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Thumper review thread

OT's over here

Paste Mag - 10/10
There’s a certain class of game that gets stuck in my head, where I can’t stop seeing it and thinking about it even when I turn the machine off. Think Tetris, Ms. Pac-Man, Dark Souls, the best Metroids and Marios and Zeldas—the true classics, the cornerstones of the medium that have made an indelible impact on how we play and think about games. Thumper is right up there alongside them. It is an essentially perfect realization of its own unique goals and concerns, and a game we’ll be playing and celebrating for decades, even if it leaves us afraid and confused.

IGN - 9/10
Thumper's trippy sights, sounds, and intense rhythm action create a terrifying VR experience I won't soon forget.

Gamespot - 9/10
Thumper thrives due to the way it marries speed, simple controls, and mesmerizing atmosphere. It's far more convincing in VR, where you're enveloped in the game's space and free of distractions from the outside world, but it shouldn't be ignored by those without the appropriate hardware. Thumper, no matter how you play it, is too good to miss.

VideoGamer - 9/10
Thumper is a great rhythm action game, with strong visuals, fantastic design, and more speed than Keanu Reeves on a bus rigged to explode.

God Is A Geek - 9/10
Thumper is a remarkable achievement in sound and it becomes its own mechanic in a game that relires so heavily on a solid and penetrating soundtrack. I can only imagine how good it would be in VR as it feels perfect for it. Wearing a headset, focusing on the rapid pace as well as the incandescent beats has all the hallmarks of what VR should be.

Destructoid - 8/10
...after a certain point, it became too difficult, too fast, with too few new ideas, and my enjoyment eroded. Part of that stems from the length because this is a surprisingly (and unnecessarily) long game....
I'd still recommend Thumper, though. Readily. But I would also advise not to get too wrapped up in fully finishing it. This road is long and winding and brutal. It might just drive you mad.

Game Informer - 5.75/10
Thumper is the last thing a beetle imagines when it smacks into a windshield. Thumper is what it’s like to peer into the subconscious of the guitar-playing Doof Warrior from Mad Max: Fury Road. Thumper is a rhythm game stripped down to the rims – a primal, uncomfortable nightmare by design. Though it shares a few DNA strands with other games out there, Thumper is its own unique beast – a mean, unrelenting animal that I wanted to put down after a few hours.
I enjoy challenging games when there’s a rewarding payoff. With Thumper, the reward of doing well is just more Thumper. If you’re really into the game’s bleak conceit, you may have the patience to hang with it for the duration. Personally, I was ready to leap out of the trough and never look back.

RockPaperShotgun - "A descent into Hell that transforms into liberation"
THUMPER is magnificent, and THUMPER is evil. It is a snarling inversion of the dancing-around-the-candles, toe-tapping euphoria that is the lifeblood of those music racing games it seems to ape. Make no mistake, it becomes euphoria, but that euphoria is earned, not given. It is the euphoria of survival and of dancing in solitary anger, not happy fellowship.

Business Insider - "A horrifying, hypnotic, exhilarating thrill ride"
In short, "Thumper" is one of the most surprisingly nuanced and challenging games I've played all year. Its stunning art direction and hypnotic music is what drew me in initially, but I'm in love with its challenging, addictive level design.
 
I played through the first level since I wanted to see what it was all about and man... game is trippy as hell. I can't wait to try this in vr. I refuse to play more until I can strap a headset on.
 

JustenP88

I earned 100 Gamerscore™ for collecting 300 widgets and thereby created Trump's America
Downloading now. It's going to be torture, but I think I'm going to wait until my PSVR comes in Thursday to boot it up.

I feel like this might be PSVR's Resogun.
 

Quonny

Member
Interesting that this game can effect someone so much like that Game Informer reviewer. That's a powerful thing.
 
Good lord, Game Informer.
Yes, the reward for beating a level in a videogame is the next level of said videogame.
That's literally the point of EVERY GAME. Holy crap.
Come on, you get what he's saying. The game didn't hook him, and thus just unlocking more of a game he didn't like wasn't much of a reward.

Here's a better quote
Thumper is the last thing a beetle imagines when it smacks into a windshield. Thumper is what it’s like to peer into the subconscious of the guitar-playing Doof Warrior from Mad Max: Fury Road. Thumper is a rhythm game stripped down to the rims – a primal, uncomfortable nightmare by design. Though it shares a few DNA strands with other games out there, Thumper is its own unique beast – a mean, unrelenting animal that I wanted to put down after a few hours.
 
Come on, you get what he's saying. The game didn't hook him, and thus just unlocking more of a game he didn't like wasn't much of a reward.

