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ADDICTION, THY NAME IS FREQ.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 26
Date: November 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It was my pleasure to participate in a couple of focus group tests of Frequency. Whenever a test was over, I would threaten to show up the next day at the developer's office uninvited, just to play some more. It's that good. To appreciate how great Frequency is, you really have to play it. Like SSX, Frequency adds innovative new play mechanics to a stale and stagnant genre, in this case, rhythm/music games, and creates an altogether transcendent experience. Unlike other music games, memorizing and repeating button presses is not the crux of the gameplay. Here, instead of mimicking a song, you actually create a song, using timing and reflexes to lay down beats, bass, and guitars, building each song from a metronome to an all-out jam. For example, if the player can successfully lay down a certain number of beats on the drum track, the drums are "locked in", and the player can then start working on the bass while the drum loop continues. "Lock in" the bass and you can move on to guitar, vocals, etc. However, as the song progresses, if a change in the drums or bass or whatever is required, the player must scroll back to that instrument and lay down the new beats. This is all achieved through a gorgeous 3-D graphic interface that looks like a trippy, hi-tech version of Tempest. The overall gameplay effect is a lot like a plate-spinning act. Power-ups and point multipliers spice up the fun, and a multiplayer mode is included where up to 4 players try to "capture" as many parts of the song as possible. And online play will be possible when Sony gets the network up and running. Also of note is the "remix" mode where you can take the awesome music in the game, and remix it freestyle, beat by beat. Although not as versatile as MTV Music Generator, it's a lot more intuitive, and a hell of a lot more fun. All the music included in the game by the likes of Chemical Brothers, Dub pistols, Paul Okenfield, No Doubt, and others is top-shelf stuff.

Great fun with great music

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: November 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This great PS2 game combines great music with finger-tapping fun. It might seem easy at first, but soon you're caught up in the musical action!

There are other games out there that make you 'dance to the beat' or hit buttons in rhythm. Frequency takes this to a new level by breaking up real songs into their components - guitar, drum, synth, etc - and letting you play along with ANY of the parts.

Get strings of hits done properly to gain points, and tag special sequences to get multipliers or other bonusses. Advance through levels to unlock secrets, and increase the difficulty level on any song to challenge yourself further.

These aren't 'generic beats' you're playing along with. You get to choose from No Doubt, Fear Factory, Orbital, Paul Oakenfold, Curve, The Crystal Method, and many more. So not only is the gameplay great, but the music you get to listen to is great, too!

Design your own mixes of the songs, or even better, play the game with friends! The game truly shines when you take it into multiplayer. You can do that with extra controllers, or the best way to play is on line with the PS2 Online setup. Get three other players from around the globe to join you, and together you can really get a song to shine. It's amazingly fun to go from your own simple bassline and to hear the other players chime in with their parts. It's an on line jam session!

Highly recommended for any music fan, and even those not heavily into music but who enjoy games like tetris and bubbles will find it quite addicting.

Trance-inducing addictiveness

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: October 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It was my pleasure to participate in a few focus group tests of Frequency. Whenever a test was over, I would threaten to show up the next day at the developer's office uninvited, just to play some more. It's that good.
To appreciate how great Frequency is, you really have to play it. (...) SSX, Frequency adds innovative new play mechanics to a stale and stagnant genre, in this case, rhythm/music games, and creates a altogether transcendent experience.
Unlike other music games, memorizing and repeating button presses is not the crux of the gameplay. Here, instead of mimicking a song-you actually create a song, using timing and reflexes to lay down beats, bass, and guitars, building each song from a metronome to an all-out jam. For example, if the player can successfully lay down a certain number of beats on the drum track, the drums are "locked in", and the player can then start working on the bass, while the drum loop continues by itself. "Lock in" the bass and you can move on to guitar, vocals,etc. However, as the song progresses, if a change in the drums,bass or another instrument is required, the player must scroll back to that instrument and lay down the new beats. This is all achieved through a gorgeous 3-D graphic interface, that looks like a trippy, hi-tech version of Tempest. The overall gameplay effect is a lot like a plate-spinning act. Power-ups and point multipliers spice up the fun, and a multiplayer mode is included, where up to 4 players try to "capture" as many parts of the song as possible. Online play will be possible when Sony gets the network up and running. Also of note is the "remix" mode, where you can take the awesome music in the game, and remix it freestyle, beat by beat. Although not as versatile as MTV Music Generator, it's a lot more intuitive, and a hell of a lot more fun.
All the music included in the game, by the likes of Chemical Brothers, Dub pistols, Paul Okenfield, No Doubt, and others is top-shelf stuff.
Why are you still reading this? Buy the game, you will not be disappointed. Seriously.

