Ever since Geometry Wars breathed new life into twin-stick shooters almost 20 years ago as a sub-game in Project Gotham Racing 2, we've seen an explosion in the genre. There have been countless Geometry Wars clones alongside sci-fi world ones, but there haven't been a ton of super-colorful twin-stick shooters outside of a few from Radiangames over the years. Drastic Games has set out to craft something that brings together the fun of a twin-stick shooter, a vibrant color scheme and a diverse soundtrack that allows the player to optimize their attacks to the beat of the music. It's a different approach to each sub-genre and offers enough new in its presentation to be a fantastic gateway game for fans of one represented genre that haven't played another.

As a twin-stick shooter fan, going into Soundfall gave me more of a chance to enjoy the fun of a rhythm game's timing. The twin-stick control layout is perfect and all action commands are easy to execute with things like dashes and large jumps over chasms being mapped to a bumper alongside proper timing. As a twin-stick shooter, Soundfall offers a rewarding experience with satisfying attacks that are made better with perfect timing alongside the rhythm of the song. Beyond having the audio to work with, the player has a large beat indicator in the center of the screen a la a rhythm game. Firing off a shot in-tune with that allows for more damage to be done and enables quicker completion times. The great part about the rhythm mechanic is that the player isn't punished for things not being perfectly done. You can still progress by dealing out less damage -- it just takes more time, although one will have to figure out the timing for the traversal-based rhythm challenges.

Rumble is also used to help guide the player and for this game, HD rumble on the Pro Controller makes a huge difference. PC owners get the benefit of being able to use their own music, but native Switch playback includes HD rumble that makes it much easier to literally feel the rhythm of the song. Having the biggest jolt in the rumble coincide with the beat made it much easier to time attacks, but also came in handy for the traversal sections. There, without the timing-based pressure of having enemies swarming you, it's easier to get the hang of the timing alongside the beat.

As a looter-shooter, Soundfall does a great job of making each run through a stage feel rewarding. Having the ability to go through a stage with just a better tie alone feels rewarding since that shows a growing mastery of timing and then the robust soundtrack of over 100 songs helps ensure that the player can never grow complacent. The player always learns and gets better over time because every song results in a slightly-different experience beyond just changing up the audio. Enemy encounters change and the move to a different environment from stage to stage mixes things up a lot. While it's a twin-stick arena shooter at its core, the size and shape of the arena changes how the player can use offense and defense to their advantage.

Some areas are wide open and allow players to maximize long-range damage, while others are smaller and have things like columns in place to impede movement. This can work for or against the player as columns give then one less area to attack, but also enable an area to hide behind for a moment if need be to catch one's breath. It's easy to dismiss a twin-stick shooter as not having a lot of strategy, but Soundfall makes players aware that their surroundings can be used to help them on their journey if need be.

Depending on the character chosen throughout the adventure, players can enjoy a wide variety of attack styles. There are spreadshot users, long-range blasts and short-range shotgun-style attacks available alongside swifter characters that can do a homing dash right through foes. It's a cool setup and the amount of gameplay variety is impressive for something that is "just" a twin-stick shooter in theory, but offers a lot of flexibility in how it can be enjoyed. It's impressive just how much fun there is to be had for the concept. Soundfall is a challenging game -- but a fair one. Players are eased into every new gameplay mechanic and weapon type and beyond a slew of enemies, there's never a major risk of feeling overwhelmed.

Visually, it has a simple look in theory, but a uniform smoothness that works well in practice. This isn't a game that wows the player from second one, but its lushly-detailed environments are impressive to look at and should nicely age. Soundfall will be the kind of game that has a timeless visual quality to it and should be a blast to play across any platform for many years. Animation is silky-smooth and environmental details are fantastic. Lava has a nice glow and lighting effects for all the neon-soaked weapons make each weapon look and feel different.

The soundtrack is outstanding and full of dance and pop songs to keep the body grooving while the hands are twin-stick shooting. Playing on consoles limits the player to the default OST, but even that is great stuff while PC players do get the added value of being able to use any songs they want. The sound design is top-shelf across the board with each weapon sounding more impactful with a perfectly in-sync shot and that too helps aid the player in doing better at the game in real-time since it's another element of positive feedback for the player doing things as designed.

Closing Comments:

Soundfall is a superb game that manages to marry several different genres together. It would be more accessible with an auto-perfect timing option, but even without it, it's a fun experience for twin-stick shooting fans while also working as a way for rhythm -centric players to explore a different genre. As a twin-stick shooter, it's exciting and as a rhythm game, it offers a level of variety that is unmatched in the genre. The soundtrack is top-tier and made better on PC with custom soundtracks as an option to integrate fully into the game. Soundfall is a must-have for anyone seeking out a new twin-stick shooter or just wanting to try something new that's unlike anything out there.