FromPulse (XBLIG) Review

Rhythm action platforming ahoy!

Combine rhythm action, platforming, aliens and stories involving drunks and sea captains, and you end up with FromPulse, a game that manages to be fun, if a bit short.  The story revolves around a young boy named Vegah and the Ollopahs, whose world has been invaded by the Discord, and Vegah has to travel in time to save the world.

The premise of the game is simple.  You control Vegah, and you have four different abilities, mapped to the face buttons.  There’s a jump, a bigger jump, shrinking to roll under obstacles and getting bigger.  The trick is that you have to employ these abilities at specific points as you roll around, which are set in time to the music that’s playing.  You gain more lives by hitting 5 button presses correctly.  However, if you miss your mark, you lose a life.  In between levels, you get a story as Vegah meets up with a character on his way.  The more lives you have at the end of the level, the more story you get.

The blend of 3D and retro looking graphics is done well, and the game has a charming, fun look to it.  The techno soundtrack in the cool as well.  If you do well enough in the levels, you’ll get QR codes which you can use to download the music for free, which is nice.

There are a couple of slight criticisms.  Sometimes the timing is a bit off, so you can find yourself missing a point when you didn’t. It’s also a bit short.  The Story mode only has 4 levels, at which point you get Story+ modes, which gives you more difficult versions of the levels and a different ending.  You’ll have both modes beaten in well under an hour.  However, considering FromPulse only costs 80 MS Points, it’s not bad.  There are leaderboards in the game, so you can try and beat your friends and your own score.  All in all, FromPulse is a fun, cheap little game and is well worth a look.