Melatonin

Game Title: Melatonin
Released: December 15, 2022
Game Length: 3 Hours
Grade: A-

Gameplay

Rhythm: The game is simple. You need to press the button at the appropriate time as the music progresses. Sometimes you press a button on or off the beat. Sometimes you hold the button. Then there are levels where you press the side buttons. The game is really tight when it comes to the timing of your press. The amount of points you earn depends on if you are perfect, late, early, or not at all. Bonus points are awarded for a stream of perfects. While the game does give you plenty of visual cues, there will be the occasional moment where you will need to rely on your hearing to respond. There are a number of settings you can change like how you can add a button prompt, a metronome, smooth out the time it takes to receive a perfect, or lower the penalty of not obtaining a perfect. 

Levels: There are 4 levels for each night. There are over 20 songs total. You will have a chance to practice in a tutorial, play standard mode, and try out hard mode. Button sequences get a little more chaotic in the harder setting. Music has a tendency to suddenly get faster or slower as well. If you at least follow the beat, you can easily earn two stars for each level. This is enough to unlock a final collaboration mode of all four levels. The animation is rather pleasant and there is a variety of music changes to keep things fresh after each night.

Summary

Review: This game was really fun to play if you were wanting to try out a little something different. The music reminds me of all those beats you'd hear when pressing buttons on the old electronic keyboards. How the developers arranged everything, from visual cues to sound chimes, helps get you into the rhythm. The only problem is the length of time for its price tag.