Spin Rhythm XD
PC
Somehow, space DJing feels even better than we remember. Last time we played this wonderfully analogue rhythm game, we were at the helm of a real set of DJ equipment on a show floor – a wheel spinning under our right hand, tapping a kickpad with our left. We’re cautious in booting up the PC version of Spin Rhythm XD, then: surely it’ll lose some of its DJ Heroesque charm without the hardware gimmicks?
Nope. We click and hold to grab and move our pink-and-blue virtual wheel left and right, hoovering up the great streams of notes flying towards us; when we encounter a prompt, a deft flick of the wrist sends our disc spinning endlessly, cosmic glitter dusting the track. Using a mouse and keyboard to pilot our musical UFO down a galactic superhighway feels oddly fitting, we decide – we are an EDM virtuoso by way of a Starcraft pro, clicking and tapping at the keys to broadcast bangers out into the neon neo-future void.
And yet, rhythm games have never felt sexier. Once the preserve of dead-eyed fanatics in dark arcades, they’ve loosened up, branching out from ultra-precise buttonbashing to new types of inputs – and perhaps most notably layering on humour and charm. But there’s a unique kind of performative swagger to Spin Rhythm XD’s scratching and spinning, in the effortless way turns of the wheel move the colours so that you can flow from blue to pink and onto blue again in one smooth, unbroken curve. It’s clear that its developers have worked hard on making the most of it: the visual effect for one of the game’s most satisfying elements, the way in which your spinning wheel automatically lands on the correct colour when you tap to hit the next note, has been juiced up since we last played. Land those hits now, and a flash pops, as if the intergalactic paparazzi have arrived to document our every drop.
In spite of the razzle-dazzle, however, there’s a relentless precision to Spin Rhythm XD. That’s rhythm games, of course: there’s always the initial period where you’re learning the tracks and their charts, playing on reactions rather than muscle memory, and getting nothing but missed beats and error noises back. A health system helps: the bar at the sides takes a hit whenever we hit a bum note, but if we build up a semi-decent streak, we’re able to claw a song back from the brink of failure. But the learning curve on this game is tough – you’ll have to get used to quickly alternating between light, fast mouse taps and clicking and dragging to orient your wheel, which our leaden fingers find challenging – evidenced by the fact that the current available difficulties are Normal, Hard and Extreme.
Normal is nicely manageable, but only has you using your mouse hand; hitting the occasional kickdrum beats with your keyboard spacebar only appears in Hard and Extreme modes. The lack of a two-handed mode on the easier end of the spectrum feels like a missed opportunity. DJ games are all about the fantasy, and locking off both hands to the more complex charts doubtless puts the full effect of Spin Rhythm XD’s performative flourishes out of the reach of many.
Still, our frustrations fade as we become more skilled, and find the perfect song: the velvety jazz-funk of Anomalie’s Velours, its dreamy piano and synths pulsing as we play along almost unconsciously, the chart melting into the music imperceptibly. Cheeky beats obey our taps, and sensuous chords ring out into the universe with each generous spin of the disc. We can’t help but bounce along. You want to talk about rhythm heaven? Well, here it is: a stardust-strewn racetrack for you, the coolest disc jockey in the Milky Way.
A deft flick of the wrist sends our disc spinning endlessly, cosmic glitter dusting the track