It’s not often that a rhythm game comes out and even less if it attempts to achieve anything outside of its comfort zone. Well, that is exactly what Inside My Radio tries to do with its rhythm based platform antics.
The main protagonist is happily going about his life when he suddenly gets sucked inside a boombox. Having been transformed into a radioactive glowing green LED square with headphones, he is soon informed that he must help save the dying boombox and its inhabitants.
As the character goes about trying to figure out what is going on and what he can do to help everyone and hopefully get back to the real world, he must explore all kind of environments. It’s a credit to the game that it never seems to run out of ideas to make each level look interesting. The levels consist of classic side scrolling platform sections that ask the player to get through a series of obstacles such as moving spikes and monsters. There are even bosses, such as a giant spider, to take care of in creative ways.
At one point the character is exploring a level set inside a night club and it’s impossible not to smile as background characters dance in time with the music track. Each of the levels has a music theme and there’s even a reggae inspired level.
There is a point to this given that the only way to play Inside My Radio is to follow the beat of the music track being played. In order to execute actions, such as jumping and dashing, it is necessary to do so in time with the music track. This may seem confusing, but for those patient enough to follow their instincts, it isn’t that difficult. Even more so for anyone used to playing rhythm games such as Child of Eden and Rez.
The difference here being that the player is in full control of the character’s movement and so it does make it a little bit harder to plan ahead. There is no denying that this might be frustrating for tone deaf people who are not able to follow the music track and know the exact moment when an action can be executed. Fortunately, it is possible to activate an on-screen guide that may help even the less fortunate souls out there.
Later levels make use of more intricate music tracks that make it a lot harder to know when to make use of the actions. There is also the fact that new kinds of obstacles are introduced later on that might seem reminiscent of those found in the hardcore platform title, Super Meat Boy. There are even handy frequent checkpoints to ensure that not much progress is lost upon dying. This is somewhat problematic given the nature of the controls and the fact that good timing is also necessary to get through a lot of obstacles found in later level.
So it becomes really difficult to for example jump and dash to avoid a wall of spikes and then immediately a giant fist right away – all of this whilst having to make sure that any action is executed with right timing. It’s the sort of pressure that could have broken the average player in a normal platform title. A challenge is always welcome, but given the constraints set by the rhythm based controls, it is easy not to wonder if the game would have benefited from not being so harsh on players later in the story. After all, the initial levels are a pleasure to play through and it feels like an adequate challenge given the premise of the title. But constantly dying later on due to not being able to keep up with the rhythm of the more intricate music tunes and the challenging obstacles does spoil the experience somewhat.
Which is honestly a shame because the concept behind Inside My Radio is wonderful and a rarity in today’s world. Even if the story feels too simple at times and the character designs are somewhat basic. However, there is no denying that the level design is brilliant and makes it worth trying very hard to stick with the game to see the different music genre themes. The controls are also really imaginative and although difficult to use at times, it still makes for a rather unique take on the platform genre. Inside my Radio is an ambitious experiment with some interesting ideas that help make it interesting, but also potentially too difficult to play for most players.
