of the song until the next section, and tossing the points you would have gotten had you earned them the hard way onto your score. By locking in tracks and then hopping to nearby ones quickly, you can chain together sections for a combo.
And that's it, really. Lock in the tracks, get the points, keep your health meter up (it drops every measure, so the only way to keep it up is to lock in tracks) and you'll beat the song. Of course, it is music, and open music at that, so the choices in how you craft the tune are entirely up to you. As you play more and more, and learn how to nail the patterns, you can start building the song as you'd like to hear it, so you can layer in bass, then guitar, then vocals, then kick the whole package into overdrive with the drum tracks. It's really fun to play around with exactly what sounds cool, and when you can do it well, any observers will be totally impressed. And, of course, it's all downhill from there as you proceed to harder difficulty levels with more tracks to play (there's 25 songs in total) and harder patterns to master.
I've mentioned before that it's been a trick of DJ's to let the music drop out and then slowly layer in a piece at a time. This is essentially what you do when you get good at the game, but it's still under the whole pretense of a level. If you just want to kick back and custom mix some of the stuff you've heard, there's ample opportunity. With Frequency's remix mode, you can head back into the tracks and wipe them clean, rebuilding them from their individual parts as you see fit. Think you can kick out a better drum beat during that section of the song? Prove it, drummer boy. Know you can lay down a funkier bass line than those so-called "artists"? Now's your chance. And therein' lies the fun. When you can slowly build a song or kick in a really tight beat on top of a lesser backdrop of music, it stirs the emotions and not only sounds cool, but gets you more into the game as a whole.
Multiplayer is also a blast, but is tweaked slightly for more players. Up to four can go at it at a time (far, FAR less than what the original online option would have provided), but instead of locking in an entire section, you just collect the pieces of a track one measure at a time. This way you can mix it up and try to use the powerups that are on hand to help yourself or hinder your friends. There's no multiplier, but the autocatcher is back, offering up the same boost. Along with it you have the crippler (disables another player's activator, leaving them unable to capture any notes), neutralizer (reverses any work a player has put into a track, freeing it up for you and killing their points along with it), bumper (take a wild guess as to what that does to the other person) and freestyler, which transforms any track into a set or turntables or axe for an impromptu scratch or synth session). The effect of a couple of guys who are really good at the game all locking in different parts of the song is awesome, and at times it can amazing as sections enter in unison.
Frequency has the look of Tron given a violent shove into the realm of pastel neon. It's not bad, and it perfectly fits the game's very precise, measured gameplay, which is a good thing. It's simultaneously minimalist and a sensory overload, something that raver kids all over the globe will no doubt be grinding their teeth in enjoyment over. Everything has a clean, organized look, like a computer, but with random things like five frame animated textures of the artists performing the songs. It's fun, and kinda kitschy, which is probably why I dug the look so much.
Eight arenas offer something different for onlookers to experience, though you'll have a hard time taking anything in when the songs get more complex. While each his it's own unique look and feel (neon bars, zooming pastel planes, space, etc.), they all share the same vortex-like qualities, so you feel like you flying down some corridor either in slo-mo as the world whooshes by you or near the speed of light. It's a trip, and if you're not playing, almost as much fun to watch and listen as it is to play.
Oh, and then there's that music thing I was telling you about. The amazingly kick ass, perfectly picked, expertly broken down selection of music from just about every major genre someone who's going to pick this up would be into. There's hip-hop (Akrobatik), rock and industrial (No Doubt, Powerman 5000, Fear Factory, Curve), trance (Paul Oakenfold, Orbital), house (BT, Lo Fidelity Allstars, Crystal Method), drum n' bass (Roni Size) -- basically everything you could want in electronic music. If a song or artists didn't sound like it belonged in the realm of electronica before, it does now, as every song has been laced with little touches of synth or digital effects.
You'll be playing these songs over and over and over again, and the fact that all of them break down into their separate parts so well, and that most of those parts can hold their own, well, on their own really says something about what the developers have crafted. Whether you're getting ready to go out to a club or wish you had the car, money, clothes, companionship, and dancing skills to actually do it, Frequency will help you feel like you could attract throngs of adoring fans with your mad mixing skills -- even if you're a 6'2" white guy with a fro that would put most of his black friends' 'dos to shame and the collective dancing skill of a cracked-out drunken monkey on rocket skates.