Mixing a rhythm game with online play is like diarrhoea and bungee jumping – it’ll be exhilarating for a bit, then it just gets… messy. Shame on me for wanting to cover Headbangers Rhythm Royale on the PS5. It’s from Team17 – what can I say?
Yep, schoolboy crush on the publisher, though let’s not let this sway our opinion – even if there are Worms costumes in the game. Glee-Cheese devised the game, an indie developer from France who might have a better relationship with pigeons than the English. Why these flying rats?
Because they have rhythm.
Headbangers Rhythm Royale is an online multiplayer where you compete in minigames to come out top banana with the most points and survive each knockout round. Ok, pitch it to me with an ‘X meets Y’ scenario. Alright. How about this: a lucid WarioWare, with the bling of Fall Guys, and a teeny, incy bit of PaRappa the Rapper’s energy. Got it?
Headbangers Rhythm Royale: A Headbanger’s Ball
Reach for the Kleenex (not in that sense, unless you like birds. Those that dwell in an aviary, not Sharon from across the street) as there isn’t a local multiplayer. It’s exclusively an online game. Being super cool and hip, I was lucky to get a review code before the release date and can confirm you can still enjoy the game against bots. Not that you can choose.
So, here’s the setup: you enter the lobby and wait to be connected. 30 players are required to start a session. If there aren’t enough real people, bots will fill the spot with some very, very funny bot-like aliases. A minigame is chosen randomly, and the top players go through four games in total, with each stage dropping almost half the players each time.
There are plenty of minigames in Headbangers Rhythm Royale (23), and it will take quite a few runs to get familiar with each game. Though they are mostly similar in approach, pressing buttons in time to the music being a core feature, it can take a couple of tries to ‘get it’.
Pretty Fly For A… Erm… Pigeon
Undoubtedly, you’ll have your favourites. Mine was Judgement – a game where you listen to music genres and link them to the character on screen with a relatable image style. I’m pretty good at it and can usually secure a top spot – essentially for survival.
But you’re only as good as the last thing you did, and because there are so many minigames which may or may not play to your strengths, you’ll sometimes smash a round and then absolutely stack it. Alas, you can’t choose the minigames whatsoever. While this is fair to all involved, I prefer to play certain stages over others.
Each effort isn’t in vain. For every game completed, Headbangers Rhythm Royale awards you XP to unlock a ton of cosmetics. Like the Fortnite model, there are seasons in the game, and for each level you raise your character, another costume, taunt, phrase or item is unlocked, making it thoroughly replayable. However, the gameplay really shines, not just the customisation.
For The Birds
Being online, you have to play with others. Well… bots. The AI difficulty was ok, but my struggle was lacking any proper rhythm that would secure me ladies at the pigeon disco. Luckily, it was enough to steam through and beat the bots and get some new bling, but I anticipate this might go the same way as Disney Speedstorm – a game I was addicted to but have dropped from my playlist since it launched in full and the online play just wasn’t the same.
Headbangers Rhythm Royale is like Team17’s other online multiplayer Worms Rumble. Outside of connectivity, the gameplay is almost instant, and these characters are just so loveable as you swing the analogue sticks to headbang for bonus points and taunt in a Worms-esque pithy way. However, the key to whether this has any longevity is gameplay.
I make no hesitation in recommending this to anyone looking for a rhythm game accessible to casual gamers but erring a bit on the challenging side, too. Considering this Headbangers Rhythm Royale was almost exclusively bot play, the core gameplay was a hit and gets a thumbs up. My only reservation is how it plays out online with other players, but that’s my outlook on almost all online gaming. As it currently stands? Very, very coo-l.