Beatmania for the US

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: April 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Frequency is a lot like Konami's Beatmania series. As markers drop toward the bottom of the screen, you hit a series of buttons to play the samples associated with each of the markers. In Frequency, the major difference is that each song is divided into 8 tracks, each of which occupies the inner face of a 3-D octagonal tunnel. As you complete two measures of a given track, it "locks" the track for the remainder of that segment of the song.

This gives Frequency a lot more "Game" value than something like Beatmania - you need to know which tracks will maximize your points, and in complex levels, which tracks will simply get you through that segment. Add in bonus items like score multipliers, auto-complete powerups, and there's a lot of depth added above and beyond the basic Beatmaniaesque gameplay.

The crux of a music game like Frequency is the music, and it definitely doesn't disappoint. The tracks range from casual hiphop, to almost '80sesque synth-pop. While there's something for everyone, the quality is uniformly high, and even songs not in one's favorite genre will be appreciated, simply because they're all catchy, interesting tunes.

The multiplayer's fun, but lacks the chaoticness of the single player, since unless you hit an "autocatcher", the tracks never "lock". As a result, while the gameplay remains as fast and frenetic as the single player game (moreso, due to additional powerups, and ways to mess with your opponent), the audio component never reaches the sheer sonic density of the single player game.

Overall, however, Frequency is a fantastic "remix" of the Beatmania concept. The simple yet enthralling visuals, and the additional gameplay elements create an experience that's both deeper and more interesting as Konami's DJ game, and just as fun to play.

MUCH better than it looks

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: January 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, let me say that initially I didn't like this game - I'm not particularly fond of this kind of music, and when I watched the guy across the hall play it, I just thought it was ... stupid.
But then he made ME play it, and I was hooked.
Gameplay is fast and exciting, and it has enormous replay value - getting your score just a bit higher to access the bonus levels is just as fun (if not more so) than trying to beat the initial levels. While the lower two difficulty levels can get kind of boring, they ARE supposed to be easy, and the highest still provides a nice challenge even after a LOT of play.
I have seen reviews which said that the backgrounds were bad, and that it was better without them. While I was originally of this impression, I tried playing with the blank background, and it just wasn't as fun. The backgrounds actually contribute to the game by providing more of a challenge for you as you go along, and some of them can be quite impressive (if chaotic).
All in all, a great game, even for those who don't particularly like beat games (like me) and don't like this kind of music (also like me). Don't form your opinion of this game watching other people play it - you actually have to try it yourself.

Oh My God, You have to Try it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Oh my god. You just have to try it. It looks like Tempest meets Dance Dance Revolution. At first the interface looks a little bizarre. Indeed, it's a unique game. But once you start playing (use the shoulder buttons!) you cannot stop. You actually feel like you are playing drums, bass, guitar or synth, even axe & scratch. You're not just dancing your fingers to the music. You are zipping the music back together from the elements of the song. The completed song is the reward - there's 25! (plus I hear there's 2 bonus tracks if you score well) Multiplayer is killer (up to 4 players). It even has a great remix mode that's also multiplayer, so you can create remixes of the songs and play them as levels or listen to them in jukebox mode. It's a great party game, as it's fun to watch and easy to play. Air guitarists beware, you're not going to want to stop playing.

