It must be a mistake. Hopefully it gets patched. I also wish they would include a headphone-specific soundmix.
A few random PROTIPS:
One thing that has me stumped is that there's one level that clearly wants me to stay airborne for an indefinite amount of time in straights, but I have no idea how to do it consistently.
- If you time the button at the right time when a boss gets hit, you'll get a health boost in return.
- Try to practice "perfect turning", which means turning at the last possible moment. You'll hear a ding when you do it correctly. You'll get more points. It's OK to hold the button in anticipation, it's only the direction that has to be timed correctly.
- You don't need to hold up when flying, but you do need to hold the button.
- If you do a perfect turn while flying, you will stay airborne. This is important for increasing/continuing your combo in later levels.
- Try to do the jump and smash move between pads. Points, mang, POINTS.
Thanks for the tip, very helpful. Is there a option to use Dpad instead?
Just finished the game as well. Top 5 on the last 2 levels. The last level only had 10 or so people total. While it's tough, it's more worrying about sales. This game deserves every sale it gets so hopefully it picks up.
Scoring Tip/ Super Advanced Technique: Jump Chaining!
Are you in the air, but there's a required Jump on the next pad? do you want to Rack up those kills for High Scores? Just hit up+A on a Pad you would normally smash down on, and you'll hit the pad and go right back into the air!
I JUST GOT TO PLAY A FEW LEVELS OF THUMPER ON THE PLAYSTATION VR, AND DAMN, IT IS EVEN BETTER!
I'D BEEN PLAYING ON A 32 INCH, 720P SCREEN, SITTING ABOUT 8 FEET AWAY! LEVEL 4 WAS GIVING ME A TON OF TROUBLE! I GOT STUCK ON AN INTERMEDIATE BOSS ONE NIGHT, THEN STUMBLED MY WAY UP TO 4-Ω, ONLY TO GET MY ASS HANDED TO ME AND GIVE UP AGAIN!
BUT PLAYING IN VR WAS SO MUCH EASIER! I LOADED UP MY SAVE AND WANTED TO SHOW A BUDDY THE STUFF FROM THE START OF LEVEL 4 AND HOW THE GAME EVOLVED! I ENDED UP BEATING LEVEL 4, THEN 5, ONLY DYING TWICE! I WAS IN THE ZONE! IF FELT EFFORTLESS!
WHILE THE RESOLUTION IS QUESTIONABLE ON A LOT OF THE OTHER VR TITLES, THUMPER LOOKS JUST AS CRISP AS IT DOES IN 2D! THE FIELD OF VIEW SEEMS MUCH BETTER AS WELL! WITH THE GREATER SENSE OF DEPTH, I COULD MORE EASILY DISTINGUISH OBSTACLES, ESPECIALLY THE TURNS, WHICH IS WHERE I WAS HAVING THE MOST DIFFICULTY!
I FEAR RETURNING TO MY PALTRY TV WILL NOW FEEL INFERIOR!
THUMPER IS MY NEW DRUG!
haha nobody can read what you're saying when it's all red and big like that.
On another note, i might have a criticism. This game is a rhythm game. When you're in the rhythm, you're supposed to do well. But some boss fights seem to place green points outside of a rhythm. I can't seem to time them right, because it sort of goes against flow. This is at first glance, anyway. I might be wrong.
Game is hard as balls. But when you're in that perfect flow, man is it awesome.
Would it be hyperbole to say that Thumper is the most intense, most satisfying, and most draining test of reflexes since Super Hexagon? Much like Terry Cavanagh's infamously challenging arcade game, Thumper is equal parts simplicity and excess, easy-to-understand but challenging-to-master gameplay within a sensory overload of movement, color, and sound. If Super Hexagon was hypnotic in its shifting twisting geometric minimalism, then Thumper is 2001's mesmerizing mind@!%$ given metal life.
From the first section of its nine levels to its last hellish stage, Thumper hurls you into a kaleidoscopic tempest, your chrome beetle racing along twisting tracks and claustrophobic tunnels as eldritch beings of light and metal twist and unfurl within the void. It's a visual gut punch of an experience, that I can only imagine is enhanced to eye-bleeding levels in VR. But even with headphones and a regular screen, Thumper's intensity is peerless.
Imagine those classic inputs of a Guitar Hero or Rock Band - tap and hold to the beat at the right time - and you can grasp Thumper. Strip away the speed and visual chaos, and Thumper is as easy to understand as those games. Thump down on markers, turn and grind against the turns, hover over spikes and through rings. Even as more elements and nuances are introduced, the game remains a mechanically lean test of focus and reflex.
