Review : Beat Hazard Ultra

There’s something to be said for loud music and even brighter lights and what they can do for a person’s mood. Throw in some classic arcade asteroid like shooter elements. Add full iTunes and m4a support. Finish with a photosensitive warning screen before the title menu and you’ve got something awesome in your hands. And that’s what Beat Hazard is, pure unadulterated awesome, in a simple yet satisfying package.

Beat Hazard has been around for awhile now, I know. But in my opinion it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Released in 2010 as just the base game by Cold Beam Games, Beat Hazard has quickly surpassed other music driven games on the market. Over the years since its release the game has continued to be supported by its devs and has added functionality such as multiplayer gameplay and a deeper upgrade system which increases the replayability immensely.

The gameplay is similar to that of an Asteroids-esque game, in which the player controls a spaceship equipped with lazers and bombs on a motionless screen. The game is played not in levels, but in songs as it pulls from your own music library on your computer and allows you to match the flow of gameplay to the flow of the music. The game then proceeds to send various enemies flooding at you from every corner of the screen leaving you with one simple mission: survive until the end of the song. The game directly scales with its perceived intensity of the chosen song, increasing both the lighting effects (which are incredible) and the enemies’ speed and numbers. For example, if you were to select a slow acoustic song the game would send a slow trickle of enemies and the game would progress very relaxingly while still providing you somewhat of a challenge. On the other hand, should you so choose to pick a speed metal song… well… let me know how that goes for you.

Personally I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys easy to pick up and play games while listening to their favorite music. The Beat Hazard base game is currently available for $9.99 on Steam.