Rhythm Sprout [Xbox]
Developed by SURT, Rhythm Sprout sees you take on the role of a sleepy little onion who has been hired by King Brock in order to rescue his daughter, the Princess. To do this, you must defeat the evil King Sugar Daddy, whose sweet treat minions have been wreaking havoc in the kingdom - and what better way to do this than with some super stylish moves.
The difficulty definitely caught me off-guard, with some levels being unbelievably difficult. The level difficulty is shown in the menu via peppers, with more peppers suggesting a harder level - though these sometimes rapidly switch between easier and harder, making it quite hard to prepare. I’d say I’m pretty good at rhythm games for the most part, but these sometimes made me feel like a complete failure. Trying to unlock all of the stars - gained by reaching certain milestones in terms of score and combo - and gaining the CDs, done by unlocking all stars in any given level, seems like a near-impossible task, though you do improve slowly but surely over time.
The visuals of Rhythm Sprout are absolutely gorgeous, with plenty of bright colours and fantastically designed levels - though sometimes it feels like you miss out on getting to properly appreciate the environments due to how much you need to focus on the onslaught of moves you need to hit (but anyone watching gets to enjoy the view!). It has a very catchy soundtrack - definitely a big plus for a rhythm game! - with a variety of tunes that work beautifully within the level themes. Some are even utilised in interesting ways, with one of the haunted house tracks building up from ghostly laughs at first before a beat kicks in, and this works brilliantly.
There’s tonnes of humour spread throughout, making the story enjoyable and fun, with plenty of little nods to things like Lord of the Rings and Gilmore Girls, as well as an enemy running a pyramid scheme and talking favourably about NFTs. Interactions between characters are a lot of fun, and there’s great use of different shots and little mannerisms that emphasise this further.
There are unlockable costumes and weapons that you can switch between via the Skins menu, with a couple of these being Hello Neighbour themed - presumably to celebrate publisher tinyBuild’s recent release. As well as these visual customisations, there are options for each level to switch things up, either to make things easier, or to give yourself even more of a challenge by utilising Turbo mode to speed things up; Mirror mode to flip things; or by randomising the moves so you can never really prepare for what’s to come. A few Bonus levels will be unlocked over the course of the story, as well as a Prequel story to give you a bit of backstory onto just why Sprout is being trusted on this mission.
Overall, Rhythm Sprout offers a challenging selection of levels that might put off some of the less confident players, but does offer the ability to play on beginner mode for each level if you feel the need (I certainly did for a few). Luckily there is a free demo available if you want to check it out without dropping any cash up front, so if you’re not 100% about it you can give it a try. And if you want to pick it up, you can nab the full game for £12.49 on Xbox.
In the end, we decided to give Rhythm Sprout the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.
Are you interested in Rhythm Sprout? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to tinyBuild for the Rhythm Sprout review code!
