The track is indeed 75 minutes long, but it’s more multiple string quartets played one after another, melded into one another with fantastically veiled transitions, than it is a single extremely lengthy piece. This format portrayed the tracks more accurately as they play in the game, but how do they work as a stand-alone experience? Body Two years later, Echochrome got a sequel - known as Echochrome II in the West and Mugen Kairou: Hikari to Kage no Hako in Japan - and Sakamoto was understandably on board to compose another stirring collection of string quartets.įor this soundtrack, however, in addition to throwing a few piano quintets into the mixture, Sakamoto even took a bit of an artistic license and meshed all of his pieces into one single 75 minute track - surprisingly, twice the length of the first game’s entire soundtrack and now a Guinness World Record holder. Sakamoto’s approach to the score was as equally ingenious as the game’s concept itself, being a collection of string quartets that were masterfully composed and quite highly regarded by all who were privy to hear them. If you think you just had an amazing run on a challenge, you can upload the video to YouTube with the click of a button.In the summer of 2008, Hideki Sakamoto composed the soundtrack for Echochrome, a highly imaginative puzzle game released for both the PSP and PS3. You can create your own Echochrome II levels and upload them online so that others can play them and rate them. Spin the light, get the guy where he needs to be, and move on.Ĭolor it in, wireman! If you're looking to develop an Echochrome II addiction, there are hidden shadow images to unlock in certain levels and there's also a bunch of community options. Again, these are cool modes and will keep you busy, but they're just not all that engaging. There's the "get the wireframe dude to the goal" mode I've been talking about, but then there's a mode that challenges you to move him around the world and collect a bunch of static "echoes" of himself, and another mode that has each of your steps on the shadow structure color in the corresponding three-dimensional block. Every puzzle in Echochrome II can be played three ways. Echochrome II costs $15 in the United States - $5 more than the original did at launch. Certain puzzles might be designed thinking that you'll use this transporter or jump pad to get over there to then get down there, but it's possible to use shadows to push the wireframe man off certain platforms and carry him to goals. That's another interesting part of Echochrome II - you can kind of break the game. I just screwed around until I got him where he needed to be, and that kind of sucked the "I have to finish every puzzle" vibe out of me. Whereas the original Echochrome had me stumped, twisting and turning over how to solve a given puzzle, I never felt like I couldn't solve an Echochrome II challenge. As someone who didn't care about his final time - you just have to beat levels to unlock more - I just fiddled around with the puzzles until I got them. Trouble is, that timestamp is really the only thing pushing you forward. The Move works well here - it's nice to be able to play a Move game that lets me relax on my couch and drink coffee - and there is a sense of satisfaction to moving your dude over to the goal in less than 30 seconds (levels will end if you take too long but you usually have plenty of time). There are shadow arches that can teleport the dude, holes to fall through, and shadow goals to pass through and complete the level. If you use a ball to make a bump in the man's path, he'll bounce off it and catch air that can be used to pass the otherwise impassable. If you have a pathway that dead ends, the man will turn around and walk in the other direction. Of course, there are a number of wrinkles to that seemingly simple goal. You need to guide him to the goal by creating paths for him. Our wireframe man is a shadow back there, and he's walking around on the shady shapes you're creating. You point the light at the blocks, and this creates a shadow on the wall behind the structure. Here, the PlayStation Move is a flashlight and there are some three-dimensional blocks on the screen. Play A PlayStation Move game, Echochrome II isn't a simple sequel.
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