Given the fact that I love music and rhythm games, as well as those that surprise me with either new gameplay or unexpected combinations, Gridbeat would appropriately seem to be right up my alley. Pulling together a storyline and general activities that have you working to first infiltrate and then try to escape corporate servers with some truly nasty security, and then making sure that in order to be successful you’ll need to stay on the beat, it very quickly manages to set itself apart from the competition by simply staking out in a direction all its own.

This is definitely an experience where it will take you a little while to get your sense of everything there is to know, and how you’ll need to deal with quite a number of obstacles and general situations. Whether that’s knowing how to hack through locks and their combinations, deftly navigating through areas full of different switches and gates, or taking on some intimidating bosses, there’s absolutely a learning curve here to conquer. That said, for the most part the developers did an excellent job of walking you through the bulk of it, giving you instructions that are descriptive and accurate, something far too many games struggle with.

The thing is, you’ll really need to have a firm grasp of all of those elements, since the further you go the more demanding things will get. While you will get penalized regularly when you lose the beat, for the most part the rhythm aspect feels fair, not being so strict that it gets aggravating, but not so lax that it feels neglected. There will be sections where things will get very hectic indeed, so don’t be surprised that you may begin to fumble with the controls in spots while every second counts, but thankfully they’re only periodic and not overused to the point of being onerous. In general you shouldn’t expect the game to take it easy on you, and this absolutely feels like an experience intended to be a challenge. While that may put it out of reach for the faint of heart or lacking in rhythm, the people on the other end of the spectrum should have a great time with it.