All Articles: Just Shapes and Beats

Just Shapes & Beats: Hardcore Edition will be released for PS4 on May 10

Posted on May 6, 2019 by John Scalzo

The PlayStation Store is about to get a little more radical this week, as Berzerk Studio has announced that Just Shapes & Beats: Hardcore Edition will be available to download for the PS4 on May 10.

Just Shapes & Beats originally launched for the PC and Switch in 2018, and it’s probably best described as a “dodge ’em up.” Players are attacked from all sides by a variety of Shapes, but as long as they survive until the end of each level’s chiptune-like Beat, they’ll move on. You could watch the new trailer embedded above, or see how Berzerk’s Mike Ducarme tried to explain it to the PlayStation Blog:

Just Shapes & Beats is a musical bullet-hell-ish? It’s weird to explain… you play a shape, you dodge beats, which are also shapes, you can play with up to three friends, who are also shapes. It’s not a bullet hell in the pure sense of the term since it’s a lot more based on dodging and surviving than attacking. It’s more like a dodge ‘em up I guess?

As you might have guessed from the new subtitle, Just Shapes & Beats’s PS4 debut will introduce Hardcore Mode, which ratchets the difficulty up to “dog owners not cleaning up behind their animal” level. Again, I’ll let Ducarme explain:

Of course, my good sir, you’ll be happy to know that the PS4 release also introduces HARDCORE MODE. We made our designer watch videos of things that anger him, like people cutting in line at the coffee shop because they know the staff, and dog owners not cleaning up behind their animal, and then let him loose in the wild. Every stage has been redesigned in some form or another to give you a whole new experience that will make even seasoned Souls-like players weep, longing for their mother’s warm embrace.

According to Berzerk, Hardcore Mode will be coming to the PS4 “first,” so PC and Switch owners will (hopefully) be able to try it out sometime soon.

Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch | Tagged

Warp Zoned’s 2018 Golden Pixel Awards: Our Favorite Games From Last Year

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Warp Zoned Staff

2018 was an absolutely astounding year for video games, and while we might not have gotten the chance to play everything we wanted, the Warp Zoned staff was definitely able to add a big batch of new games to our “Favorites” pile.

This year’s selection of standout titles offered something for everybody… Insomniac’s Spider-Man let us soar above Manhattan as the webslinger like never before… The mountainous milieu of Matt Thorson’s Celeste challenged our thumbs and our hearts… Capcom’s Mega Man 11 brought the Blue Bomber back for the first time in almost a decade… And those three games were just the tip of the iceberg.

The Golden Pixel Awards aren’t the “Best Games” from 2018, but these are the titles we plan to return to again and again in 2019 (and beyond). We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. (more…)

Posted in Features, Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Just Shapes and Beats, West of Loathing, Pokemon Quest, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week

Posted on May 31, 2018 by John Scalzo

The shapes are taking over the Nintendo eShop this week! And I’m not talking about Michael Myers…

Berzerk Studio brought Just Shapes and Beats to the Switch today, and the shapely side-scrolling anti-shooter asks players to survive its bullet-hell-like levels with up to three friends while grooving to a nice selection of beats. Also available to download for the Switch today is West of Loathing, the humorous “stick figure” RPG from Asymmetric.

Using a 16-bit palette, Fox N Forests is also now available to download for the Switch, and players will need to employ seasonally-powered magic spells to save the forest. And on June 5 comes Happy Birthdays, an updated version of Birthdays the Beginning, the new sandbox game from the creator of Harvest Moon, Yasuhiro Wada.

Finally, Nintendo wanted to remind everyone that players can still experience the action RPG antics of the cube-shaped Pokemon from Pokemon Quest, which was added to the Switch eShop this part Tuesday.

Over on the 3DS, Nintendo’s handheld is now home to Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, the new Castlevania-like side-scroller from Koji Igarashi and developer Inti Creates.

You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Icey, Pirate Pop Plus, Yesterday Origins, and more) after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U | Tagged ,

The Games of May 2018

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Warp Zoned Staff

Game publishers are launching just a handful of “new” games this month, but Switch owners should be pleased with a slew of big re-releases from Nintendo, Capcom, and Nicalis.

