Music Games

Music games are a genre of video games in which the player has the task to perform certain activities to the rhythm of the music played in the game. This genre includes both games that teach playing an instrument, as well as those that teach you to dance, or to perform another rhythmic activity. The game genre goes back to the era of slot machines and arcades. The Japanese company Konami was the leader in the production of dance machines.

The music games have experienced a renaissance thanks to two great game series. It was Guitar Hero and Rockband. In both titles, the player played the rock star, and the need to use dedicated controllers which resembled real guitars as well as the presence of licensed soundtrack attracted players of all ages.

In addition to the dedicated guitars, mixing consoles, and drums sets, the music games have also a number of other accessories. These can be for example dance mats added to the Dance Dance Revolution series and the microphones added to the SingStar series.

The gameplay in music games is usually based on the same pattern. On the screen, colorful symbols are displayed, and we need to repeat their pattern on our plastic instrument or sing to fill the on-screen bars. The guitar or drums playing experience is thus simulated. Dance mats work similarly, but instead of clicking, you have to jump on the appropriate fields. Games in which your task is to sing evaluate the tone of your singing. These types of games sometimes require real dexterity.

The use of licensed, well-known songs, and music idols, whether from the world of pop music or rock music, has made music games extremely popular. Their downside is only the frequent need to have special controllers that can raise the price of the game itself.