- Mom, mom! Can I have RHYTHM HEAVEN™?
- We have RHYTHM HEAVEN™ at home, dear.
Set in the surreal landscapes of the dreams of a young man who, even in his sleep, cannot escape the trappings of modern life, Melatonin is a rhythm game that takes mundane, momentaneous actions of our day-to-day, like the swiping of a credit card, or swinging of a pendulum, sets them to a beat and turns them into a rhythm game.
The game is rendered in a cartoon style with soft pastel colors, which match its low-fi, low energy audio design. As enticing as this presentation is at first, it's at the core of the issues with Melatonin that ultimately turn it into a deeply disappointing experience. The game does not let go of this chill aesthetic to its detriment, resulting into multiple issues with the gameplay. Lack of effective cues within the minigames is the most important one: the sounds that are meant to guide the player are low-energy and hard to make out, like the almost hum-like whirring of a printer, echoes of thunder in the distance, a ding sound that's easily drowned out... all of them far too timid, too reserved.
The contrast is evident when the game is placed side by side with its (obvious) inspiration Rhythm Heaven, as in that game, cues lean on the side of loud and energetic: animal noises, clapping, verbal commands.. even the more artificial prompts are loud clanks, screeches and the like, all of them unmistakable for anything else. The sound design is so intense, in fact, that some cues are committed to memory forever. Anyone who played Rhythm Heaven can probably hear these:
And buh buh buh TAP TAP TAP!
JAB, JAB, JAB, GOGOGO!
Wubbadubbadubbadub, is that true?! EH!
Two flipper rolls!
Sure, not all Rhythm Heaven minigames are perfect, but most Melatonin ones veer on the side of bad due to a widespread unintuitiveness and lack of clarity. The game has to rely on a visual indicator during practice to explain each minigame, and sometimes, the cues are so obtuse, even that doesn't help much. Time is an example where not even the game can explain how the minigame is supposed to work; Money and Stress reuse sound cues for different inputs, forcing reliance on visuals only; Work and Dating take it a step further and change the sounds midway to throw the player off...
Melatonin even commits a cardinal sin for a rhythm game in that, in some levels, such as Shopping and Exercise, the stage track itself doesn't match the intended inputs at all, meaning it's far easier to play with the BGM volume set to 0 -- a depressing way to play a rhythm game, where vibing to the music ought to be a pillar of the experience. On that note, the remixes between nights are another way in which the game performs disfavorably: the basic gist is taken straight from RH, with multiple minigames interspersed with each other as a unique song plays, but Melatonin does not visually change anything to make the remix feel new, and while the tracks featured are unique, they're neither memorable nor exciting, resulting in remixes that lack the cathartic release one yearns for after practicing multiple minigames in a row.
Among those hardcore rhythm gamers desperate for a fix, I suppose some might see value in Melatonin. I, however, and I'm left confused at the glowing reviews it received: despite playing the game to the end, I can't remember a single song, a single motif nor a single sound cue from Melatonin's many underwhelming levels. The experience was about as exciting as its main character's life, and all I could think of as the credits rolled was that we all could really use a new Rhythm Heaven.
- We have RHYTHM HEAVEN™ at home, dear.
Set in the surreal landscapes of the dreams of a young man who, even in his sleep, cannot escape the trappings of modern life, Melatonin is a rhythm game that takes mundane, momentaneous actions of our day-to-day, like the swiping of a credit card, or swinging of a pendulum, sets them to a beat and turns them into a rhythm game.
The game is rendered in a cartoon style with soft pastel colors, which match its low-fi, low energy audio design. As enticing as this presentation is at first, it's at the core of the issues with Melatonin that ultimately turn it into a deeply disappointing experience. The game does not let go of this chill aesthetic to its detriment, resulting into multiple issues with the gameplay. Lack of effective cues within the minigames is the most important one: the sounds that are meant to guide the player are low-energy and hard to make out, like the almost hum-like whirring of a printer, echoes of thunder in the distance, a ding sound that's easily drowned out... all of them far too timid, too reserved.
The contrast is evident when the game is placed side by side with its (obvious) inspiration Rhythm Heaven, as in that game, cues lean on the side of loud and energetic: animal noises, clapping, verbal commands.. even the more artificial prompts are loud clanks, screeches and the like, all of them unmistakable for anything else. The sound design is so intense, in fact, that some cues are committed to memory forever. Anyone who played Rhythm Heaven can probably hear these:
And buh buh buh TAP TAP TAP!
JAB, JAB, JAB, GOGOGO!
Wubbadubbadubbadub, is that true?! EH!
Two flipper rolls!
Sure, not all Rhythm Heaven minigames are perfect, but most Melatonin ones veer on the side of bad due to a widespread unintuitiveness and lack of clarity. The game has to rely on a visual indicator during practice to explain each minigame, and sometimes, the cues are so obtuse, even that doesn't help much. Time is an example where not even the game can explain how the minigame is supposed to work; Money and Stress reuse sound cues for different inputs, forcing reliance on visuals only; Work and Dating take it a step further and change the sounds midway to throw the player off...
Melatonin even commits a cardinal sin for a rhythm game in that, in some levels, such as Shopping and Exercise, the stage track itself doesn't match the intended inputs at all, meaning it's far easier to play with the BGM volume set to 0 -- a depressing way to play a rhythm game, where vibing to the music ought to be a pillar of the experience. On that note, the remixes between nights are another way in which the game performs disfavorably: the basic gist is taken straight from RH, with multiple minigames interspersed with each other as a unique song plays, but Melatonin does not visually change anything to make the remix feel new, and while the tracks featured are unique, they're neither memorable nor exciting, resulting in remixes that lack the cathartic release one yearns for after practicing multiple minigames in a row.
Among those hardcore rhythm gamers desperate for a fix, I suppose some might see value in Melatonin. I, however, and I'm left confused at the glowing reviews it received: despite playing the game to the end, I can't remember a single song, a single motif nor a single sound cue from Melatonin's many underwhelming levels. The experience was about as exciting as its main character's life, and all I could think of as the credits rolled was that we all could really use a new Rhythm Heaven.