Cytus Lambda
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| Cytus Lambda

Getting to grips with Cytus Lambda, the new PlayStation Mobile rhythm-action game from Rayark, reminded me of learning the ropes in an altogether different game.

It wasn't Parappa The Rappa, Rhythm Paradise, Elite Beat Agents or any of the other well-known rhythm-action games we've seen over the years.

It was squash.

Creating a raquet

How does everyone's least favourite racquet sport compare to an abstract beat-matching game? Both are all about getting used to a wall.

When you first play squash, it takes ages to remember that when the ball floats past you, it's not the end of the point. Because of that wall at your rear, you often get a second bite at the cherry as the ball pings back into play - provided you're ready for it.

It's the same with Cytus Lambda, which is at first completely overwhelming until you learn to wait for the optimal moment.

Fizzy J-Pop

The idea is to tap, hold, and track a bunch of coloured bubbles as a horizontal line moves up and down the screen in time to a J-Pop song.

Before long you'll be inundated with rapidly forming bubbles, but the thing to remember is that these bubbles will form on one pass of the beat line and stick around until it bounces off one of the game's 'walls' a further time.

Once you get used to this you'll catch those beats on the bounce, making for a satisfying reactions test as well as requiring the usual rhythmic skills.

Irregular beat

Other than that, Cytus Lambda is pretty standard rhythm- action fare. How much you enjoy it will depend on how much you want yet another game of this kind and - more importantly - how much you like its music tracks.

There are ten tracks available for free from the off, but you'll have to pay £9.69 to unlock the full version with its 60 additional songs. It's pretty steep, but then this is an incredibly niche title, so it will likely be seen as cheap to a dedicated audience.

For casual dabblers, Cytus Lambda may be just too out there with its vague fantasy presentation, impenetrable (to most Western ears) soundtrack, and variable difficulty.

For hardcore rhythm-action nuts with a penchant for Japanese pop culture, well, you've probably already downloaded it.

Cytus Lambda

A decidedly niche rhythm-action game with an eclectic love-it-or-hate-it J-Pop soundtrack and an interesting wall-bounce mechanic
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.