What I Liked:
Decent Graphics and Sound
The controls are at least responsive

What I Disliked:
The controls are frustrating, and the guitar controls only make them even worse.
The gameplay is boring and uninspired.
Level progression is locked behind unlocking a certain number of medals. This is never a good idea.

Fret Nice is a great game in video form. The Art Style looks good, the music is nice and upbeat, and seeing somebody breeze through the levels, picking off enemies with relative ease looked like an extraordinarily fun time. Playing Fret Nice, however, is an entirely different experience, with bad controls making an already uninspired game even more frustrating.

Taking the role of “The Vibrant Chordblasters”, you are tasked with ridding the land of the black… gunk brought about by a group of… things. I don’t really know how to properly explain the story, as it is told so nonchalantly in the opening cutscene that I honestly didn’t care by the end of the game, or even by the end of the opening cutscene. All I knew was that I needed to get through an indiscriminate number of levels, and defeat some kind of evil force with the power of song.

Fret Nice looks pretty, with a cardboard cut out aesthetic and peppy songs at least making the game easy on both the eyes and ears. Where the game really comes apart is the controls. While the core running and jumping feels responsive enough, it’s how you defeat enemies that truly serves as Fret Nice’s biggest misstep. In order to properly vanquish your foes, you have to play a number of frets at the same time, a number that should correspond with the number of facial features on an enemy. However, this is quickly made more and more exasperating by the fact that multiple foes tend to come towards you at once, and some have more than one of each feature. While the game would have you playing epic guitar solos in order to dispatch all of these foes, the reality is something closer to having a seizure on the shoulder buttons. Don’t even think about using Fret Nice’s most keenly hyped feature, the ability to play the game with a guitar controller, as this just makes the game even more frustrating to play. Whoever thought that tilting the controller to jump was a good idea needs to be thoroughly examined, as they may very well be inflicted with a severe case of the crazies.

Fret Nice just isn’t fun, with poor controls marring an already uninspired experience. While some stages break up the monotony with clever boss battles and segments with a jet pack, these aren’t enough to propel the game towards mediocrity.  The game has some interesting ideas, but seems intent on sabotaging its own stage show with dodgy pyrotechnics.

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Do you want an inFamous 2 tshirt? Well listen to the end of the podcast this week

So after 6 episodes do you guys still listen to us?

Games discussed: Tumble, Fret Nice, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Worms 2: Armageddon + others I am forgetting right now.

Fret Nice harmonizes the unity between music and the 2D platformer. As you control your character through the artful stages, you play the game as if it were a jammin’ rock song. Rock out by blasting enemies with riff combos and creating your own soundtracks with each “strum” of a chord. Each time a stage is repeated, you will have an everchanging experience.

What features does this game have? Glad you asked:

• Audio Dynamics: Notes you play in Riff Combos are relative to the current key of the stages’ songs, allowing for user-generated audio-tastic soundtracks.
• Facial Attribute System: A fun and visual way to interpret riff combos. For example, if there are three eyes and two tentacles on an enemy, you have to “strum” three of the same notes and two same other note in the riff combo.
• Cooperative Play: Play cooperatively with a friend (locally) to clear stage levels and compete with each other for high scores. The catch is that you are connected by an instrument cord, preventing both of you from getting too far from each other on a shared screen.
• Online Leaderboards: The scores from each level played are posted on online leaderboards. Keep playing for the highest score and beat the competition!
• Character Customization: Choose your character and customize its hair, clothes, and instruments!
• Unlockables: As you play through the game, new instruments and customizable items can be unlocked!
• Riff Combos: When a note is played in the air, a Riff Combo will be activated to help defeat enemies.

Liked that trailer? Here are 24 screens for you to gaze at.



The game is out Thursday for $14.99 and you can even use that Rock Band guitar you have laying around your family room.

]]> http://www.psnstores.com/2010/02/new-fret-nice-screens-and-trailer/feed/ 0 http://www.psnstores.com/2010/01/out-this-week-fret-nice/ http://www.psnstores.com/2010/01/out-this-week-fret-nice/#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:25:39 +0000 Chris K http://www.psnstores.com/?p=2631 Tecmo has announced on their twitter account that Fret Nice will be making its way on the PlayStation Network this week.



This is the second venture onto PSN for the team over at Pieces Interactive, the studio that released Puzzlegeddon back in December.



Check back for a review in the coming weeks.

]]> http://www.psnstores.com/2010/01/out-this-week-fret-nice/feed/ 0 http://www.psnstores.com/2009/10/preview-fret-nice/ http://www.psnstores.com/2009/10/preview-fret-nice/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:21:43 +0000 Chris K http://www.psnstores.com/?p=792 We got our hands on some new screens from the upcoming PSN release Fret Nice.

Everybody loves the Vibrant Chodblasters, the whole world’s new darling hitband. Everybody except the Hair Bängers. inhabitants of the Heavy Metal Kingdom. Upon hearing the new sound of the Vibrant Chordblasters’ spreading all over the world, the Hair Bängers take action and go on a destructive rampage!

Watcha gonna do?! Take on the role as the Vibrant Chordblasters in this musical platformer for 1-2 players, and riff the Hair Bängers back to the icky heavy metal hole from whence they came… By the power of Rock’n Roll!




Expect to see more on this game as we get closer to launch sometime in Q1 2010.

]]> http://www.psnstores.com/2009/10/preview-fret-nice/feed/ 0