Game developer Zoë Mode has brought their PC game Chime over to the PlayStation Network with new music and new levels. Was it music to our ears, or did it just hit a sour note? Read our review to find out.

Chime was published last year by One Big Game charity, with the proceeds of the sales going to charities of their choice. The game received great review scores, and introduced a new style of puzzle game. The developer has now brought an updated version over to the PlayStation Network, with more levels, and more music, for PlayStation 3 owners.

Chime is all about placing shapes on a grid to make music. Gamers control a single shape at a time, and can move, rotate, and then place it on the grid. A beatline moves across the grid in time with the music, and sets off events when it hits placed shapes. Quads are created by placing shapes in solid blocks of 3×3 or more. When a quad is completed and the beat line hits, different musical samples are triggered dependent on its shape. The size of the quad denotes the score, and multipliers can be achieved by having several quads on the screen at once. Once the beatline hits a completed quad, it is stamped down into the grid, earning the player coverage. Put simply, place blocks to create quads, create quads to gain coverage, and gain coverage to fill the grid.

The shapes are somewhat reminiscent of Tetris, but are free moving and don’t just fall downward. The game plays similar to a jigsaw puzzle, where you place the interlocking pieces together. The game play is very simple, but yet can get a little complicated depending on the board layout.

There are several different modes of play and you can either play by yourself, or play with others on your couch. Extra controllers are needed for multiplayer as there is no online play included. You can play co-op, where you an others work on filling up the board together, or versus, where you try to cover a higher percentage of the board than your opponents. Almost all of the modes are time, with the exception of free play, which can only be played alone. You can select the time frame for the other modes, and they are either 3, 6 or 9 minutes.

There are ten levels in all, and you’ll need to play through levels in order, covering at least 50% of the board, in order to unlock the next level. With two or more people, you should be able to do this without much trouble. Covering 100% of the board will unlock a bonus level, and that might take more than 3 minutes if you are working alone, but should be easy enough with two or more players.

The music for the game is what really makes this game shine. Soothing tunes that change ever so slightly as you place blocks on the screen, give way to more upbeat tempos that can get you moving pretty quick. Several world famous artists have had their songs remixed for the different levels, and you can read about them on the Chime Website. The music is beautiful and if they release the soundtrack, we would definitely purchase it. We found ourselves leaving the game running in free play just for the background music.

The graphics for the game are very sharp with crisp colors. Some of the colors that you need to be able to discern between were a little too similar, and that might cause some players to be a little frustrated. The shapes of the objects you’ll be working with start out pretty basic early on, but progress into much harder to work with shapes.

Chime Super Deluxe is a very beautiful sounding, nice looking, puzzle game that is well worth the PSN price of $9.99/£7.19/€8.99.

Now when can we download the music?

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