Our Hands-On Impressions Of The Card Music Game DropMix

Last week at GDC 2017, we got a chance to check out DropMix, a new game from Harmonix and Hasbro. DropMix is a music mixing game featuring musical playing cards that play different beats once placed on an electronic board connected to a mobile app. It's a strange but interesting concept that intrigued us, where you can either use DropMix to create custom musical mixes or battle friends in a versus mode where two teams build an ever-changing song.

The card deck includes a variety of genres, from indie to pop. Each card plays a song, such as 24K Magic by Bruno Mars, Sing by Ed Sheeran, and Centuries by Fall Out Boy, among many others. These songs play when a card is placed on the board in one of the five slots. Cards can be stacked on top of one another or added into the other slots to change and mesh the tune in different ways. Music mixing is DropMix's primary function, and it's a simple and accessible way to try out a bunch of interesting combinations. For example, one that I came across was somehow making Disturbed's "Down with the Sickness" sound mellow. Dropping cards in different orders can create various tempos. You can also share the mixes you make via social media.

In Clash Mode, you can play one-versus-one or two-versus-two with friends, and the goal is to rack up more points than the other team. You gain one point when dropping a card on the deck, but certain limitations come up during the course of the round require light strategy. For example, each card has a level meter from one to three, and each is color-coded. You can only stack the cards on top of the same color, and it also has to be the same level or higher. The only exception is wild cards, which can be placed whenever. Winning requires you employ some light strategy in determining what order to place cards. Certain cards also have special abilities, such as doubling points. Using the right cards at the right time helps give you an edge, and the round itself lasts around 10 to 15 minutes.

DropMix isn't a difficult game, and most of the fun comes from seeing how weird or unique your mixes can become when you alternate different cards on the board. I enjoyed my time with it, but I wonder whether the entertainment factor could wane after a while. Hasbro and Harmonix, however, are releasing expansion packs to help bring more variety and possibility for the mixes you can create which could help with that issue. The biggest hook of DropMix, however, is how it can seamlessly blend radically different songs together, and make mash-ups that actually sound good. As a music-mixing tool, it does it's job well.

DropMix releases this September. The starter pack includes the game board and 60 playing cards across many genres for $99.99. The app, which can be downloaded for both Android and iOS devices, will be free. You can find out more about DropMix and its expansion decks here.