Electroplankton – Review

When is a game not a game? When it’s Electroplankton. – But if it’s not a game, then what is it? Well, it’s an interactive music program by Japanese musician Toshio Iwai. And it’s not an interactive music program in the sense of those you may have seen on a PC or other ‘real’ music-making device—this is something strange and we’ll examine its gameplay qualities shortly. Firstly, though, let’s make it very clear from the outset that those of you wanting to rush out and purchase Electroplankton because you ‘think’ it’s going to be a fun-filled and musically-driven videogame should probably hold on to your gaming pennies—or invest them on Band Brothers, another musically inspired DS title.

When you first turn on Electroplankton you’re met with the sounds of an orchestra warming up; it’s all very stylish and immediately leads you to believe—quite wrongly—that the game is about to place you firmly in the shoes of some master sea-bound composer. You have 3 options open to you on the title screen, these are: Performance mode, Audience mode, and Sound.

Performance mode is where you’ll spend most of your time, and it’s where you go to choose the plankton you’re going to ‘play’ with. There are 10 different types of plankton on offer, most with differing attributes regarding manipulation. You then use the DS stylus and/or microphone to get the plankton to react and thus produce a sound. It’s all very clever, of that there’s no doubt, but, for all that…there just seems little point to the endeavor. The art set demographic among you have no doubt groaned at this juncture, so let me explain. Yes, this is a clever little title, it’s undeniably beautiful and its creative process is certainly ingenious to a degree, but if you’re left without a point, a goal, or a defining premise to your ‘play’, what is there? The short answer is: a very pretty and intuitive art piece, but certainly not a videogame. There’s no continuity, and no real structure, it’s just a 10-part artistic expression that you help to achieve. Of course, if that’s your thing then you’ve lucked out, but if it isn’t then you’re going to be bored within a couple of hours.

Audience mode is where the plankton duly perform for your entertainment. Toshio Iwai states it’s a good idea to “try placing your DS nearby and watch and listen to Electroplankton like a CD player”, which is interesting, but it’s essentially a rolling demo showing random plankton compositions. You can join in on Audience mode, but you might as well be playing in Performance. In the Sound menu you just have (unsurprisingly) your sound settings, those being headphones or speakers.

Having covered briefly what the game is ‘about’, an example to highlight the ‘gameplay’—for want of a better term—is now probably best. One of the 10 different types of plankton is called ‘Rec-Rec’; small fish-shaped specimens that glide horizontally across the screen, and which you then tap in order to record sound bites (8 seconds). Rec-Recs essentially feed on sound waves and you can then hear what you’ve recorded played back at different speeds and pitches. This uses the inbuilt DS microphone to create your composition. Another plankton type is called ‘Beatnes’; these geometrical creatures have strand-like bodies that react to touch from the stylus. All the sounds the Beatnes perform are from the NES system, which is a nice touch. Tapping the Beatnes with a specific rhythm makes them repeat that rhythm in the same time for a short period afterwards. You can then link up rhythms and you have a composition. Shame you can’t save it, if you think it rocks out—we’ll get to that soon.

There’s no way to accurately discuss the aural aspect of Electroplankton, at least not in a way that will express anything tangible about the ‘in-game’ sound—you create it all yourself and it is therefore wholly dependent on individuality. The sounds emanating from the different plankton are extremely well done and they all possess unique features, which include some lovingly recreated NES-styled classics. Needless to say, the deaf or hard of hearing gamer is not going to garner much from Electroplankton other than a pretty visual display played out by the plankton itself. Sadly, in that regard, the entire foundation of the title is aurally based.

The many dilemmas girl gamers face with most other videogame titles (no playable female character(s), sexism, scantily clad main or peripheral characters, etc.) are non-existent here. Electroplankton has no playable characters, other than the plankton and they’re all fairly genderless. There’s no reason a female gamer won’t love or hate this just as much as her male counterpart.

Electroplankton is going to get 2 separate scores from me in this review but, as ThumbBandits is a gaming site, only one will count when it comes to the final ‘star’ tally. The reason for this is quite simple, Electroplankton needs two scores because technically it isn’t a game, it’s an inventive piece of interactive software, and therefore, on that level, it deserves 3.5 Stars. However, as far as ‘gaming’ goes, Electroplankton unfortunately falls far short of expectations, and the lack of any sort of save function is all but unforgivable. If you make a musical composition that you feel is superb, there really should be a save option, even if it only holds a few finished works. As things stand, you play, you compose, you experiment, and you create. Then you turn off. When you return it’s as though you’ve never played before—there’s no sense of progression. Yes, the graphics are unique; indeed, the overall concept is unique, but the unrewarding simplicity of the ‘gameplay’ and sheer stupidity surrounding the missing save feature really damages Electroplankton in true gaming terms. For this reason, as a game, it gets a decidedly average 2.5 Stars. For many months, this has been lauded as an amazing experience, a groundbreaking title, a ‘must have’ purchase for your DS. But sadly the sole reality does not concur with the hype-loving majority. Do yourself, and your DS, a favour, save your money and buy Animal Crossing: Wild World instead; like Electroplankton, it offers fabulously simplistic yet unique gameplay, but, more importantly, you never stop progressing and you can always save your game. Ahh, bliss.

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