Frederic: Resurrection of Music review for Nintendo Switch

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Also On: Wii U, PC
Publisher: Forever Entertainment
Developer: Forever Entertainment
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: T

We?re a few (by which I mean several) years past the rhythm/music game explosion brought about Rock Band/Guitar Hero, but that news evidently hasn?t quite reached Poland yet, if Frederic: Resurrection of Music is anything to go by.

In their defense, of course, Frederic: Resurrection of Music was originally released back in 2012 on mobile devices (as well as the Vita, as part of Sony?s ill-fated PlayStation Mobile initiative). Back then, obviously, we were much closer in time to the genre?s heyday.

Even more importantly, Frederic: Resurrection of Music is just different enough from your standard rhythm game that you can see why its creators felt it still needed to be made.

For starters, the game?s soundtrack consists entirely of compositions by Fr?d?ric Chopin. Remixed versions of Chopin compositions, to be sure, but Chopin compositions all the same. On top of the incongruity of a game devoted to celebrating the life and music of a composer who died more than 150 years ago, there?s also something intriguing about hearing these familiar songs given new life, whether it means adding in twangy guitars, sitars, or all kinds of other instruments.

What?s more, Frederic: Resurrection of Music has some fun nods towards fighting games to differentiate it even further from your standard rhythm game. Playing as Chopin you?re traveling the world, fighting local musicians, and if you defeat them resoundingly enough, you earn a ?musicality.? True, the game is entirely single-player, so the fighting game touches only go so far, but it still adds a little something.

Unfortunately, the one thing they don?t add is length. With only a dozen songs, Frederic: Resurrection of Music is short enough that you could easily beat it in about half an hour. There are four difficulty levels per song, so you can stretch things out that way, but there?s still not a tonne of content here.

Better a fun short game than a long game with lots of padding, though, as far as I?m concerned. Frederic: Resurrection of Music is pretty enjoyable for what it is — and, as a bonus, you get to feel all cultured once it?s all over for having played a game built entirely around classical music.

Forever Entertainment provided us with a Frederic: Resurrection of Music Switch code for review purposes.

Grade: B+