Chime (Xbox 360)
GameSpot editors’ review
- CNET editors’ rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
Detailed editors’ rating
- Reviewed by:
- Reviewed on: 02/04/2010
- Released on: 02/03/2010
- Originally published on GameSpot: Chime (Xbox 360) Review
Chime feels like an experiment but plays like a game. This innovative mash-up of block-based puzzle gaming is one of the most original puzzlers to come along in ages, and a percentage of the proceeds from every sale go to the OneBigGame charity to boot. new and old fit together here just like the blocks that you play with, letting you make groovy ambient music as you get comfortable with a new-age take on Tetris. It’s all a little brief, with fewer levels and songs than you would like, although at just 400 Microsoft points ($5) in the Xbox Live Marketplace, the game still comes highly recommended.
6249495NoneTetris meets Lumines meets Moby.
As you might expect from the brief description above, the concept behind Chime is a little out there. Play unfolds on gridded game boards with some that are plain and rectangular, and others that are split into sections or divided by obstacles. Random shapes pop up as in such block-based predecessors as Tetris, Columns, Lumines, and the like, with your goal being to fit them together to form point-scoring quads that cover at least 3-by-3 squares of the board. the bigger the quad, the more points you count. You can also add to the size of quads for a limited time by lining blocks up against them, clocking a multiplier that goes up with the number of quads that you complete, and gradually covering the entire board. Here’s where the music comes into play.
While you’re doing all this, a beat line moves steadily across the screen from left to right as a basic ambient or techno tune plays in the background. When this pulsing line rolls over your quads, the music changes and expands. It also adds in drum beats, flutes, vocal choruses, and so forth. If you listen closely, you can hear how well you’re doing in a level by the way that your actions shape and fill out the song. This isn’t just for effect, either. while the tunes from musical geniuses like Philip Glass, Moby, and Paul Hartnoll (of Orbital fame) are great to listen to all on their own, the beat line also serves as a timer. When it passes by completed quads, those quads vanish from the board and that area of the board changes color to signify that you’ve covered it. Stray pieces also last for a limited number of passes across the board by the beat line. So you have to move quickly when arranging blocks or you’ll risk having everything go poof, which also resets your score multiplier.
