Game Reviews

Frederic - Resurrection of Evil

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Frederic - Resurrection of Evil

Frederic Chopin is back for more keytar duels in Frederic - Evil Strikes Back, which makes perfect sense. After all, Chopin's (remarkably whole) corpse was resurrected to fight the soulless modern music industry in 2012's Frederic: Resurrection of Music.

If anyone has a good excuse to go around with his foes one more time, it's a 19th century zombie-vampire.

Resurrection of Music concluded with Frederic believing he had saved the day from the enemies of decent music, but when Evil Strikes Back kicks off he learns he's still got a lot of work ahead of him.

The Muses are in trouble again, pop music sucks, and only a legendary pianist can put things right (all the ten-year-olds in the room: Feel free to giggle at "pianist").

One more concert

Frederic - Evil Strikes Back plays identically to Frederic: Resurrection of Music. That isn't necessarily a bad thing if you've been craving more piano duels since Frederic put away his instruments after his first adventure.

The game is divided between story segments and duels. The story segments feature goofy villains and awkward voice acting that's somehow kind of endearing. They're also skippable, and you may find yourself powering through them just to get to the meat of the experience.

The actual gameplay portions of Evil Strikes Back pits Frederic against hostile musicians in a rhythm game. Music notes slide down from the top of the screen and slip across the white and black keys of Frederic's keytar. You need to press the marked keys at the right moment, preferably when the falling notes are dead centre.

When you do well, you get to enjoy some pleasant music. When you mess up, you get to listen to a sound akin to two cats mating on a hotplate.

There's a red-and-green bar at the top of the screen that fills or empties according to how well Frederic is doing against his rival. If Frederic owns less than half the green real estate when the duel is over, he loses.

Blinded by the fight

Evil Strikes Back sounds great (the soul of the real Chopin would probably haunt Forever Entertainment if they dished out anything less), and it looks good, too. The backgrounds are bright, colourful, and crammed with in-jokes meant to make you smile - as well as distract you.

The distractions are fine - it's your responsibility to strengthen your concentration and remain focused on the duel at hand. However, there are moments when the sliding notes blend with the game's busy backgrounds and get lost until the very last second.

Frankly, having the notes ride into the fray on "ziplines" makes the experience feel jumbled and messy at times. If you haven't played Resurrection of Music, it's going to take some time to get used to the format.

Likewise, first-time players should make sure to access the "Help" option on the main menu. There's no interactive tutorial to ease you into things. When Frederic starts rocking, he rocks hard.

Though flawed, Frederic - Evil Strikes Back still offers good fun and good tunes for newcomers and fans of the first game. There's no two-player option (yet), but if you enjoyed Resurrection of Music, you should pick this one up and help keep Chopin's opus going a little longer.

Frederic - Resurrection of Evil

Frederic - Evil Strikes Back offers more of the rhythm-based action up for grabs in Frederic: Resurrection of Music, but if you loved the first game, that's exactly what you want
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