Despite being somebody who struggles to really care about music, I can’t deny the entertainment value of a good rhythm game. I have such fond memories of playing games like Elite Beat Agents and the original Guitar Hero as a teen, but for a long time any game with rhythm based gameplay was little more than a list of songs you played through. Even my beloved Parappa the Rapper, despite featuring a daft story about romancing a flower and learning to drive, is essentially just a game where you play through all the raps and then the credits roll. Steel Century Groove is so much more than just going through songs, and instead is a fully fleshed out rhythm RPG.
In the world of Steel Century Groove massive mechs were once used to fight in wars, but now in a time of peace they’ve been repurposed to boogie on down. Your character has always dreamt of competing against the very best and winning the robot dance battle championship, but coming from a poor family he’s never been able to afford a mech of his own. That’s until on his birthday he’s given a second hand and particularly battered model, and begins fixing it up. The story is pretty damn engaging, and features some unexpected twists and a much deeper world than I was expecting from such a silly premise.
It doesn’t take too long for you to experience your first dance off, where you’ll get to see how “combat” works. Essentially a line with circular notes is drawn across the screen in a sort of swirly pattern, and as your cursor hits these notes you’ve got to press one of the face buttons to perform a dance move. As you do this you fill up a performance meter above the duelling mechs, and the first to fill it to the top wins. This is all obviously done in time with the music, and gives you that rhythm game rush that only comes from the genre.
This is very much how battles work on a basic level, because your four dance moves all function differently based on the mech you use. My starter mech (from a Pokémon style choice of three) was all about nailing solos to win, and these solos only happened if I filled up a solo meter. To do this I had a special dance move that boosted this, but it had an eight note cooldown. This meant to truly maximise my score I had to count notes and switch buttons at the right time, which took a lot of practice and was especially difficult in songs with a faster beat.
As you level up you’ll gain new flamboyant abilities too, with more effects to keep track of. After a while I unlocked an incredibly strong move that granted bonus points when used in a solo, as well as a powerful counter attack that could be used to negate the special moves of an enemy. This meant I had to start paying attention to upcoming enemy moves in between beats, adding an extra layer of depth to the dance. This is only one of many mechs too, which all have different styles. Some are a little simpler to use, whereas some are a lot to wrap your head around. They’re all totally viable though, and fun to switch between.
You’ll need all the dance power you can get to be the very best, because your journey will take you across four towns to take on the four Principals before you can compete in the championship. It’s basically the same structure as a Pokémon game, from the Professor who sends you on your adventure to your rival who’s a real jerk. This simple and familiar setup works well with the outlandish setting, and allows you to focus on the rhythm and the RPG elements.
Steel Century Groove wouldn’t be much of a rhythm RPG without levelling up and getting stronger. Fortunately there’s plenty of that, with levels granting you different buffs. You’ll also find parts you can equip to your mechs for even more improvements, some of which even change how moves work to make them way more powerful. You’ll also gain teammates who dance along side you and grant skills you can use regardless of timing, and before you know it you’ll need to be tracking multiple mechanics at once while being one with the music.
One particularly cool aspect of Steel Century Groove is that you don’t have to play it with the game’s own soundtrack. There’s an easy option in the pause menu which shows you how to use your own songs instead, and the whole game can be played with the music of your choosing. If you want to create your very own Steps rhythm game then you’re more than welcome to, which is obviously a dream come true.
Steel Century Groove is a fantastic rhythm game, but it does have a few issues. One of these is the default soundtrack, which I struggled to gel with for the most part. One particular romantic song with the lyrics “you’re giving me a heart disease” was perhaps the most painful thing I’ve ever listened to. Another problem I had with the game was purely visual, but still fairly significant. The character models are really basic, and everyone pretty much looks identical because of it. If not for my pink shirt I wouldn’t have been able to pick my protagonist out of a line up, and I bloody made him.
Steel Century Groove is a creative and entertaining take on the rhythm game genre, with engaging RPG hooks and a battle system that has the perfect amount of depth. I unfortunately can’t say I was a fan of the soundtrack, but with the option to play with your own music you can enjoy infinite versions of this dance battle spectacle.