Success in Thumper is draining, exhausting, exhilarating. Like some cyberpunk birdcall, you answer the music's beat with every shockwave of your thumps and spraying sparks of grinds, until you're conditioned to react to each signal and tone with practiced skill. Success requires you to act on the fine line between focus and near-clairvoyant intuition, that zone and flow that the best in the genre let you enter.
Success in Thumper is tactile and physical in ways that few games can tout. You feel every thump, every slam into a turn, every missed beat. Your fingers hurt, you feel your heart thumping in your chest, your vision is locked on the road ahead, you twist and duck in sync with the serpentine track. Thumper is a chemical reaction in game form; every action has a reaction, that flares and explodes and flashes and shatters in response.
I've never been able to get into the music/rhythm genre. Even my favorite - Crypt of the Necrodancer - is enjoyed more for its clever roguelike design than its music game elements. But that's only a testament to Thumper's masterful design and audiovisual hellscape. It's one of those special games that can cross genre lines and even appeal to those who wouldn't normally be interested. Moving to the rhythm has never been this relentless and satisfying.
help, i can't get past level 5-1
Some longer impressions I wrote for somewhere else
I'M ALWAYS FASCINATED WHEN A GAME CAN OVERCOME SOMEONE'S GENRE BIASES! THAT'S ALWAYS A REALLY GOOD SIGN!
WHILE I HAVEN'T PUT ENOUGH TIME INTO ARAGAMI, YOUR STANCE TOWARDS RHYTHM GAMES IS SIMILAR TO MY STANCE ON STEALTH!
THE RHYTHM GENRE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES, WHETHER IT BE ROCK BAND, SOUND SHAPES, 140, THE RAYMAN LEGENDS LEVELS, ETC! (CONVERSELY, I DISMISSED CRYPT OF THE NECRODANCER BECAUSE I'M NOT A FAN OF ROGUELIKES!)
THUMPER REALLY STRIPS THE RHYTHM GENRE DOWN TO ITS RAWEST, PRIMAL FORM! AS SOMEONE WHO HAS SEEN THE RHYTHM FORMULA ITERATED AD NAUSEAM, IT'S AN INCREDIBLY REFRESHING TAKE!
EARLIER TODAY I GOT TO EXPERIENCE IT IN VR! LAST NIGHT I WAS STUCK ON THE BOSS IN LEVEL 4! HAVING DIED A LOT LEADING UP TO THAT, I DECIDED TO SHOW A FRIEND LEVEL 4 FROM THE START SO THAT I DIDN'T LOOK LIKE A FOOL!
IN VR, I LOOKED LIKE A GOD! IN LEVEL 4, I DIED ONCE! THEN I TRIED LEVEL 5, DIED ONCE AT THE START LEARNING THE NEW OBSTACLE, THEN BREEZED THROUGH THE ENTIRETY OF LEVEL 5 ONLY DYING ONCE MORE!
AS GREAT AS THE GAME FEELS IN 2D, EVERYTHING IS TAKEN UP A COUPLE NOTCHES IN VR - AND THAT'S COMING FROM A VR SKEPTIC! IT'S FAR EASIER TO SEE WHAT'S AHEAD! I FOUND A GROOVE IN THE IMMERSION THAT JUST ISN'T THERE IN NON-VIRTUAL REALITY!
THEN I CAME HOME AND RETURNED TO MY 32 INCH, 720P TV, AND STRUGGLED THROUGH LEVEL 5 AGAIN, DYING A TON! I'M GONNA MOVE TO A BIGGER SCREEN NEXT SESSION, BECAUSE NOW THE EXPERIENCE SEEMS LESSER COMPARED TO VR!
DAMMIT! I MUST RESIST BUYING A $400 THUMPER PERIPHERAL!
Heh. Your posts are entertaining me so much that I feel like I need to try this game now.
I keep getting confused with the blue rings; can you only hit them if you launch off the gem infront of them? I know you have to hold X to stay airborne, but flicking up doesn't seem to get me airborne unless I hit a gem beforehand.
You're correct that you can only jump into the air off of a gem, and you can only hit blue rings while flying.
Another tip: You can preserve flight through a turn by hitting the perfect timing. I don't think there's a way to preserve flight through a long turn though.
Very hard to make jump by press up+x together at the same time, I have to press up to anticipate the jump, which make it hard for me when there a lot of rapid jump.
I'm not getting PSVR until sometime next year (unless I cave hard in the next few weeks), and I think this game would benefit from going in fresh with VR.
