Spin Rhythm XD

Written by Joseph Moorer on 7/9/2024 for PS5   PSVR2  

I am a complete and total sucker for certain video game genres. Among those are music/rhythm games. More so because there's no way I can't play them. I reviewed a rhythm game a while back, and said I wasn't happy because I wasn't penalized enough for missing notes. I typed that. Like a psycho. So, though I'm a casual when it comes to these games, I still want a bit of a challenge. Spin Rhythm XD has been out since 2021 on Mobile, and has a Switch version that eluded me for this long, but Super Spin Rhythm has finally released the Playstation version, and I'm very upset this is my first playthrough, because I absolutely love it. 

Super Spin Rhythm wants you to understand that it's simple. The tutorial walks you slowly through the game's mechanics, with no sort of consequence. There are two colors, red and blue. You have an on screen controller. You follow cues, much like Guitar Hero or DDR. As the cues come down, you spin one of the two colors to the corresponding color cues. If those cues hit the line in the corresponding color, they will make the sound needed in the song. Simple. Easy. My explanation is far more complicated than what the game truly is. 

There aren't just the regular notes. Some notes require you hit a button. Red or Blue doesn't change the button you hit, but there is a bass line that does, and that's usually the right trigger. There are notes that will hold as long as you slide the controller in the right color, or spin areas that you move your control stick back and forth as if you are scratching on a turn table. Still, the tutorial walks you through this, and then you're off. And yes, you can perfect the tutorial. Do it. If you find these tutorials too easy for you, you can change the difficulty. But, I wouldn't go all the way yet. Trust me. 

So you've picked your difficulty, and you're off and running. Over 60 songs are automatically fed to you, as you go, with no fanfare, or no pressure. Press the button and boom, you're off to the next new song. As you progress, you may find yourself breezing through songs. I would say that 95% of these songs are vibes. From house, to disco, to smooth new age jazz tracks, and yes, even the Dub Step songs are tolerable when you're literally making the songs happen. You will start off well, and the songs will get harder, but you're here to learn, and love the game. 

Notes are slightly forgiving, until they aren't. You can get perfect, good, ok, and miss. There's a meter on the far right, and it is your life meter. Every time you miss a note, this meter goes down, along with a down scratch sound effect, indicating that you've blown it. If this life meter depletes, the song stops. You can also regain your life meter by hitting the right notes, so if it looks like all hope is lost, just get back into it, and hit some right notes. The fanfare when you complete a song should get old, but never ever did for me. They show you how you progressed, and what your score was. You then are showered with grades, trophies, and achievements. I'm not usually keen on achievements, but at least those come with rewards.

As you complete songs, you get experience points. As you get experience points, you level up, and unlock new skins and menu presentations. This includes the note trail, the controller, the background, and even the menu. The game lets you know when you've unlocked things, and these come to you with the quickness. This element kept me going, which is weird, because I couldn't stop playing regardless. There were times that I knew I needed to do something else, but instead, I was playing Super Spin. I was officially addicted. Then they start shoving keys in your face.

These keys unlock new songs and expand your library. You can change the difficulty at any time, and even if you got an S+ on the easy difficulty, it doesn't mean you've completed the song list. This is a sure fire way to get those experience points, and it lets you learn the song structure. As you choose a harder difficulty, the notes come faster and are more frequent. You might find yourself hitting multiple things at once. I played through the whole library on Normal, then replayed it again on Hard. Then I discovered something I had been overlooking.

After you complete each song, the game flashes a QR code, and that QR code leads to the songs Spotify. I have now discovered new music that I would've never listened to if not for this game. Again, there are some absolute fantastic songs on this that I've listened to on the way to gigs, or even played at weddings for dinner music (one of my many gigs is DJing). I don't know these artists, but Panda Eyes, Terminite, Maxo, and Rogue are just a few named in the press release. My favorite is Moe Shop right now. Who have I become? I'll tell you who I'm not. I'm someone who is not above practice.

The practice mode is laid out to help you complete even the toughest songs, on the highest difficulties. You can slow songs down to a crawl. You can practice on a section of a song, and have it loop until you feel comfortable. You can even access your full options menu here, so you get the right calibration, control style, and more. When you're done, just exit, and go right into the song. The best part is, at the top of the screen, it shows you how well you did per section so if you want to go back and play a mode at any time, you can do that by simply navigating to it. About those options...

There is a full customization suite in the game too. If you don't want the Red and blue colors, you can change that. You can change the color of the base line, and the spinning zone. You can make the whole playing field bigger or smaller, and even monochrome if you're crazy. The PS5 controller can respond to the notes it, and the beat of the song, which is really cool. You can also use motion controls or the middle pad to spin. I found this difficult, but it's because I'm stubborn. I think you can make your own songs, but I don't know how you would via the PS5. I also wish I could use my DJ controller, like the Steam version, but I don't think you can. And yes, there's audio and visual calibration. They thought of everything. The only thing missing that I would like to see is a multiplayer mode. There isn't anything. No online, no couch, nothing. I would love to whoop up on some of my friends with this one. 

Every award this game has already received is well deserved. It's completely easy to play at it's simplest, and a menacing challenge at it's hardest. The XD mode is only available for certain songs, and that's the ultimate challenge. The song title and the time it has left is on the bottom of the screen, though I lost yourself in the music so frequently, that when I thought I was finished, there was a whole minute left. The final song you can unlock is called "Final Boss", and it is called that for more reasons than one. Even on normal, it took me a few tries. The replay value comes from you going back and getting better grades. There is DLC promised, but none as of right now. I'm looking forward to it. There's also a VR mode, and I didn't want to make a car payment to buy one, but from the looks of it, it's pretty cool, even if not needed.