Cosmophony Reviews

Yeah so this game is really fucking difficult. Some parts of this game go so fast your eyes will unfocus and your brain will "tune out" leaving only your fingers to do the rest. It's honestly a very hypnotizing feeling when you no longer process what's going on but all you can do is react. The backgrounds are trippy as hell. Just imagine Super Hexagon takes LSD is at a Rave and that's this game. The music works beautifully with the level design and really helps the player "flow" better as you practice more and more. The first two levels are easy. The second level shows you how this game truly is and from then on good luck. This game will test your reflexes and muscle memory. Honestly, I love this game. Addicting, fun, challenging, and rewarding once you finally beat that one level you've been stuck on for a while. This game is worth it all the way.

Cosmophony is a little music/shooter game, and it will test your nerves and reflexes. Beat the tutorial and the first level, but it will become serious from level 2 to the end. You actually play with your keyboard arrows and space to shoot enemies. The goal is the do a 100% for each level, meaning that you have to shoot every enemies and of course, stay alive. I played the level 3 a little and just literally crashed into a wall at very high speed. The sure thing is... I was not prepared. :(

Fun game, not nearly as difficult as Super Hexagon. Lots of tricks you can abuse to bypass difficult sections due to what must be poor collision detection/hitboxes for obstacles. Overall enjoyed it, would recommend to Achievement Hunters and those who enjoy arbitrary reaction time based difficulty.

While I enjoy it, I feel like a lot of the difficulty comes from memorization more than actually being a difficult reaction/precision game. Mechanics change mid level with no time to react, targets are hidden and require specific movement to setup a way to reach them. (Trying not to spoil anything) On the fifth level the timing of the gimmick mechanic seems really dodgy one moment and fine the next. I know where I'm supposed to be positioned at what time, but its hit or miss if the game reacts like I expect it to. Might be better if there wasn't any delay between key presses and lane switching but theres a small delay that is easily noticable when trying to quickly move from one side of the screen to the other. Makes hitting some of the timing goals a lot harder than they need to be. That being said its cheap, the music is good, and its definitely an interesting game. If it ever goes on sale I couldn't recommend it more. But 5.50 CAD is probably the upper limit on what I'd spend on 5 levels with no level editor. (User generated content would be amazing, and if that ever happens, I'll be buying a copy of this for all my friends :p)

2.5 hours at the time of review. I do not mean to revise this, so expect a messy review. Cosmophony is, in general, quite a fun rythmic shooter. I actually found myself needing to use the music to manuever throughout the levels! There are 5 levels, split into 10 sections each which you can practice individually in the practice mode. Graphically, this game at first gave me a bad impression, but then i ignored the graphics and started to see through to the gameplay. My biggest complaint about this game is that the level can launch things at you so quickly that it almost seems unfair the first few times you play. It could call itself fair by saying that you could get past these obstacles with ninja-like reflexes, but it still is something that will make you rage. There's also quite a difficulty spike once you get to level 4. I found myself beating the first 3 levels in an hour, and then that level took me about 1.5 hours (I still have not beaten level 5).

It's a [b]very difficult[/b] rhythm-based shooter. It's got very few levels, but it has a steep learning curve, and requires you to memorize the layout and movements of each level. Later levels don't give you a lot of reaction time, so you need to be on the move! And every mistake means death! If it's your sorta thing, go for it!

This game is brutally difficult and has a great soundtrack. At first I thought, only 5 levels? That's a bit lame. But with each level the game gets exponentially more challenging. I recently beat level 4 and am on the final level. When I beat level 4 I felt amazing. Level 5 throws some more tricks at you so be very prepared and alert. Recommended for those who like a challenge and electronic music.

