Gameplay is entirely built around music, especially its underlying beat. Most of the game’s writing is utilitarian and does a good job of explaining concepts to players and guiding them as they fight against the Zeitgeber. There are a few small surprises along the way but the focus is not on the narrative. It’s a decent if not original cyberpunk premise. Players inhabit another android and set out in an effort to save the city, helped by a small supporting cast that includes a robot dog and a sentient TV screen. Each of them dominates one sector of the city. A powerful and evil cybernetic mind, called the Zeitgeber, aims to control all others and the only way to stop it is to destroy its three shells. The narrative takes players to this music-powered city, populated by androids. The title mixes combat with rhythm game concepts and uses a rogue-lite structure. That will help kill the boss and his minions faster but there’s also a chance that they’ll simply overwhelm me and end the run.Ĭity of Beats is developed by Torched Hill and published by Freedom Games.

My android is upgraded to deliver damage over time and strike with improved critical chance. I need to avoid health loss as much as possible because there are still five encounters to go before the boss and I have no way to get back HP. I should worry more about my energy use but I’m too focused on simply laying down a constant stream of fire. I try to make sure that they land no hits, using both visual and audio cues to avoid incoming strikes. The two opponents blow up so I dash to their locations to pick up the very important resources they drop before another set drops out of the sky, ready to challenge me. A few smaller robots are shooting from one side of the arena but there’s little chance of them hitting me. One of them hits a time-delayed explosive and I make sure to get out of its area of effect. I shoot a continuous stream of normal bullets, complemented from time to time by the secondary attack.

My robot dashes to avoid the splash zone of two robots that lob slow bombs.

City of Beats for android download