Maestro! Jump in Music (DS) Review
A BrutalGamer.com review.
First a quick quiz – The world is slowly being littered by a)casual games, b)rhythm games, c)toxic waste or d)seagull poop? Answer – all of the afore mentioned! Well Maestro has nothing to do with c and only a little to do with d (as there are seagulls in it). Yes you guessed it we are to be subjected to yet another bland and banal bloody family friendly rhythm action title. Oh no, wait a moment… this one is actually pretty damn good!
Being coded by a pretty much unknown Parisian team called Pasta Games this title tries to do something a little different with the rhythm genre. Much like Rhythm Heaven did earlier in the year this takes a new approach to the genre. This time out the game is a mix of platformer, Elite Beat Agents and Vib Ribbon. You control Presto a small pink bird. Presto and his nemesis next door Staccato (you getting the music references yet btw??) both vie for the affections of Bella, a vivacious blue bird. Bella chooses Presto over Staccato and so he gets a mardy on and casts a curse on the land removing the music from the world. Presto must now unlock the captured notes from the world, teach Staccato a lesson and win the love of Bella – all in a days work for a musical pink budgie… what am I saying!
If those bad notes get you you're done for! Strum that harp!
Graphically the game is simplistic but nicely designed. The levels are fairly generic platforming fodder, jungle, water etc. That said they slide by at a very reasonable clip and the animations on all the characters, be they enemy or playable, are great. The DS is obviously no graphical powerhouse but the image is clear, well designed and very colourful. All in all this is a great looking DS title that really stands out because of it’s great pallet use.
Playing the game is challenging at first, then becomes second nature only to become a tight challenge later on once again. You have no direct control over Presto’s horizontal movement. You start the game and for the duration of the music (usually around 1 or 2 minutes) Presto makes a fair dash for the right hand side of the screen as you scroll through the level. As you move through the level you walk along pathways that are basically strings. If you want to make Presto jump you strum the string he is on from bottom to top. If you want him to jump down a level you strum top to bottom. Very simple right? Well yes but that is not all. The game does a great job of introducing the various mechanics slowly over the first few levels. Not only do you have to collect the items on the strings (fruit, cherubs etc) but you also have to hit certain strings at the right moment, tap enemies at the correct beat to defeat them and strum harps, mandolins etc. It really adds a whole host of dynamics slowly that help stop the game getting too repetitive. It is hard to explain the gameplay in motion which is why I have included the video at the bottom of the review for you to see how it plays.
Love those Seagulls on this Venice themed level
Now sound is where rhythm games have to shine. Luckily Maestro pulls this off well. We are not talking retail quality of tunes represented here oh no. What Maestro does is rework tunes in to the theme it is using. As you collect bananas during the early jungle stage you ping of the tones of Madness’s Our House as Presto leaps about. The renditions are pleasant enough if sounding a little tinned or a bit too much like 90′s chip music. Each is more than recognisable and you fully realise the ambition of playing these notes via times object retrievals. The 24 song (see below for full list) track list is completely varied and offers a real wide range of styles from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, via Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to The Animals’ The House of the Rising Sun. It is such an odd mix that it just adds another layer of quirky charm to this already super quirky title.
The more Golden Notes the more little birds follow you
Longevity is a major tilting point though. I ripped through the game at a fair old clip coming in at around 3 hours for completion (I did the first 3 levels in just over 40 mins). There are 24 levels in total which include 6 levels of 4 rounds each – 3 regular and one boss fight. The boss fights add a new game style that is not so enjoyable but does change up the pace a little. The fact that the game is over quickly is only an issue if you intend not going back for more. And I have to say I did. This is due to a smart ranking system on each level that works out your performance by the number of notes hit, the number of Gold Notes performed (this is when you time it perfectly), and the amount of items collected. You must get a B+ to progress in the game but you will want to go back and better your ranking or try and collect a full sheet of Gold Notes. This adds many hours to the game. Add to this the free play mode where you just have fun with the system or the ability to go back and retry and level once completed and the time you spend with the game will increase based on your love of the title. I think I put in around 6 or 7 hours for the review and I shall continue to pick up and play after as well. Oh and I have not even covered the chorus singing for bonus points found later in the game!
Final Thoughts:
Maestro! Jump in Music is a brilliant little title that takes the rhythm genre and gives it a new coat of paint. The game looks good, play very well and is great entertainment. There are frustrating parts, sometimes the controls are not as responsive as you might like but I think this is a DS issue rather than a fault with Pasta Games’ code. The game is short on length and music tracks and some may not like the garish cute world or stylized renditions of the music; but to be honest all this should be overlooked to some degree. The game appeals greatly to the younger audience, both my kids loved the title and the simplistic yet addicting challenge of collecting the notes. I think this game may get overlooked which will be a great shame as it is a real gem of a title and has bags of charm to offer anyone smart enough to pick it up.
Track List as follows :-
Green Grove:
Ludwig Van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5
Antonin Dvorak – Symphony No.9, From the New World
Madness – Our House
Traditional Japanese song – Sakura Sakura
Purple Sonata:
Jean Sebastien Bach – Little Fugue in G Minor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – A Little Night Music
Perren, Mizell et al.– ABC
Traditional French song – Vent Frais, Vent du Matin
Yellow Allegro:
Eduardo Di Capua – O Sole Mio
The Animals – The House of the Rising Sun
Antonio Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
Traditional English song – Greensleeves
Indigo Flow:
Erik Satie – Gymnopedie No.1
Pyotr Tchaikovsky – The Nutcracker
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – I Put a Spell on You
Traditional Russian song – Otchi Chornye
Black out Beats:
Johannes Brahms – Hungarian Dances
Edvard Grieg – Peer Gynt
Leonard Bernstein – The Magnificent 7
Traditional song adapted for Bizet’s Carmen – El Arreglito
Red Hot tempo:
M. Gore, D. Pitchford – Fame
Ennio Morricone – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Isaac Albeniz – Asturias
American Traditional song – When the Saints Go Marching In
User Score:
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