Beat Hazard 2, the innovative twin-stick shooter in which your music collection dictates the rhythm and pace of play, is out now on Google Play. Developed by Cold Beam Games, Beat Hazard 2 is the sequel to the popular XBLA game Beat Hazard. It’s a twin-stick shooter in the same basic vein as Geometry Wars, but with a clever musical twist.

What could be better than gameplay experience driven by your own music? A $7.49 gameplay experience driven by your own music. Some of you may be aware of the existence of this genre with the popular Audiosurf game, which reacts as a single ship racing game on a track entirely based on the music currently playing, collecting blocks scattered throughout the track in order to create combos and score some points. Beat Hazard follows a similar path but replaces the racing with a more arcade shooter feeling.

As the title of the blog suggests, 'Beat your Music', the player is allowed to choose the music from his or her hard drive as the main feature of the game in order to alter gameplay. Much like Audiosurf but in a different genre, to understand clearly how it works, we first need to get the basics down.In Beat Hazard, the gameplay follows something similar to Asteroids, or for the more recent, psychedelic type of shooters, Geometry Wars and Super Stardust HD amongst many. You control a space ship flying (or drifting, floating, or whichever you think is possible) in space encountering occasional asteroids and enemy space ships. Every once in a while, in a random manner, you will often (or not so) encounter bosses as well which consist of either a large space ship, which often come in pairs of two, or you will encounter a very large one all on its own.

The goal is simple: Last the entirety of the song chosen and destroy as many asteroids and enemies as you can to score bigger combos and gain more points. The more points you get, the faster you level up. Such is the basic of the game.Where does the music come into play? It simply becomes your most powerful ally during your quest for points. The more up-beat or aggressive the music becomes, the faster you will shoot. This can be helped by collecting bonus items:- Volume+ which raises the volume of the music, thus enhancing your firing abilities to a wider area.- Power+ which raises the strength of your shoots, allowing you to destroy enemies faster.- 1x which raises your combo by 1 point. Note that not shooting for a certain period of time charges the Dare Devil meter which also gives points for the combo bar, as well as a Survivalist meter which fills in after a certain period of time without deaths.Once both the Volume and Power metters have been filled entirely, you finally enter the BEAT HAZARD mode which is the absolute power in terms of seizures and strength.

Losing a life at this point (or any other point prior to reaching the mode) discards every power ups collected, but in case of a risky encounter, one can use a bomb that destroys almost everything on screen at the moment of explosion. Be aware that the slower a song becomes, the harder the game gets as the weapons will barely shoot and will not deal much damage, making every encounter, even against regular enemies, a real danger.The game does have it's share of issues though, but widely not enough for me to stop loving it. First of all, and the most important thing to note would be the visuals. While I find the game to be stunning, it is extremely important to consider them before making a purchase. The game consist mainly of a constant, trippy, psychedelic visualizer as a background when playing, or even when wandering around the menus. I repeat it, it is extremely important to consider the visuals if you are sensitive to flashing lights and strobe-like effects as it uses fullscreen strobbing effects.

Luckily for us though, the game starts with a message about this and does not go away unless input is given by the player, ensuring that people can and will take the time to read the warning. Unfortunately, there is no options to lower the visuals to something more acceptable, so if you play it, prepare to bleed out of your eyes for the first time in your life.The second and remaining issue I have with the game is that it is not well balanced. While your weapons are based entirely on the music, the enemy waves aren't. This means that you could end up with a big power metal song, playing through a level that has barely any enemy waves, while you could play some calm, classical music and end up encounter 3 large ship bosses one after the other. One place to enjoy a more challenging area is to play the Survival mode which plays through an entire album until all lives are lost and delivers much bigger enemy waves.Put aside these two issues, this is quite the enjoyable game at the fair price of $9.99 on Steam.

Why did I mention $7.49 earlier? Because the game is currently on sale until April 22nd 2010, which is why I made this blog right now instead of my second part for the Touhou bosses. The game is also available on Xbox Live Arcade as an indie title for 400 Microsoft Points. On Steam, the game supports both the mouse and Xbox 360 controller, therefore it isn't at a loss for those who would of prefered playing with a controller.

It is also available through the for PC for those who prefer not using a client, or simply for more information regarding the game.I will end this blog with a video captured by myself. In the video, I used a song provided with the game to avoid unnecessary legal issues in case YouTube decides that my music is innapropriate and forces me to go with the audioswap option, so while the provided songs aren't the best example in terms of insanity that can come out of this game, it still provides a nice visual experience for those wanting to see it in action.Until my next blog, enjoy this video! That does look like a very nice game, something I wouldn't play but would love to watch someone play while throwing back some cold ones or something along those lines.

As far as the music goes you can use any music you want as long as the content of the video is entirely of your making, which it is. The only way you will run into issues with Youtube is if you used a song with the official video for the song as well, or something along those lines, like using a video with an exclusive copyright watermark. But since it's just background music for a game play video feel free to use any song you like for it. At least that is my understanding of their Terms of Use but if you contacted them they could probably give you a more specific list of what is and isn't allowed as well, but I'm 99% sure using any song you want for a game play video you created and edited should be fine.:).

