Rhythm Heaven Groove Review

I’ve been hard on Nintendo. Star Fox, a serviceable remake, nonetheless let me down. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book delighted me but never quite opened into the freewheeling puzzle game I hoped for.

But Rhythm Heaven Groove, out this week, overcame my recent case of grumpy critic syndrome. I reviewed the game for WBUR.org:

Bounce fruit off your biceps by flexing to the beat. Shout in time to communicate with an alien. Catch pudding molds with your robot hands while blasting defective puddings with your laser eyes. Pop bubbles as they drop from a conveyor belt. Open and close the umbrella on your head to keep up with a synchronized routine.

Such minigames make up the majority of Rhythm Heaven Groove, the latest entry in a beloved series that went dormant in 2015. Each stage may only take a few minutes to pass, but will likely take many tries to perfect. Finish four such minigames to unlock a remix that blends them together, backed by some truly banging songs.

Despite branching off of the loopy WarioWare party game franchise, Groove demands absolute concentration and is best played handheld to avoid latency. Don’t attempt it while you’re sleepy or riding a noisy train, as I did, and for heaven’s sake, make sure you’ve got the volume up!

Groove may look silly, but its later levels get as uncompromising as J.K. Simmons’ jazz tyrant in Whiplash. At least you won’t risk getting a chair thrown at you – missing a beat is usually funny, as you’ll see the characters around you wince or give you a stink eye.

You don’t have to lock in alone. Groove also teems with co-op and competitive stages that’ll have you sprinting on balloons or serving tennis balls into the faces of monsters. Between its many modes, challenges and secrets, the game more than justifies the $40 price tag.

Yet Groove isn’t for everyone. If you want a wider catalog of recognizable songs, you’re better off with Beat Saber or even an old Guitar Hero. If you crave a novelistic story, try Goodbye Volcano High or Unbeatable. If you’re looking for a roleplaying/rhythm fusion, dive into People of Note, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, or the inimitable Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. If you’re more keen on combat, shimmy over to Crypt of the NecroDancer or its spinoffs, Rift of the NecroDancer and Cadence of Hyrule.

But for a rhythm gaming purist, you simply can’t do better. Groove is everything I hoped for the series’ return and more.

I spent most of the week vacationing in North Carolina, but I’ve got one more Here & Now piece to mention. It’s even gaming adjacent!

I produced an interview with Joshua Greene, the Harvard professor who co-founded Tango Trivia, a game that pairs anonymous players from opposite political sides and challenges them with questions designed to get them to collaborate. Research indicates that this simple act encourages people with different ideologies to better empathize with each other. My colleague Jon Peck recommended the platform to me after experiencing it through a Black/Jewish dinner group, and host Indira Lakshmanan even played herself before interviewing Greene! Listen here.