See, the thing about rhythm action games is that they need some kind of gimmick to mask the fact that you’re just playing Simon Says on your TV be it trashy plastic controllers (Guitar Hero) or mind warping visuals (Rhythm Heaven, PaRappa the Rapper). Kickbeat is basically one of those old dance mat games, sans dance mat, dressed up as one of those Hong Kong cinema fight scenes where everyone politely circles the hero and attacks in turn. It’s put together without any real pizzazz or with any sense of feedback; ‘bland’ is too spicy a word for the resulting mess. Samey enemy design, which makes it hard to distinguish what’s coming up, dated rapcore tunes and an inconvenient viewing angle also conspire to make it hard to overlook the lack of a killer hooK.