No Doubt ... Fear Factory ... DJ QBert ... Orbital, the list of great acts goes on and on.

puzzle/music fans will find something they like

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

graphics: nothing too special, what there is will mostly just keep the people watching entertained since the players will be transfixed by the game play. Actually this is a game that is tough on the eyes of the players since blinking is actually difficult on many of the songs. If you liked the graphics of whipeout or tempest these will be right up you alley.
gameplay: you use the d-pad, 3 buttons and sometimes the left analog stick. mostly you use 3 buttons to press in time with the beat. by doing this you lay down one of 8 tracks (drum track, guitar track, vocal track for example). Once you get it right for a while it continues to play without you freeing you to move on to the next track. By completeing all the tracks you make the song sound how it was intended to. It is very addictive and the quality of the music helps it be outstanding. remix mode and multiplayer add to the replayability of the title. It also scores high for originality since it IS different from anything else out there.
Sound: Id have to say this game has the best soundtrack of any game out at this point. the entire game was built around the music and if you dont like the jungle brothers, no doubt, paul okenfeld, lo fidelity all stars, or powerman 3000 one of the other 12 or so artist will probably suit you fine.
difficulty: The game is actually pretty tough but has an excellent tutorial. Id say it falls into the easy to learn hard to master area of games.
Conclusion: Buyers who enjoy puzzle games (this plays like one) or music, as well as those just looking for something different will be plenty impressed by this title. Its only drawbacks are a tough difficulty level, and the whole dry eye problem. This is a great leeper title that may get lost in the fray of metal gear solid and gran tourismo but it is a game that is worth adding to a collection and is easily the best music game for the ps2.

One of best games ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Frequency is very much unlike any game I have ever played. The game is incredibly simple to get started but the depth of gameplay is astounding. I have played about 60 hours so far and still need more. The musical interaction is fantastic. This game is a must for everyone, especially for anyone that likes music. I have never had so much fun!

Far and away the best music video game ever made!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

There aren't enough good things to say about this game. It's the video game equivalent of crack cocaine. In other words, you won't be able to stop playing it.

The premise is simple (and isnt that the case with most great games?): you make your way down an octagonal tube. Each of the eight sides is a track of music. The 8 tracks together create a song in its totality. For example, track 1 is drums, 2 is bass, 3 is vocals etc etc. The goal is to set all tracks in motion to get the whole song playing. You do this by hitting buttons on the controller to match a sequence you see before you on the screen. Some are easy, some are very difficult and will require practice to perfect, but when you pull these off you'll come away with such a feeling of satisfaction. That's what makes great games great. The rewards.

A music game is meaningless without great music, and this game has 25+ excellent tracks from real bands in many diverse types of music: Synthpop, Trance, Alt Rock, Prog Rock, Drum and Bass, Big Beat, Rap etc

In addition to the main game I mentioned, it lets you manually recreate the tracks with your own bass lines, drum beats, synth stylings etc and then use them as in-game tracks.

There's some really obvious and apparent blockbuster games out for the Playstation 2, but Frequency is what I'd classify as a sleeper hit. In other words its not a title you've probably heard much about, but what you have heard is more than likely great. Enjoy. I know I am.

Best music game I've played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is excellent - I bought it after playing the demo in the Summer Jampack. The music rocks, too. It is a beat game but there is some strategy involved as well. As you play the music, you score points. A perfect rendition of a few bars scores the points displayed. If you then begin to lock multiple phrases (without messing up) the multiplier goes up.

The best part about the game is the sheer length. I have been playing it for probably 20 hours so far and have not lost interest or beat it. The game has 4 levels with 4 songs each. If you reach the target score on a level it unlocks another song for each level. This has kept me replaying the game to try to get my score high enough to try all the songs.

I can see that if you were not musically inclined you would be frustrated with this game. But if you enjoy this type of games (others are PaRappa, Um Jammer Lammy, Space Channel 5, or Samba de Amigo) this is the one to get.

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