Rytmik World Music (Nintendo DS) Review

The set-up takes a few minutes to get used to but once the initial hiccoughs have been navigated, the controls are quite intuitive. The Touch Screen is used heavily as short samples of pre-loaded music are dragged into a timeline, in any order or repetition desired, to make up a piece as a whole. A piece can be listened to and adjusted ad infinitum, and regardless of musical ability anyone can create an interesting, tuneful piece without too much hassle.

In addition, each pre-loaded sample can be manually altered, with the ability to change volume, timing, and pitch. The initial samples effectively act as a starting point from which music can easily be created, and from that point onwards those pre-loaded samples are quite happy to be adjusted or even completely torn down and remade into something new and unrecognisable from the original. In case that didn't provide enough opportunities, each piece can play up to four tracks simultaneously, meaning a final creation can resemble a band ensemble as opposed to just a solo instrument.

Overall, it is rewarding and worthwhile to spend time tweaking a piece until it's just how it should be, although there is a tendency to not know exactly when it's "completed." After all, it's not as if the software gives any feedback on the creations. The whole process is surprisingly quick and easy to do though, in part due to the stylus interface, and for what initially seems like quite a limiting experience there is quite a lot of customisation available. On the whole, it's great that a basic but completely adequate tune can be made relatively quickly, with plenty of in-depth options for tweaking for those that desire it.

As an introduction to music creation, Rytmik World Music serves well, more so than KORG M01D, available on 3DS eShop. It's the type of thing that wants to be tinkered with, opening up a sense of freedom and creativity that more traditional games lack. It's a shame, though, that any outputs are a personal affair - there's no simple way to share creations with others. Easily being able to share tracks with other 3DS users seems like such a glaring omission, as is the lack of ability to transfer creations to MP3 or other similarly accessible formats. These missing elements make the software feel rather isolated: why bother creating something good if it cannot be shared with the world? It's something that affects all players, regardless of musical ability or dedication, and is perhaps due to the constraints of the DSiWare file sizes, despite this being up for purchase on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

In addition, serious music creators may be put off by the title's simplicity, whereas traditional gamers may be put off by the lack of, well, an actual game. It occupies a middle ground; a fun little experience that stands alone - a serious piece of software that shouldn't be taken too seriously. There's no getting around the fact that it's a pretty niche piece of software, especially considering it's been released on dedicated gaming consoles. To be fair, the game doesn't try to hide its identity behind a stupid premise or unnecessary storyline. It is what it is, and those that make the purchase knowing that will probably not be disappointed.

As a side note, there are other versions of the title that focus on different music genres, for example Rytmik Rock or Rytmik Hip Hop. The interface is basically identical, with only the choice of instruments and initial samples differing. World Music actually has less samples to choose from than its companions, and World Music is probably also a less mainstream genre, but the title is noticeably cheaper, making it arguably a better entry point for those unsure.