That does look like a very nice game, something I wouldn't play but would love to watch someone play while throwing back some cold ones or something along those lines. As far as the music goes you can use any music you want as long as the content of the video is entirely of your making, which it is. The only way you will run into issues with Youtube is if you used a song with the official video for the song as well, or something along those lines, like using a video with an exclusive copyright watermark. But since it's just background music for a game play video feel free to use any song you like for it.

At least that is my understanding of their Terms of Use but if you contacted them they could probably give you a more specific list of what is and isn't allowed as well, but I'm 99% sure using any song you want for a game play video you created and edited should be fine.:). To be honest I still didnt feel it is innovative since I already played Geometry Wars. I thought Beat Hazard would be like the whole shooting thing would synchronize with the beats of the music but it didnt.

It that case Audiosurf does a pretty good job. However compared to Geometry Wars this game is graphically superior. In fact it is very beautiful. I loved that part. If I took the dev position I would have considered synchronizing with beats.

This would not only make the game more enjoyable but also would make people dance while playing.Your video quality is awesome. I just want to know and from @DavidD what equipment and software did you guys used. I guess I would rather take recommendation instead of rushing to buy one.

Nicole bass. I am also considering making some videos too. You guys inspire me. To be honest I still didnt feel it is innovative since I already played Geometry Wars. I thought Beat Hazard would be like the whole shooting thing would synchronize with the beats of the music but it didnt.

It that case Audiosurf does a pretty good job. However compared to Geometry Wars this game is graphically superior. In fact it is very beautiful. I loved that part.

If I took the dev position I would have considered synchronizing with beats. This would not only make the game more enjoyable but also would make people dance while playing.Your video quality is awesome. I just want to know and from @DavidD what equipment and software did you guys used. I guess I would rather take recommendation instead of rushing to buy one. I am also considering making some videos too. You guys inspire me.

@Koshai: For PC gameplay I simply use FRAPS, though you better have some good dekstop because it uses a lot of ressources since it saves uncompressed videos directly to the Hard Drive. It's the best capture software I've known for PC, and now it even records aero in Windows, which means you can capture your desktop in full screen.I know that DavidD uses an Hauppauge for console games, I think it's the.

Delivers great quality in 720p and goes up to 1080i. The only drawback is the lack of 1080p capture and it isn't PCI-E, so it sits outside of your computer. I'm going to try the (comes out in May) which heavily reminds me of the HD PVR but with 1080p support, the drawback is that it uses USB 3.0 and once again, it sits outside the computer while the Intensity Pro does, but the Pro only records in 1080i and supports less formats. I should get it either next month or the one after depending on my finances.We both use softwares from the line in order to edit the videos (I use Movie Studio Platinum and David uses Vegas Pro), and I've heard from David that Vegas is one of the only editors that supports the format in which the Hauppauge records out of the box.

It remains my favorite editors ever since I've known how to edit.And you're right for Beat Hazard, the enemy waves really lack the audio sync. There's been a lot of discussion regarding this on the Steam forums, and the developer spends quite a lot of time over there so he receives every suggestion people do.

Perhaps he will make a patch regarding this? It's really the only thing that the game needs right now. @Koshai: For PC gameplay I simply use FRAPS, though you better have some good dekstop because it uses a lot of ressources since it saves uncompressed videos directly to the Hard Drive. It's the best capture software I've known for PC, and now it even records aero in Windows, which means you can capture your desktop in full screen.I know that DavidD uses an Hauppauge for console games, I think it's the HD PVR. Delivers great quality in 720p and goes up to 1080i. The only drawback is the lack of 1080p capture and it isn't PCI-E, so it sits outside of your computer.

I'm going to try the BlackMagic-Design Intensity Shuttle (comes out in May) which heavily reminds me of the HD PVR but with 1080p support, the drawback is that it uses USB 3.0 and once again, it sits outside the computer while the Intensity Pro does, but the Pro only records in 1080i and supports less formats. I should get it either next month or the one after depending on my finances.We both use softwares from the Sony Vegas line in order to edit the videos (I use Movie Studio Platinum and David uses Vegas Pro), and I've heard from David that Vegas is one of the only editors that supports the format in which the Hauppauge records out of the box. It remains my favorite editors ever since I've known how to edit.And you're right for Beat Hazard, the enemy waves really lack the audio sync.

There's been a lot of discussion regarding this on the Steam forums, and the developer spends quite a lot of time over there so he receives every suggestion people do. Perhaps he will make a patch regarding this? It's really the only thing that the game needs right now.

DescriptionWelcome to a new experience in gameplay mechanics: Beat Hazard! Gameplay Powered by YOUR Music!

Experience your music collection like never before with this intense music driven arcade shooter. Each of your songs will have its own unique ebb and flow based on the music. Power up your spaceship and watch as the music boosts your firepower. Unleash hell on the enemy ships when you max out with weapon pickups! Beat Hazard seamlessly mixes your love of gaming and music.

Additional DetailsCompanySize60MB, about 1 minute on broadbandAvailable LanguagesEnglishRelease DateApril 28, 2010System RequirementsOperating SystemWindows 8, Windows 7, Vista and XPProcessorPentium 4 - 2.0 Ghz or betterRAM512MBVideo card RAM128 MB, 3D hardware accelerationDirectX Version9.0 or above.