But I really want to play. What to do, what to do...
I thought holding option button worked on any game to re-center.For people playing this via ps vr, is there a way to reset the head tracking to center? by the end of level one I was probably facing 45-50 degrees to my right constantly, and by the end of level two, same thing, but to the left.
Very hard to make jump by press up+x together at the same time, I have to press up to anticipate the jump, which make it hard for me when there a lot of rapid jump.
Yeah I think if I'm wanting points I should be chaining jumps into slams down on gems. Also noticed, and you sort of already hit on it, but you don't need to release 'up' when you go into a turn (which is probably how you chain rings into turns anyhow).
Right now I'mm on 4-10, the lane switching might take a bit to get used to. Probably would've kept slamming against it but my fingers started to really ache from jamming x so much.
I think the timing is you flick up right after you hit the gem (and probably keep X pressed until you slam down). Really it's the slamming down out of flight that I kept screwing up, which is critical for Level 3 bosses.
It's GOTY be good.just bought it because of you people. $27. this better be good.
I must say I have not been captivated by this game in the way that some of you have. While I think the visuals are impressive, and the audio design is pleasant, I think in comparison to other rhythm games, Thumper just isn't especially interesting.
One thing I dislike is the lack of flexibility. You literally play Thumper as Thumper tells you to play Thumper, and you're graded with how closely you can stick to its routine. In comparison, rhythm games like Amplitude allow the player to make decisions and choices along journey through each individual level.
Additionally, while the audio design is pleasant it's hardly a rhythm game in the sense that games like Amplitude or Avicii's VECTOR are. It doesn't feel as though your craft is 'playing' or even perfectly in tune with the music. Merely that your actions sometimes make a pleasant tune, but many of these are disjointed and I wouldn't say that each level is a 'track' or anything like that.
It's much more like DYAD than dedicated rhythm games in that respect, and while that isn't an issue I miss the appeal of traditional rhythm games where I'm continually playing because I want to hear the next track. That's what kept me going in games like Crypt of the Necrodancer and Amplitude, but not here.
Ultimately it's the gameplay that disappoints me. It's little more than an 'endless runer'. You travel a linear and inflexible path, pressing the buttons in sequence as you progress. There's no intelligence or tact to this process, just muscle memory, games like Dyad, Crypt or Amplitude arguably offer much more than that. The only thing that makes this game more appealing than something like Tron run/r is the games visual polish and artistic direction.
It's decent, if unremarkable beyond it's visual aesthetic, that's my feeling so far. I get why people like it though.
Thanks for the tip, very helpful. Is there a option to use Dpad instead?
Both the left analog and d-pad are enabled at all times.
Eh, how far have you gotten? You get new mechanics/gimmicks up to level 5. The game offers a few ways in which to increase and improve your combos and score.
BTW, not just each "beat", but every single turn is in tune with the music. Following the rhythm is the most efficient way to get perfect turns, which means turning at the last possible second to get bonus points, extend your flight and therefore your combo.
And I just can't conceive calling Thumper unremarkable.
Sometimes I feel the audio cues don't come out clear enough, like they're buried under other sound effects.
Anyone else having audio issues?
...kinda hard do explain, but its like the gain goes up till its distorted, feels like its stretching the audio? If i die a couple times it gets back to normal and the difference is ABSURD
I said I felt that beyond it's visual aesthetic it was unremarkable. The visual aesthetic is quite remarkable, and in VR the experience is noteworthy, if only for the novelty of going on a weird trip in VR. Gameplay wise however I am struggling to see the appeal. Like playing something like Infinity Runner, but with a pleasant rather than ugly aesthetic. I hate Infinity Runner because it has similar gameplay to this, and on top of that it's also ugly to look at.
With that said, you are right to point out that I am still learning the games mechanics as I am only at level 4. Ultimately though my biggest disappointment is the actual sound that the game produces. While it sounds fine relative to the action, it's not something I would ever want to listen to outside of the game, and that's not true for rhythm games like Crypt of the Necrodancer, and Amplitude, which I really enjoy for the soundtrack alone.
I will spend more time with it though and hopefully I come around. I'm not saying it's a bad game at all, just a bit simple for my taste and disappointing in respect to its soundtrack. In fact I do like it, it's just that as a fan of rhythm games, I wanted to like it a lot more.
I haven't had anything like that, fortunately. That's odd.
I'll try and make a video out of it... its borderline unplayable. Just tried the game and the audio is all messed up including the title screen.
<=0(