But that's how every game works. The reward for beating a level in Uncharted is...another level that plays the same way to advance the story. Just say you don't like the genre or execution and be done with it.
 

Mutagenic

Permanent Junior Member
Come on, you get what he's saying. The game didn't hook him, and thus just unlocking more of a game he didn't like wasn't much of a reward.

Here's a better quote
Its a shame he didn't appreciate the bleak setting. It's my favorite part about the game.
 
But that's how every game works. The reward for beating a level in Uncharted is...another level to advance the story.

Yes advance the story. The reward for beating a level in uncharted is to move the narrative forward, that's not a good argument against what that reviewer said.
 
But that's how every game works. The reward for beating a level in Uncharted is...another level that plays the same way to advance the story.
The point of the line isn't that yes, beating a level unlocks the next level. It's "I really wasn't feeling this game, and the game never really evolves beyond the aspects I didn't like" (thus, just unlocking more Thumper)

He probably could have written that line more clearly
 
I've been excited for this for a while but I wasn't expecting it to get almost universal praise. Figured it'd be a bit more divisive but I'm happy I was wrong.
 
Come on, you get what he's saying. The game didn't hook him, and thus just unlocking more of a game he didn't like wasn't much of a reward.

Here's a better quote

eh, i still don't think his conclusion makes any sense

i briefly played the demo a couple months back and as you progress it does get more challenging

maybe he/she isn't into that.

what was the second opinion score (if game informer still does that)?
 
I remember liking the look of this a long time ago. Seems like it turned out pretty well.

I already pre-ordered Rez Infinite so I may have filled my quota for rhythm games for now. I'll need to watch more gameplay before I decide.
 
never heard of this but honestly this seems insanely creative. Good job devs, hard to do that shit.
It's so good. It's one of those special games that can appeal to people who don't usually like the genre

I don't like music games, have zero interest in ever playing a Guitar Hero or Rock Band or any music game and never got the appeal. The only rhythm game I really liked Crypt of the Necrodancer, but that was more for the roguelike aspects

But Thumper is amazing. It's Super Hexagon's musically-inclined brother
 
Kind of funny how the GI review may be the lowest score, but that opening paragraph is just the perfect description of the game's atmosphere.
 
Bite it now. Game is awesome on a regular screen. Looks great, runs great, sounds great.

Awesome, I didn't even need to bold the most important part because you did that for me. I'm finding more and more my enjoyment with games is directly tied to how good the audio is, regardless of genre. Will pick it up when it's on Aus store.
 
Awesome, I didn't even need to bold the most important part because you did that for me. I'm finding more and more my enjoyment with games is directly tied to how good the audio is, regardless of genre. Will pick it up when it's on Aus store.
Have you played Devil Daggers or House of the Dying Sun?
 

hawk2025

Member
It's crazy that PSVR is launching with one classic music experience game in Rez, and also a brand new quality music experience game like Thumper.
 

Jamesac68

Banned
From the GI review-

Even when I pulled things off flawlessly, I sensed a disconnect between my actions and the rhythms that I was hearing. And I lost count of how many times I was certain that I turned perfectly, only to watch as my beetle shattered against the wall.

Nope. Just nope. Someone's got lag. This isn't how Thumper plays.
 

III-V

Member
thumper sounding good. I wasn't so impressed with the gameplay videos but maybe you just gotta be there.
 

Zia

Member
Sounds like a rewarding payoff to me.

Yeah, I think mainly the reviewer was just really bad at the game...
Even when I pulled things off flawlessly, I sensed a disconnect between my actions and the rhythms that I was hearing. And I lost count of how many times I was certain that I turned perfectly, only to watch as my beetle shattered against the wall.

... which is fine, but the idea that piling shit into the game would salvage it is a really silly and dated concept.
 
thumper sounding good. I wasn't so impressed with the gameplay videos but maybe you just gotta be there.
It's simple in the same way that Super Hexagon is simple. The controls are simple, the basic principles of the gameplay is simple, but actually performing those principles is relentless and the visuals, the sound, the speed, the physicality of it all, is just super satisfying when you're in control
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
Sounds awesome.

But that Game Inforner review. I mean seriously.

"The game is too hard for me and when I get through the hard part, I get to play more of this hard game 5.75/10"

Just, this is the sort of silly review that should just be removed from the list.
 

hawk2025

Member
I think it's a worthy review and worth pointing out that the gameplay didn't do enough to capture the reviewer over a series of stages.

It was just worded pretty badly, I found it funny :)
 

Granjinha

Member
Totally going to buy this. Looks amazing.

And wtf people, stop being so defensive over a lower score. Every thread it's the same thing.
 
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