I kept going back and forth on this game, even considered giving up on the last level. But I've been enjoying it immensely the whole journey. Because the video trailer is misleading (in a negative way) and tells you nothing about what [i]Cosmophony[/i] feels like, I encourage you to see [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=564193901]my gameplay video[/url] (no commentary). I hope you can understand how enjoyable it was to play the game in this manner. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=564193901 The first two levels allow you to follow the tune to a great extent and can be perfected by anyone, and the game is totally worth it for that feeling alone. The following levels, though, made me feel confused. At first they just seemed like a bunch of random obstacles. But understanding came with time and practice. A big component in this game is memorization (yes, the levels are not generated; same every time). Usually I'm an opponent of memorization, but here it's very pleasant, because the levels are indeed tuned to the music. Knowing what comes next in the music is vital for knowing when to expect the obstacles. And the so called "muscle memory" helps with the obstacles themselves. To complete a level (a bit under 2 minutes each) you need to go through it from the beginning to the end without failing. It's a bit annoying that the difficult parts are usually towards the end. But the game can't be blamed, because there is a practice mode with plenty of checkpoints and free traversal between them. For more casual gameplay you don't even have to play outside of the practice mode. Even so, the final levels can be a nightmare to complete if you don't get into the right mindset. [i]Cosmophony[/i] is played mainly with 2 directional buttons which let you switch between the 7 lanes. Then there is the [i]shoot[/i] button which you should use whenever there is a special kind of obstacle in front of you. This mechanic is very simple and there is no penalty for spamming the button all the time, or just evading these obstacles. Even so, this mechanic is beneficial to the gameplay. If you want to make the game even more interesting, you can try to shoot to the beat instead of just spamming, like I did in my video. Destroying every destroyable obstacle is the requirement for "perfect" completion of each level, but it's not something that everyone should do (there aren't even achievements for this). Another thing I would note is that, especially in the later levels, the music's rhythm sometimes corresponds to when the obstacles pass you, and not to when you need to move away, so you need to make a big mental effort to not press the keyboard button when you hear a beat, but instead anticipate it and move before it. Graphics are nice and clean. Music is made by a great Drum&Bass artist [i]Salaryman[/i]. In conclusion, I really liked the game, but I realize that it may be just because I'm part of the target audience and because I worked around potential annoyances to make it interesting for myself, so can't give it a 10/10. ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Quick Score: 4/5 Notes: Short game with only 5 levels. Overall pretty fun, but 95% of your playtime will be spent on the final level because the difficulty curve is actually stupid. And that is my only real complaint. Luckily the final song is pretty good, so that made it slightly less painful to grind out. The first 4 levels took me 90 minutes combined. The last level, which is only 100 seconds long, took me 6 hours. In the end this is basically a budget version of Everhood though. So if you are looking for a more fully fleshed out game I would suggest checking that game out. (though it does have some of the worst achievements in the history of the world)

[h1]Overview[/h1] [i]Cosmophony[/i] is a small rhythm game with five songs to play, where you control a small ship, and need to dodge incoming obstacles. The concept is simple, the controls even more so, but the difficulty curve is one of the most abrupt I've seen in rhythm games. [h1]The Pros:[/h1] [list] [*][b]Good Music[/b] - The most important aspect of a music based games is, well, the music. It's a collection of five Drum&Bass songs by the same artist. There is sufficient diversity between them to entertain, and the melody is catchy too! [*][b]Lovely Design[/b] - The game adopts a minimalist approach when it comes to graphics and UI, and damn, it looks good and makes it easier for your eyes to notice screen elements more easily. Here your reflexes are really important, and a good plain color contrast between obstacles and the road is welcomed. Minor shading is also present. The menus look very sleek and I like them too. [*][b]Entangling Challenge[/b] - If you could pass each level on the first try, it would only require you 25 minutes of your time to complete the game. However, that can easily turn in quite the few hours because it is very challenging. But it's the good type of challenge - the kind that has you replay the level again and again because surely a stupid game isn't better than you. Come on, you can do it! [*][b]Free OST[/b] - You can get the song files for free as a DLC. Be sure to get it from the app page. [*][b]Achievements[/b] - There are only five: Complete level X. Which is great for achievement hunters... assuming you can complete the game. [/list] [h1]The Cons:[/h1] [list] [*][b]Insane Difficulty Curve[/b] - Level 1 is easy. Level 2 is a bit harder, but manageable. Level 3 requires a couple dozen tries to get accustomed to, Level 4 is... holy $#!^. Level 5... I haven't reached yet. [/list] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] You pay 5 bucks (coupons are fairly common, too) for five songs and a nice reflex game to encase them. Free OST, great deal, good if you have time (and nerves) to kill. [table][tr][td]If you enjoyed this review and want to see more of my work, [b]consider joining my group[/b] and [b]follow my curator[/b] page! Link to the right![/td][td][url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/jads_list]Jad's List - Curator Group[/url][/td][/tr][/table]