KickBeat Launches Today for PS3 and PS Vita

88 17
KickBeat Launches Today for PS3 and PS Vita

KickBeat has been in development for more than three years, and today we’re full of energy as we release the game into the wild and onto your PS Vita and PS3. Here’s one last look at KickBeat, and what you can expect before you decide to spend your hard-earned cash on it (don’t forget, it’s Cross-Buy)!

Why KickBeat? Here are a few reasons we made this game, and why we know you’ll enjoy it:

  • KickBeat lets you interact with music! We’ve given you the power of an endless game by allowing you to create your own KickBeat tracks using the “Beat Your Music” mode, which allows you to generate levels with your own music.
  • KickBeat is the first rhythm game with fully 3D interactive characters. Once you have the basic mechanics down, we remove the button cues and the characters themselves become the cues! Beat matching with 3D characters is no simple process — our guys ended up animating all of these movements by hand in order to make them precise enough for beat matching! Further, these are all running at a solid 60 FPS!
  • The KickBeat soundtrack is comprised of 18 hard-hitting tracks from a diverse lineup of artists, from well-known bands such as Pendulum and Marilyn Manson, to indie pioneers Celldweller and Blue Stahli — even to hidden talents like electronic music producer Voicians and Taiwanese rapper Shen Yi. (The story of how we got Shen Yi in the game is pretty funny, we are happy to tell it upon request!)
  • Zen Studios created a story-driven, single-player campaign to tie it all together. All of the cutscenes are hand animated and done in the flavor of old school kung fu movies. The balance of story and combat is tricky, but we feel the finished game presents quite a novel blend of story and rhythm combat, none of which has been done to date.

So, there you have it! We truly hope you enjoy KickBeat, and we look forward to hearing what you all think.

Comments are closed.

88 Comments

17 Author Replies

  • Thanks! :)

  • Cool. Add mt own music. Hmm…wonder how this will be to country…LOL. I think it may lose a little something…will be picking this up anyway.

  • LOL there are enemies with cowboy hats on one of the stages, so some country might work there. :)

  • Its on psn get it NOW!!!!!

  • PS3: store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-us/games/kickbeat/cid=UP4042-NPUB30183_00-KICKBEATLICENSE1

    Vita: store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-us/games/kickbeat-ps-vita/cid=UP4042-PCSE00113_00-KICKBEAT00000001

    You’re welcome. :)

  • Happy kickbeating everyone! See you on the leaderboards! :P

  • Tried the demo and……Instant buy this game is really tough and a blast play great job to the devs

  • Looks amazing!

  • Played the demo (vita) and took me 4 tries to pass the first level on normal, but I liked the challenge so I purchased it from the in-game menu only to find out I didnt get my ps+ discount :'( … sure its only $2 but if I can help someone else avoid this same fate or help zen fix this situation its worth telling you this.

    • It’s worth giving Sony support a call! Sorry about that and thanks for supporting KickBeat! (By the way 3-4 fails while you get used to the game is normal. It’s rewiring your brain. You’ll find that it suddenly clicks…until you get to the next difficulty level. Then, same thing.

  • Yeah, I’ve been playing this game for the past hour (bought it once I got home from work), and I gotta say…AWESOME job, y’all! Also, this game is so good, this is my first comment I’ve ever written on this site. :) Had to stop playing to let you know it’s excellent. And…yeah, back I go…

    • Thanks! It’s great to see people enjoying the game and getting what it’s all about. It’s not a game that everyone will appreciate because it’s pretty different and deceptively simple, but it’s designed to be more and more rewarding as your skill builds and you play in higher difficulty levels.

  • I will try the Demo and see what happens. Any news on any new Zen PInball tables its been a while since anything new. I know the team at Zen has been busy with Kickbeat and Castlestorm. I hope some new news about new tables will arise soon.

  • I will for sure have to play the demo not sure about this still after all this time. But the demo should help me make up my mind.

  • So I tried the demo and I just bought it for $8. Really good and polished game. Also, when will PS3 and PS Vita owners see CastleStorm? It looks fun!

  • so the permanent PSN price is $9.99, and $7.99 for ps plus right? Man, looks like im gonna miss the discount because i wont be able to pick up some psn cards till next week.
    but im glad this came out. im really excited with this game :D

  • just tried the demo and it seems addicting but reallyyy hard. i canot beat the first song and its only on normal. luv the look of it and going to buy. i really need to adjust to this demo first.

    • Yeah, it’s hard at first because your brain hasn’t gotten accustomed to the control scheme and the visual cues. It takes a few tries to get that first win under your belt, but once you’ve got the basics down, they’ll start coming more regularly.

  • @65 i feel you man haha. took me like 5 tries before i finish the 1st song on normal. with 2 stars. i have decided. im going to choose kickbeat over cytus. cytus can wait :p

  • V-Angelus01 i am going on my 15th try but i am starting to slowly but surely improving. its pretty addicting and pretty hard at first but i dont blame you on that decision.

  • @PainOfSorrow i like challenging games so ill stick with this. and its only $7.99 for us ps+ users. i hope i will still be able to buy it discounted.
    im interested in seeing how well the music from my library will do too

  • V-Angelus01 i dont see why you would not be able to buy it discounted still if you are a plus member. same here i really cant wait to try out some of my tracks on the full version. just beat it after 20 sum tries with 3 stars.

  • PainOfSarrow its because i wont be able to visit my local game store to pick up psn codes till next week. i really hope i make it before the next psn update. from what i know the sale is just until next week. because of the vita summer select.

  • yea thats true. all you can do is hope you beat the stores update. i feel the game is worth the extra 2 bucks but discounts are always better. if you have a credit card you can buy a psn card vouchor code on amazon.

  • PainOfSorrow the change is gonna be for some DLC’s for my other games is ever there will be somthing that interests me. so every dollar counts.

  • if* ever

  • true every dollar does count specialy on psn.

  • I’ve played it for a few hours on story mode, and it gets 5 stars from me. One of the most fun rhythm games I’ve played the tutorial was great, the learning curve took me about 10 minutes, but once I got going, I was in the zone. Loved the music, and the animations at key points in the songs really get you amped up to just keep kicking butt. I still haven’t got a 5 star yet, but Im determined to, right now I need to figure out how to beat the final boss

    • Thanks! On that level, you’ll need to double-tap any enemies with those spiked orbs on them, like you would to collect a powerup. Otherwise, the spiked orbs will deal damage to you. Congrats on getting as far as you have!

      But an ever bigger challenge awaits you in the next difficulty level…where the button icons disappear and you have to judge timing from the enemy position and music alone. Plus there are more enemies than before. This is how the game was really meant to be played, and once you’ve experienced it, you’ll never be able to play on Normal again…

  • I did go back to Normal after starting to play on Hard, but only to 5-star all the story levels. :P Now I’m on a mission to 5-star them all on Hard. About half way through that endevour.

  • can u guys please make a mincraft psvita version

  • Bought this game this morning, and in my opinion, this game is overrated. This is a great game, and the soundtrack makes it 10X as great.

  • Sorry my mistake. I meant to say the game is underrated.

  • I really wanted to get this game, I thought it looked like a great concept and a fun way to listen to your own music. Unfortunately its just to hard for me, I can’t even get past 1 minute of the first song on normal in the demo. It seems that instead of being an interesting way to listen to music on vita, its just going to make me rage in public.

  • I must be really bad at this game. I can’t even get pass the first stage!

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields