Ever wish you could have a secret identity and solve puzzles? Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure by Sega (3DS $29.99) is a unique puzzle game in which you do just that along with jumping and sliding while solving puzzles to reach your next goal.
The game opens with a scene that shows Napoleon when he was emperor of Europe. A quote shows up on the screen, “Imagination rules the world”. The Emperor’s casket is stolen and the story starts 3 years later with our hero, Raphael or as he is known in other circles, “Phantom R”.
You will see a room with stolen artwork and Raphael and his dog, Fondue. Fondue accompanies Phantom R on his adventures. There are 3 places to save. When you come back to a save point, you will get a short story to show you where you are in the game.
Raphael is trying to find his father who disappeared 3 years ago. His father left him a coin, which he uses to try to find him. The coin has a symbol on it and Phantom R is looking for objects that have the same symbol. He sees the Bracelet of Tiamat in the Louvre in the Mesopotamia exhibit and sets out to steal it.
You must find the secret entrance to the museum then de-activate the security system. To get the the security room, you must imitate the statues that you are hiding behind. This is done by choosing one of 4 colors that represent different poses. You find that the security room is secured by a voice activated lock. You must record the sleeping guard’s snores and play it back to unlock the door. After you do that you must de-activate the security on the bracelet display by finding the tone that does not match. These are a few of the puzzles that you must solve to find your father.
Speak with people around you as they may offer you information that will help you get to your father. You will also find allies by protecting them. As Phantom R is attempting to escape, he runs into the Emperor himself, who wants the bracelet as well. Phantom R escapes the Emperor, only to run into the police. Here you must jump and slide your way to freedom. You save a girl, Marie, from Napoleon. She has a violin that helps you in your quest to find your father. The game gets more challenging from here.
The challenges can be very tough. I found myself having to repeat the same levels multiple times. When you complete each level you will receive a score; this will let you know how many moves you did. The game gives you a score card with the following: Perfect, Great, Good, Harsh, Combo, and Total Score. You will also receive medals based on how you did. You will also earn a rank. These medals can be used to purchase items in a special shop. You can also find medals by looking in chests. You can use these in shops; one shop sells trinkets and another sells music data. There is also music spread over the city of Paris that you must find and collect.
There is the option of using a guide to help you complete each challenge. ***I found myself using the guide as this helped me greatly. Once the moves are figured out, it is relatively easy to follow. In the first scene, you must move your stylus in the direction of the arrow on the screen. To spin a circle you make a circle on the pad. To jump and slide you use the A&B buttons. After so many misses and harsh scores you will need to start the challenge over.
The game has a manual save option, so save as often as you can. Otherwise, if you lose a challenge, you will start back at the beginning of the level. You can save when you see a blue battery icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen. When you tap the blue icon, it will take you to an interface where you can save, review the story, view the rhythm games that you have played, among other things.
To get to different places, you will see a map that will show you where you need to go by having a purple exclamation mark. The path that you want to take will be in red. If you go in the wrong direction, you will be told and redirected to the right way. Once you get there, you will find out what you need to do.
Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure is a unique rhythm puzzle adventure game that gets your fingers tapping and they won’t stop until you have finished your quest to find your father. The replay value is incredible and it guarantees endless hours of fun. A must-have for any fan of puzzle or adventure games.
DaniP
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Sega of America
Publisher: Sega of America
ESRB: E 10+ (Everyone 10+)
Price: $29.99
Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure Website
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| Beautiful graphics and colors. The 3-D gave the map a feeling of looking at Paris from an arial view. | |
| Sound | |
| Beautiful music that fits the game perfectly; it is very haunting in some areas | |
| Gameplay | |
| Fun to play; found myself falling into the rhythm for each challenge. The game is very intuitive. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Fun and addictive and you can't put it down. When a difficult challenge is beat, there is a feeling of accomplishment. | |
