Battle Royale games have been on the rise for the past few years. We’ve seen a lot of variations but most of them are centered around first person shooters. Headbangers Rhythm Royale wants to shake things up, quite literally. It combines Battle Royale gameplay with rhythm based gameplay. An interesting concept! Read on for our Headbangers Rhythm Royale review.
A unique concept
Headbangers Rhythm Royale is essentially a rhythm based battle royale, however to me it’s very much a party game as well. Perhaps because of its focus on music. Every game, you’ll play a few rounds of mini-games with other players. They are all rhythm based and are randomized each turn. You start out with thirty pigeons and face off to come on top.There’s three rounds, excluding bonus rounds. After every round, the ten worst performers are disqualified and in the last round the highest scoring player wins the battle royale. A pretty cool concept, because generally in battle royale games you directly eliminate other players.
There’s a good variety of minigames and the developers have certainly done their best to spark their creativity. There’s one minigame for example, where you have to mimic a character’s voice by pressing one of the corresponding buttons. But, after a while, the lights go out so you’ll have to rely on sound alone. This adds an additional challenge and when going up against players online, is where the real challenge starts. And then there’s games where you have to match instruments to whatever tunes you hear. There’s 23 minigames in all and it’ll be a while before you’ll tire of them.
Power up your game
During each minigame, sometimes a power-up appears on the screen. The player who presses the corresponding button fastest grabs it. However, this might break your concentration and stop your rhythm streak, so it’s always worth thinking twice. Sometimes these power-ups contain bonus points, an advantage for you, a disadvantage for your opponents or a disadvantage for everyone. It’ll be different for every minigame. There’s one example where buttons were reversed mid game, which will be the difference between victory and defeat.
In between rounds, you’ll also occasionally trigger a bonus round. This can be earned through one of the mini-games. By competing in a bonus round, you’ll be able to obtain additional points for the in-game cosmetics store. Every player completes their own bonus round and these are not competitive. It’ll simply give you a chance to earn specific cosmetics faster.
Style your pigeon
And there’s plenty of cosmetics to outfit your character. While everyone starts out rather bland, there’s a lot of accessories and outfits you can gather in the cosmetics store. They offer no gameplay value, but are purely for customization. The developers have been inspired by all sorts of music eras, with disco outfits, elvis outfits, classical outfits and much more. And you can mix and match as much as you want or go for full outfits. It’s pretty fun when you’re watching your lobby fill up with all sorts of pigeons, each with their own style.
In order to give players some guidance, there’s also various challenges you can complete. They’re often based on specific minigames, such as obtaining streaks or getting a certain score. Or they’re more global. But they should give players something to work towards. If you complete enough challenges from a set, you’ll earn a new outfit.
Online only
Headbangers Rhythm Royale is played online and an internet connection is required. If the lobby doesn’t populate fast enough, it’s filled with bots. These bots however, are purely filler because they offer no challenge whatsoever. I daresay even the youngest children will be able to do better. While it’s way more fun going up against other players online, it’s a shame bots aren’t more challenging. One of the biggest misses for this game in my opinion, is a local versus mode. This game is very fun and seems perfect for parties. Yet, it’s only suitable for online co-op for now.
Throughout the game, you’ll hear musical styles from every corner of the industry. There’s a good variety of themes available and some will feel familiar and others will surprise you. I feel the mini-games are well suited to each soundtrack and offer unique experiences per mini-game.
Conclusion
Headbangers Rhythm Royale is a very fun game and great experience to play against other players. I definitely had that “one more game” vibe every time I finished a game. However, not having a local multiplayer mode feels like a miss. There’s a good variety of mini-games and cosmetics, which should keep players entertained for a while. I’m just not sure for how long. It completely depends on the post-launch support and the seasons, but it’s a great game to pick up if you’re just looking for a fun party game to play online.
Pros:
- Very fun and unique concept
- Good variety of minigames
- Enough challenges to pursue
Cons:
- No local multiplayer
- Bots offer no challenge
Grade: 8
That was it for our Headbangers Rhythm Royale review. Headbangers Rhythm Royale will be available through GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming on 31-10-2023. Be sure to follow us on Twitter right here.