Downbeat

by Amanda Nettgen
(Download-Free-Computer-Games.com)

Downbeat has the downlow for incorrigible 80's music fans. If you have a liking for rhythm-based games, then try this one out.

If you start in City Mode, you go for the gold seeking a music career. You go to gigs in New York City, LA and London. In each city there's a set of levels, in the form of cassette tapes (what's that, you young 'uns want to know?) in which you have to succeed to progress to the next place. That also gets you a song in Freeplay Mode unlocked.

The dance clubs in this game have dance floors that are separated into colored tiles, or zones. As the song is played, musical notes and objects like guitars, sunglasses and sneakers (SO Huey Lewis!) move from a spotlight in rhythm with the music. Balls represent dancers, and even things falling from the sky match the color and music!

You have to move your mouse over the right colored section of dance floor and, as the shape moves into the corresponding box, you click the circular target. Beware! If you're off the beat, your Groove mojo is destroyed (shown on a meter at the bottom of your screen).

All in all, Downbeat offers a good time but feels like it's stuck in the 80's in terms of gameplay. This game could have been big - like big hair was big - had more modern gaming elements been incorporated.