Sound Shapes

pro

Stimulating your ears and eyes is what Sound Shapes is all about. This amazing platformer will make you want to collect every note in the stage because they complete the tune playing as background music. If you are playing on the Vita, make sure to use headphones for optimal sound enjoyment. Snowy hilltops to retro arcade themes give you a great variety of visual design in each level. Some levels even have lyrics from the songs incorporated perfectly into the level design.

pro

Red is the enemy in Sound Shapes. Stages are the perfect length for short or long sessions. You go from sticking upside down one moment to flying a vehicle the next. Swinging, jumping, slinging, and boosting are just a few of the traversal elements. Walls, lasers, and bugs are all things you will want to avoid if they are colored life-ending red.

pro

Designing levels is very easy. The Vita's touch screen is a definite advantage. First, you layout a melody. Create whatever visual level you want around it; add enemies, obstacles, or just eye candy. When you're happy with the result you can share with the community.

pro

There will most likely be some DLC albums in the future, but since the community is constantly designing levels it makes this one of those titles with unlimited free content to play. You can also browse and queue up community levels from the Sound Shapes website and have them instantly available the next time you load up your game.

pro

Offering both the PlayStation 3 and Vita version together for one low price makes this a great deal. Cloud syncing your save makes creating or playing a level at home or on the go that much easier. Trophy fans also get another title with 2 sets of trophies for the one purchase.

con

The best levels in the campaign for me were the Beck levels. Sadly, this album has the least amount of stages of any in the game.

con

Death Mode is almost pure luck. The notes spawn in random places. I was finding myself dying on purpose just to get a starting note that was not four seconds away. An update in the future to tweak the note randomness would make the Death Mode a proper time challenge.