You might not agree with all our choices, but the next four weeks are going to be great if you’re looking forward to Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Ikaruga, and many others. It’s almost a shame that Dark Souls Remastered‘s Switch launch was pushed out to the Summer, but at least PC, PS4, and Xbox One players will get to stay on theme.

You can find out exactly why the Warp Zoned staff is looking forward to these games, and view the release schedule for all of this month’s new games, after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, Features, PC, PS4, Switch, Top Story, Xbox One | Tagged , , , ,

Just Shapes and Beats will be released for PC and Switch on May 31

Posted on May 2, 2018 by John Scalzo

Berzerk Studio recently updated the official website for Just Shapes and Beats, and they’ve announced that their “trippy/couch co-op/musical/bullet hell” game will be released for the PC and Switch on Thursday, May 31.

Just Shapes and Beats was originally in development for solely for the PC, but Nintendo’s most recent Nindies Showcase revealed that it would also be sliding over to the Switch. Berzerk described the game’s Switch launch as a “timed exclusive,” so it’ll likely also make an appearance on the PS4 and/or Xbox One later this year.

Posted in News, PC, Switch | Tagged

PAX East 2018 attendees will be able to play Dark Souls, No More Heroes, The Messenger, many more at Nintendo’s booth

Posted on March 31, 2018 by John Scalzo

Nintendo always has a big presence at PAX East, and this year’s show will be no different. The consolemaker has announced plans to bring several highly-anticipated games to Boston, including Dark Souls Remastered, No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again, and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition…

Playable Demos at Nintendo’s PAX East 2018 Booth

  • Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Nintendo)
  • Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Nintendo)
  • Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido* (Nintendo)
  • Dark Souls Remastered* (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
  • Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus* (Bethesda Softworks)
  • No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again* (Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda51)
  • SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy* (NIS America)
  • Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy* (Activision)

* Playable by the Public for the First Time

Nintendo will also play host to a Nindies Arcade at its booth, giving players their first chance to try out a few games that debuted during the Nindie Showcas on March 20. The full Nindies Arcade lineup includes…

Playable Demos in Nindies Arcade at Nintendo’s PAX East 2018 Booth

  • Just Shapes & Beats* (Berzerk Studio)
  • Dead Cells* (Motion Twin)
  • The Messenger* (Sabotage and Devolver Digital)
  • Lumines Remastered* (Enhance Games)
  • Runner 3 (Choice Provisions)
  • West of Loathing* (Asymmetric)
  • Pool Panic (Adult Swim Games)
  • Pode (Henchman & Goon)
  • Garage* (TinyBuild Games)
  • Next Up Hero (Aspyr Media and Digital Continue)

* Playable by the Public for the First Time

PAX East 2018 takes place next week, April 5th through the 8th, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Just Shapes and Beats will come to the Switch as a timed exclusive this Summer

Posted on March 20, 2018 by John Scalzo

Nintendo’s 2018 Nindies Showcase just came to an end, and we’ve learned that Just Shapes and Beats, a “musical bullet hell” from Berzerk Studio will be available for the Switch as a timed exclusive this Summer. The game includes single-player, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer modes, as well as a soundtrack composed by 20 chiptune artists.

You can find the short Nindies Showcase trailer for Just Shapes and Beats after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged

Just Shapes & Beats tentatively scheduled for January 2017 release

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Nicole Kline

Berzerk Studios’ Just Shapes & Beats was in the Indie MEGABOOTH at PAX West, and I got a chance to get destroyed by that incredibly addictive game. You’re Shapes, and you’re trying to evade bullets and lasers and other Shapes, and you’re doing it all to the Beat of some amazing chiptunes – in this case, the beats were by Danimal Cannon. I had a chance to ask the developers a few questions while I was getting wrecked, and they said that the game could be coming out as soon as January 2017.

Wondering how the game plays? Think the frenetic, can-I-blink insanity of Super Hexagon, but as a bullet hell that is full of neon and the best chiptunes. That’s Just Shapes & Beats. If that sounds like it’s for you, then be on the lookout for this to be released in January on PC.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged ,