LOUD On Planet X Review : Castle Defense In The Music Arena

The folks responsible for LOUD on Planet X have given the music-friendly gaming scene a real kick in the pants. In this game – for multiple platforms – is a new generation of gameplay, taking the best bits of both Plants VS Zombies and Rock Band – or Dance Dance Revolution, if you prefer – combining them into a game that's neigh on impossible to resist once you've played. Even better – some of the most awesome "Indy" bands are here to play along.

This isn't your average sort of game release. So versatile is the gameplay in this game that it'll be on PC, gaming consoles, and mobile devices by the end of the month. To begin with you'll find it on PlayStation 4 and Steam – for your Windows PC or Mac OS X. As of the 21st of April, you'll also find the game available for your Apple or Google-toting devices – iOS and Android.

As it is with all successful mini-games today, this game has a very limited set of controls. You've got four rows in which you'll defend your stage. Tapping one of the rows – on the beat – will result in a musical blast being ushered forth into your enemy's faces.

If you tap a row OFF the beat, you'll see some broken tunes and no resulting blast.

A wild variety of monsters aim to destroy your speakers and your stage presence – in each of their bodies is shown the number of times they need to be blasted to be taken out.

Music inside includes names like Tegan and Sara, CHVRCHES, Lights, Metric, METZ, F*cked Up, HEALTH, Purity Ring, Little Dragon, Austra, Shad, Cadence Weapon, July Talk, and Monomyth – and more on the way.

Once you've blasted enough, you'll see a power-up in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. Tap the power-up and tap one of your rows to plant that power-up in said stream. Each power-up acts a little bit differently.

The graphics are radically simple, the gameplay is solid, and the music is excellent. What more could you want?

We'd like, perhaps, a slightly more diverse set of controls – for now it would appear that touching the rows (not clicking them) is best. Perhaps keys? We'll likely see expansion on controls very soon – cross your fingers!

The folks at POP Sandbox Productions have released this game for PS4 and Steam right this minute. In just a few days, you'll also find the game released for iOS and Android.