Head to Head Review: Rhythm Heaven vs Warioware Touched!

Game: Rhythm Heaven (known as Rhythm Paradise in Europe)
Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 5th April 2009

The second game in the Rhythm Tengoku series (the first having only been released in Japan), Rhythm Heaven features a collection of rhythm based minigames which must be cleared in order to unlock more. The input on this game is controlled via the touchscreen of the DS, with the console being held on its side like a book. The visuals are displayed on what becomes the left screen (unless you're left handed), and the touchscreen has a more basic visual which indicates when the player is touching it.

The game starts with just one minigame unlocked, but once a minigame is cleared, the next one will be unlocked. The player can also get Superb and Perfect ranks on minigames, to unlock extra game features. There are also remixes of games previously featured, after every 4 minigames cleared, leading up to remix 10 (the 50th minigame), which must be cleared to complete the game.

(Game screen on the left, touchscreen on the right)

If you've read my review of Beat The Beat: Rhythm Paradise, you'll know that I find the dynamic of the series very enjoyable. The minigames in this installment are no exception; they feature a variety of fun challenges and rhythms to master, giving the game more replayability than some minigame compilations. There's a lot of characters that feature in the visuals of minigames to keep players engaged and some games feature 2 versions, the second a harder variant of the first which keeps the challenge of the game high also.

Gameplay itself feels very natural, as if tapping along to a song rhythmically, or drumming a beat on a table. The controls are simple, with only tapping, holding and flicking being used on the touchpad, and no button input whatsoever. The game's difficulty is also set nicely between being easy to pick up in the early stages and challenging by the time you get to Remix 10. There's also the added challenge of getting a Superb or Perfect rank on every minigame. 

Musically, the game excels with lots of different styles and genres covered. You might think that tapping along to the rhythm of over 50 minigames would get tedious but there's enough difference between the concepts of the games to keep it interesting, even if essentially you're doing the same thing for each game. Graphically, the style of the game is very cartoonish, and characters are generally simple representations of animals, but this works well with the theme of the game. 

The unlockable rhythm toys and endless games in the game (unlocked via getting a superb score on enough minigames) are enjoyable on the whole. Some rhythm toys don't have all that much to them, and others are slightly more complex but its the endless games which really compliment the minigames. Some of them are based on previously seen minigames and others are simply rhythm based ideas not used in the main game. 

Overall Rhythm Heaven is an extremely enjoyable rhythm minigame compilation for the Nintendo DS and one of my personal favourites on the console. With a great concept, music and visuals the game is entertaining, with a wide variety of things to do and minigames to clear and perfect your rhythm on. The only difficult thing for me to do here is decide where it places in my top games. It's very similar to it's successor, Beat the Beat: Rhythm Heaven and so I've given them the same basic rating, because it doesn't matter which you play, they're both great. 

Rating: 92/100

Grade: A

Game: Warioware Touched!
Console: Nintendo DS
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 14th February 2005

Having already reviewed Warioware Inc. for the Gamecube, you may recall that I'm a fan of the series and enjoy the microgames and the overall feel of the collections in general. Touched! uses the touchscreen and microphone of the Nintendo DS to enhance the experience of Warioware, with over 200 microgames included. The game features some familiar faces from the previous games in the series, who host their own microgame collections, all linked by the action required from the player.

These actions include dragging, tapping, spinning and blowing on the microphone, in addition to other things. While these are all good ideas for the control of microgames, it does rather mean that you're expecting what's coming up in the next one. Every now and then, you're faced with mixes of the previous microgames, which I feel is when the game is at its best, especially once the game has been completed and the full mix of microgames can be played.

The game's concept works well with the layout of the DS, the touchscreen playing host to the main action of the microgame, with a timer underneath and the top screen providing useful information in some games. Controlwise the game plays nicely, the touchscreen is responsive with the only real issues being around the use of the internal microphone of the DS. Not only is it sometimes difficult to get the intended effect in microphone games, the set of microgames that use it as the only control method leaves you out of breath and light headed.

There's a good variation between the microgames featured although there are some similar ones within the scope of the game. Playing each microgame individually in the album mode can become a little tedious but is probably the best way for a player to realise the true amount of different games featured. There's also unlockable toys which add a little more fun to the game, although they're not particularly deep in terms of gameplay.

Graphically the game retains the fun, cartoonish style of the original gameboy release, giving a touchscreen twist to some of its more classic microgames. The soundtrack also features some recognisable tunes in addition to some newer songs which are generally enjoyable. The only complaint I have of the soundtrack is that in Ashley's level the quality of the vocal clips is fairly poor. Overall though the game looks and sounds good.

The boss stages in the game are well designed and probably the most varied part overall. Some of the stages do feel quite long when compared to the 4 second microgames, but they break up the flow nicely when retrying microgame collections, in an attempt to set a high score. The difficulty in game is usually fairly low, but some bosses require a little more skill on higher levels of difficulty.

Continuing the spirit of the series, with the addition of the touchscreen and microphone control Warioware Twisted! is an enjoyable play which is only really let down by the fact that its games are grouped by the way they must be won rather than their themes, as has been the case before and this leads to a certain predictability in completing most levels of the game. I didn't quite enjoy this game as much as the Gamecube counterpart, due to the lack of multiplayer and the way the minigames are presented, however its still a solid title and a good use of the features of the DS.

Rating: 81/100
Grade: B

With 4 years between these 2 games, Rhythm Heaven had the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of Warioware Touched! and I'd say its 50 rhythm minigames offer slightly more fun than the 200+ microgames in Touched!. They're longer for a start, and more varied even though they have the same gameplay concept. Both of these games, however are very enjoyable and use the DS to great effect with their controls.