Review: Beats Slider

The best puzzle games tend to follow the golden rule of keeping it simple, whether that’s applied to either the underlying mechanics or graphical appearance. Beats Slider may not win any awards for flashy presentation, but for those willing to give it a chance at a wallet-friendly price, there is certainly some fun to be had.

The aim here is not just to re-arrange a jumbled picture, but to ‘mix’ rows of audio tracks to build a music track. Once a tile has been correctly placed, it represents a section of audio (beats, synths, etc.) which will play back as a vertical line repeats along the grid. As you switch tiles in and out of place, sections of instruments are brought in and out of the mix. It definitely makes for an interesting challenge as your brain tries to decipher the best way to get those tiles firing off in the right places.

It’s sadly inevitable that Beats Slider doesn’t have a similar budget for appropriately licensed music to that of, say, Lumines: Electronic Symphony. As always, music taste is subjective, but the tracks provided are fairly standard fare that don’t exactly help to amp up proceedings. A shame, as a batch of solid tunes covering the right genres would really have helped to liven things up. Given adequate support by a savvy publisher, a fleshed-out sequel could really resonate with the right audience. For now, Beats Slider is simply a brain-teaser that can’t be accused of not offering gaming value for money.