Demon's Score Review

Demon’s Score from iNiS and Square Enix at first appears to be the spiritual successor to the company’s cult-classic Nintendo DS rhythm title Elite Beat Agents. Beats pop up on your touch screen in pre-set patterns and must be tapped at the proper moment in rhythm with that stage’s background song. New wrinkles like beats that have to be swiped in specific directions and beats that can only be cleared with multitouch mix up the stages.

All comparisons to EBA end when Demon’s Score’s immensely strange storyline kicks in, however. Gamers play as Serenity, a college student who can wear nearly a dozen skimpy, vaguely S&M get-ups over the course of the game’s 10 stages. She’s on a mission to defeat the demon invasion unleashed by her scientific father with the help of a talking teddy bear. Each demon boss parodies that stage's genre of music. There’s a jazzy DJ Belial, a teen pop idol Beelzebub and plenty more strangeness.

Gratuitous panty shots and incredibly strange, beyond-camp cutscenes aside, Demon’s Score’s core rhythm gameplay is rock-solid. Each song’s beat patterns, especially on Hard, require a perfect mixture of pattern memorization, good rhythm and old-fashioned skill. None of the songs themselves are recognizable or especially memorable, but I did welcome their wide variety of genres and styles. The game includes everything from dirty rock to sugary pop tracks along with plenty more.

The combination of swipe-beats and tap-beats does more than just spice up each song’s patterns. It also helps reinforce the idea that each musical stage is a true fight against a demonic opponent. Serenity wields both a sword and a gun – the taps represent moments when you’re shooting at your foe, while the swipes are moments when you’re exchanging sword strikes. It’s a fun and effective system.

The game's incredibly over-the-top voice acting and very strange demonic possession storyline cross the line from weird or campy into downright uncomfortable territory at times, however. I play a lot of mobile games on the train and Demon's Score is the first game I've been unwilling to play in public.

Tappin' beats... killin' demons.

Unfortunately, Demon’s Score’s business model forces a large amount of repetition onto the player. The game alternates between normal stages and boss fights. Each boss fight is its own unique song, and each normal stage you play every round is determined by the costume Serenity is wearing. The catch is that you only get two free costumes throughout the entire game. The rest have to be purchased separately. This means to access each new boss track you’ll have to play the same two normal stages over and over unless you cough up more dough to the tune of $2.99 - $4.99 for each track.

The experience isn’t completely hobbled for gamers unwilling to purchase additional content. You still get access to three full difficulties, all 10 bossfight music tracks and the game’s full story. But you will have to repeat the same track more times than you might like.