Rhythm Hive is officially out and having its first season! They made quite a few changes and added a bunch of new things since I did my pre-season first look, so I’m now giving a full review of the game in the current season!
I recommend reading my first look for a basic explanation of the game since I just jump right into the review and talking about the changes in this post.
Let’s start with the fixes and changes they made from the original release before talking about the new additions to the game. First, they have updated their touch sync and it is exactly what I wanted them to do with that. It will better line up the timing of your touch to the gameplay. That was an update I was happy to see.
Another change they made was in live stages, and this is a change I am on the fence about. Before, when it was your turn the patterns would get more challenging and it was an opportunity to get an extra boost by performing your parts well. They have now removed that entirely so the entire song, regardless of if it is your part or not, is the same difficulty throughout. You can see how this looks in the above video. I understand they did it to make it more even in fairness for every player, especially with some of the BTS songs being just the vocal line so rap line won’t get turns to boost their scores. But I enjoyed the brief increases in difficulty for my parts, so that is something I miss. But I’ve compensated by just increasing the difficulty I play at.
Another thing they took out was the mission to get top performer with specific members. I enjoyed doing that and it actually made me play different members more. However these missions have essentially been replaced with a bigger mission system that I’ll talk about later.
Now for the brand new things they have added! First and most prominent is the member stages, with is their new way of doing missions. While playing the game as a whole you play as a specific member for your chosen group (ie I play as RM from BTS as the photo shows). Every mission level has different requirements to meet to pass it and get the rewards and move on. They get harder as you go, from varying speeds and difficulties to narrower and harder objectives. Below is a video that shows one level at work.
I do really enjoy the missions and play this mode the most now. I find the mission progression of difficulty fitting and it is a great way to quickly get rewards. However I do have some qualms that I’d like to see changed in the future. The first and biggest thing is the fact that every single member of a group has the exact same missions. So all seven members of BTS have the exact same missions in the exact same order. Of all things I’d want to see changed in the game, this is the biggest one. At the very least make the songs different so we don’t have to play Run at level ten every single time. Something needs to be different so they aren’t identical missions across the group.
The second thing I’d like changed, and even my previous change could fix this, is a way to either forfeit a level to move on in the sequence. I have been stuck at level eighteen on all of the BTS members and have stopped trying to get passed it at this point. I’d take the option to forfeit the mission, and thus forfeit the reward, just to move on in the sequence.
Another addition that they made to the live stages specifically is the ability to see the team score at the end of the round. You can now see how you did in comparison to your fellow players and it provides some interesting insights that actually has me curious about how part of the game works, and maybe another change suggestion. And that part of the game is the matchmaking system. Initially, a group is paired up based on the card levels for the members. SO like it shows above, all the cards are between a high A and low S. After that, I have no idea how matchmaking works. I look at the team scores and I see that I played at normal while everyone else was on easy. For the particular game from the screenshot I was also playing at 5x the speed (another new addition) and I can’t see what speed everyone else was at. So I don’t really understand how matchmaking is determined because, at the very least, I should at least pair with others also playing at normal. It feels uneven and thus a little unfair, even when it is technically in my favor. If nothing else, I’d just like to know how they determine groupings.
Now just to quickly mention things that have not changed that I am happy about! I am glad that the Mix making mode is still there, although I do want a studio version of the Mix system. The artist happiness system is still in place where you can upgrade an artist over time, and by upgrading them you can earn rewards like the different types of in game currency. There is no gameplay impact with this and it is just a way to earn more rewards, which is fine by me. You do get more out of it if you buy the hive passes, but the hive pass is simply extra rewards. The card collections are still in place and I’ve spent a ton of time upgrading cards for my favorite themes. Plus upgrading cards does effect gameplay and whether you’ll get best performer.
Overall, I still really enjoy playing Rhythm Hive. I play it daily since I have missions to complete as well as live stages to get extra rhythm points, not to mention upgrades and rewards. There are still some things I’d like to see changed or adjusted, but the developers have been very vocal about taking critique from users and working on fixes which is a big plus. Even if they never make any of the above changes, I still really enjoy the game where it is at. Playing full songs is awesome, the amount of customization with the gameplay (from difficulty to speed to direction-ing) is amazing, the unique way to earn rewards through the artist happiness upgrades is motivational as well as the card collecting, and the mission system keeps you playing for hours. Of all the rhythm games I have tried out, Rhythm Hive is my favorite.
Do you play any rhythm games? Tell me which ones in the comments below!
Hello! I am a fellow player aswell and have been looking for other players who were curious about the live stage one. I feel like the other players in the live stage are bots because of how similar their scores are.. does that make sense? I mean if a human were to play it some of them might have a ‘miss’ but no, every live stage that i play none of them missed and their scores are similar. Or they ARE bots and everyone knows it except me??? I wonder what opinion you would have on this. Sincerely, sad army
Bots wouldn’t surprise me, but I have no idea. If they explained how matchmaking worked it could be easier to determine