I'm not normally into rhythm games. Thumper, however, is something else entirely.
First, here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n640qUwCEDs
From the opening chords on the title screen, reminiscent of an orchestra warming up, and psychedelic colors straight out of the ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Thumper is a game that feels pure in concept, airtight in design, and exceedingly focused in execution.
There is a sense of mystery and menace, of AWE at the unknown, as your character — a cute lil' space beetle — hurtles across the universe... or maybe it's hell... on rails of glistening chrome, confronting abstract horrors and a demonic head that would give Sinistar the willies.
There are well-paced breathers — moments of quiet contemplation between harrowing obstacle courses and hairpin turns, where you can soak in the sights and sounds, cleansing your palate before the next gauntlet... but there are no frills here to distract you from the sheer physicality of the experience.
Seriously — footage doesn't do it justice. Slamming onto panels... Grinding along walls... Plowing through obstacles... Skating over spikes... And my favorite: Regurgitating an incoming attack, sending it shitting down the track — down a centipede's body, to the fang-filled maw from whence it came, like a colossal sucker punch to the Devil himself.
The game marketed itself as "rhythmic violence" — and once you try it, you'll know why.
The whiplash approach of obstacles, coupled with splashy effects, pitch-perfect sound and the bone-rattling crunch of HD Rumble (on Switch), makes me focus so intently that my thumb feels sore after each level. I don't have to press the A button that often, or that hard — but once you fall into this game's rhythm, it's easy to get swept up in it all.
This is the rare game where the buzzword "visceral" is perfectly apt.
It belongs in a museum as an example of how interactive art can focus the mind to a zen-like degree. The breakneck pace, the escalating scenarios, and the sense of "friction" from audiovisual cues and force feedback, timed perfectly to button taps and tilts of the stick, DEMANDS your attention, and makes you forget your worries, achieving some transcendental state, like Neo at the end of the first Matrix. It's amazing!
It's also a testament to how fun the game is that, despite dreading each boss encounter and repeatedly failing each phase, I dive right back in without hesitation (with mercifully short load times!), attempting the impossible for the umpteenth time... and steadily getting better, so that those early phases are destroyed in seconds, without a lick of damage.
And then you overcome the boss in a glorious explosion of color... The screen fades to black... The orchestra swells, dark and ominous... And you see your scores — a string of C's and B's, in my case, with the occasional S. But you know what? I don't even mind. Merely surviving is a blast. I'm someone who LOVES rollercoasters, and these levels seriously convey the same sense of speed and theatricality that you get with the best rides.
It's gorgeous on the Switch screen in handheld, or on the TV in 1080p 60fps, and it feels like a wonderful companion piece to Mario Kart and Zelda. The HD Rumble is fantastic. I also hear it's incredible in VR, and I plan to try it on my cousin's Vive. However you play it, this is definitely a game worth checking out.
Super-impressed. I can see why it received Game of the Year accolades last year. PLAY IT.
