I like music. I know it’s not exactly a controversial statement, but it’s been a constant throughout my life. Growing up, something was almost always playing on the family stereo. I played an instrument from elementary school through high school, and eventually combined my loves of music and sarcasm into a stint at a record store. In another obvious observation, I also like video games. When Harmonix created the first Guitar Hero game and transformed what was a niche into a phenomenon, I was hooked. I followed each of their releases and spent way more money than I care to admit on Rock Band DLC. Then Fantasia: Music Evolved came out this year and I didn’t know what to make of it.
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I played a few demos of it at a variety of shows, and while I understood what they were getting at, it didn’t click for some reason. In some ways, I guess it was like hearing a new album from one of your favorite bands, a new album that takes things into an unexpected direction. It was kind of like Dance Central, only you weren’t dancing? And you mixed songs, and it had Lady Gaga and Tchaikovsky on the setlist? Also, it’s based on a Disney movie that I’d say most people only pretend to have actually seen? OK then.
Matt Miller picked the game (which he reviewed) as his challenge, and I decided to give it a shot. I’m not spilling any trade secrets when I say that there wasn’t exactly an office bidding war over this selection, either. Now that I wasn’t performing in front of a bunch of Harmonix employees (including former GI staffer Annette Gonzalez), I felt a lot more comfortable. I began to loosen up, and I was able to get combo chains that were significantly longer than before. And, most surprisingly, I was having a great time. No offense meant, Harmonix.
Here’s the thing. When I played Rock Band, I usually stuck with the guitar. I’m pretty good at it, but I can’t even pretend that my skills are anything close to what it takes to actually play the instrument. The same goes for Dance Central. Sure, I could ape what it says on the screen, but just like with Dance Dance Revolution, nobody in their right mind is going to confuse my cement-shoe stepping with a choreographed routine. Fantasia succeeds so well, because it’s not trying to replicate a familiar experience. It’s doing something unique and super weird, which is probably why so many of us were lukewarm on it.
I can take or leave the story, which is about the wizard Yensid and a spunky apprentice who is pretty much a failure at everything. And the parts between the songs are kind of interesting to look at, but making a bunch of mushrooms cough up musical spores doesn’t do a whole lot for me. When you’re actually playing with the songs, however, it’s pretty close to magical.
You aren’t really conducting the music, it’s more of a physical interpretation of what’s going on. There are a lot of punching motions and arm sweeps and other movements that would make me feel completely mortified if someone walked in on me. And it works. It works both technically – great job, Kinect 2.0, I guess – and also as a game. Being able to remix Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody on the fly is, again, really strange, but it’s also quite amazing. If you’re a purist, you can stick with the vanilla version, too. Personally, I enjoyed swapping the various elements out on the fly; what would that synth sound like here, or a string section there? The game is built around a really nice feeling of playfulness and creativity. For a music lover like me, that’s tough to ignore.
If you bought an Xbox One early on, chances are you have a Kinect already hooked up (or in a box somewhere). Give Fantasia: Music Evolved a shot, especially if you’re into music. It’s an interesting experiment that more people should play.
My Vote
I’m a wholehearted supporter of Fantasia, and it might even make my top 10 games of the year list. I never expected that to happen, to be honest. Kinect games have gotten a bad rep over the years, for being gimmicky and broken. I won’t argue that Fantasia isn’t gimmicky, but it’s one that works quite well. It’s also fun as hell, which is all I really want.