AVICII Invector (PS4)

Though his career was short-lived, as he took his own life after suffering from mental health issues, Avicii’s music left a lasting impact on a number of people, with his family starting the Tim Bergling foundation in his name to promote mental health and suicide prevention. One of the efforts done in his memory was the rhythm game AVICII Invector, the announcement of which caught my attention as a fan of Avicii’s music. Though I got the game as a Christmas gift, I didn’t get around to playing it until recently, and I found it to be a good representation of the artist’s career and an effective gateway into his music.

The game has both single player and multiplayer functions, the former of which presents the game’s 25 Avicii tracks separated across six planets. To unlock more songs, you must complete every song on a planet while getting at least 75% accuracy on each of them. The sixth planet, Oblivion, is unlocked at the start, however I decided it would be better to play the songs in the order they were presented before getting to that world. Traveling between these worlds is also connected by a loose story set in a universe based around Avicii’s music, in which an unnamed woman in a malfunctioning spaceship is on a quest for a chocolate bar.

As previously-mentioned, the game contains 25 playable songs from across Avicii’s catalog. Taken as a whole, this selection displays a lot of variety in his sound along with a lot of potential for growth that will sadly not come to pass. As an existing fan of his work, I liked seeing that some of my personal favorites made it in, such as “Waiting For Love”, “You Make Me”, “Wake Me Up” and “True Believer”, however I walked away with some more that I hadn’t heard before since (as of this writing) I have not yet heard all of his singles and EPs or his posthumous third album, Tim. For the record, these include “Fade Into Darkness”, “Without You” and “The Nights – Avicii by Avicii Remix”.

In what is sort of a cross between the gameplay styles of Thumper and Guitar Hero, you fly on a track to hit certain objects in time to the beat of the song. This usually involves pressing a shoulder or face button when needed, though sometimes you can hold down the shoulder button or you have to change your position at the right time. Performing these actions fills up a boost meter, which can be activated by flicking the controller when filled up enough. During the boost, the ship gains a temporary speed boost, however during this time the objects you have to hit are spaced out such that you can still follow the beat of the song. These prompts are given a visual variety as well, as they are placed across platforms and triangular tunnels, with the occasional free-flying section where you have to travel through rings to keep the momentum going.

Though not shown here, triangular tunnels can easily get chaotic in some songs.

On Easy, the only face buttons you have to worry about (in the PS4 version) are Cross and Square, however Medium introduces the need for the Circle button and Hard starts to use Triangle. One small detail I like is that the face button prompts also point in the direction of where they are on the controller in relation to each other, which can be helpful when things get more chaotic in some songs. I will admit I played through the entirety of the game once on Easy due to my lack of experience with rhythm games, though one particular song, “Lonely Together”, still managed to trip me up enough to require a second pass, since even on the lowest difficulty there are sections that can be a little overwhelming.

There is also a local multiplayer function, in which up to four players can play a song in split-screen to see who can get the highest score, combo streak and percentage of accuracy. While the lack of an online feature may be disappointing for some, the closest this game gets to that is a leaderboard function that compares your stats with other players, either globally or within your Friends list.

The local multiplayer function adds some variety and replayability to the game.

Outside the visuals of the songs, the game itself is a true visual spectacle. Though some songs have similar types of environments based on their groupings in the single player, they are just as varied as Avicii's songs and feel appropriate to the music. The pure eye candy for each environment is most evident during free-flight portions, allowing you to fully absorb the alien landscapes. In contrast, the story segments in the single player are presented in a comic book style with its own visual flair and an art style that matches the personality of the unnamed protagonist.

As a celebration of Avicii’s work and legacy, AVICII Invector is perfect for both new and existing Avicii fans. Though everything can be completed in a single sitting, especially on the lowest difficulty setting, the presentation provides an amazing visual and audio experience, not to mention a perfect gateway into Avicii’s work as stated previously, that may have you coming back for more. While I have my own favorite songs, you might even end up picking up your own along the way.