In my opinion, the recent commercial failures of such profilic music franchise returns as Guitar Hero Live or Rock Band 4 wasn’t due to poor word of mouth or faulty marketing. Rather, these two once behemoths didn’t pay attention to an evolution that had begun years earlier, which was certainly something that could have reversed the less than stellar financial outcomes. These innovative traits were attributed to a game that came and went in underrated fashion. Of course, I’m talking about a little Vita and Playstation 4 launch window title called Sound Shapes.

Released on the cusp of the music game drought, Sound Shapes was in many ways, the next biological step after the repetition that had seeped through Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and their numerous spin-offs. Rather than focusing on the thrill of playing a song like Iggy Pop’s The Passenger off of a vintage looking yet still factory manufactured plastic guitar, Sound Shapes forced you to build the music yourself. While game’s such as Parappa The Rapper experimented with these ideas years before, Sound Shapes added onto this, and without the novelty. Better yet, there’s even more points as to why Sound Shapes could have revitalized a flagging genre. Maybe it was due to the failure of the Playstation Vita, but nevertheless here’s why I believe it was the last great music title.

It Combines Two Genres In One:

In case you weren’t previously aware, Sound Shapes is half platformer and half rhythm. Cut the latter part out, and you’d be left with a pretentious looking indie buzzkill, a sort of Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, but without the charisma. Yet, the developers and publishers knew that this wouldn’t cut it. Because of this, the amount of fluidity in Sound Shapes is astonishing. Jump during the right note or crescendo, and you’ll experience a breath of excitement that music games had been lacking at the time, and still do.

It Chose Electronic Music as it’s Prime “Feature”:

Deadmau5 and video games are not always a perfect mix. For example, who can still remember his snooze inducing Game Awards 2015 performance? But in Sound Shapes, his music takes on a whole new light, as well as Beck, who both put new material in this project. The genre has always housed experimentation, (just look at Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker, for example!)but it’s nice Sound Shapes provides a more traditional take on what made it so great in the first place.

It Was Part of The Play Then Share Movement:

Nowadays, the level editor is just as important as good trophy/achievement support, just look at more recent examples in the first person shooter space including Far Cry 4 and DOOM. But back in 2012, it was still a severely underused strategy to increase replay value, although Sound Shapes did it justice. Users are still sharing levels to this day, and new sound packs only increase the combinations (and enjoyment).

The Atmosphere Wasn’t Just in The Music:

As stated in the first paragraph, the first half of Sound Shapes design isn’t that impressive, the music is really what pushes it into that special caliber. However, the game’s artistic merit connects incredibly well with certain tunes. Sometimes, it’s straightforward like a handful of skyscrapers for the song Cities, and other times it’s something that you would see in an art gallery. Thankfully, the latter examples lose their pretentiousness when actually aligning with the music.

It Gave Background A Meaning:

Sound Shapes also contains a handful of subtle hints as songs move on. Certain parts of the screen fluctuate and vibrate among the beat, and a misstep causes a rewiring of sorts. Yet, this feels natural instead of forced, partly due to how the level reacts in front of you. You won’t see some epic drawbridge come down, because Sound Shapes knows what it truly is, allowing itself to encapsulate it’s own magic.