Bit.Trip Fate (PC) Review

In the world of Nintendo, Bit.Trip has become something of a favoured name. When major publishers like EA were dropping all but the most nominal support for the Wii, out of nowhere came some fantastic, indie, and very "core" titles from Gaijin Games. Neon-bright, loud, challenging, well designed, and fun, they offered something the Wii sorely needed, and they did it exclusively on Nintendo systems.

Indie companies cannot live on bread and water alone, though, and Gaijin eventually ported their excellent games onto other platforms. For several years, the Bit.Trip games from the Wii have been finding their way onto Steam. Only two were left unported: Fate and Flux. As of June 2013, that's changed. Fate has finally entered the land that Gabe built.

And it looks good. Bit.Trip Fate's visuals are clean, clear, and still as outrageous as they ever were. Bold and bright saturated colours - pinks, yellows and blues - sit atop dark black backgrounds, making the visuals pop. Big, pixelly characters are abstract yet visually distinctive. Even after the retro surge, it's still a unique visual style.

While the graphic assets themselves have not been reworked from the Wii version, the art style translates really well. And new rendering options have been added for an extra kick. The game can now render up to 1920x1080, among other options. Even though the art style of the original was designed to look great in 480p, the higher resolution cleans off jagged edges nicely.

Music is one of the hallmarks of the Bit.Trip series, and Fate on Steam doesn't disappoint. Fate sounds just like the Wii title, and that's a good thing. There is nothing but pure synth, here. Clean, sharp waveforms create satisfyingly old school melodies and base lines. It's still exciting to hear new, more complex layers added onto the soundtrack as the player racks up points and avoids getting hit.

And it plays as well as it ever did. Fate is, with Runner, arguably one of the best of the series. Ostensibly a sidescrolling shoot 'em up, Fate throws in a major twist by locking the player onto a rail, on which they may only move left and right.
It sounds restrictive; however, the excellence of Bit.Trip has always featured semi-restricted movement coupled with maniacal level design and enemy and obstacle placement. Fate is no different, throwing perfectly timed enemies with bullet storms at the player. Far from being a prison, the rail allows the designer to implement exacting yet fair challenges.