Game Review: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure

Game: Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 10th July 2012

Without a good Sonic the Hedgehog game since Sonic Colours and maybe Generations, I find myself wishing for a new Sega IP that allows the company to move on somewhat from its past successes. Rhythm Thief could have been the series which fulfilled this for me, with hints of Professor Layton and rhythm games mixed together against a stylish Parisian backdrop, on the face of things the game sounds pretty enjoyable.

In terms of plot there's a fairly convoluted story about Raphael, the main character who moonlights as his alter ego Phantom R, attempting to trace his father by replacing fake artwork with the genuine copies, stolen by his father who had substituted the fakes years earlier. Raphael ends up getting involved with someone purporting to be Napoleon Bonaparte who is seeking various treasures to complete a crown and take control of Paris. From what I understood it wasn't the worst story ever, but there are some confusing bits and a fair few characters to keep up with.

Gameplay takes place in two phases; the first is a Layton-esque investigation and travelling phase where players go from place to place around Paris in order to find the next story minigame, or side quest minigame. Once a rhythm minigame has been found, players attempt to complete it without depleting their groove meter and are given a grade upon completion of each game. There are quite a few different minigames featured, but many repeat stylistically or are even just a more difficult version of a previously seen game.

I usually attempt to complete all of a game before reviewing it, but due to a single minigame featured around 3 quarters of the way through, I gave up on Rhythm Thief. It involves tilting the system to target enemies, and unlike most of the games featured up until that point it was incredibly unresponsive and difficult to complete. After around 10 attempts I decided that being a game with a young-ish target audience, this was an inappropriate level of difficulty for a regular minigame.

Other than the rhythm minigames, players can attempt to collect coins whilst travelling around the city which can be exchanged in order to make minigames easier (not that it helped for the one described above). There's also a store at which various items can be purchased, and various other item collecting quests in a similar vein to the Professor Layton series with a Master Instrument to construct and a musical score to collect pieces of.

Graphically the game is in a visually pleasing anime style, with a lovely recreation of the French capital city and its features. The characters are well designed and recognisible, and minigames are usually intuitive when first presented to players. The soundtrack is very impressive with jazz overtones and many memorable moments, which is what you might expect from a rhythm game of this calibre.

Overall Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure is an interesting adventure/rhythm game with many similarities to titles in the Professor Layton series of games. In truth it features more adventuring, collecting and mystery solving than actual rhythm gaming which is a shame in my opinion. Added to the fact that many of the rhythm games are samey, and there's not as much of a sense of precision as the Rhythm Heaven games, the game could have been more enjoyable as a whole.

Rating: 72/100
Grade: C