Spin Rhythm by Habby is the mobile version of Spin Rhythm XD, the 2019 PC rhythm game in which players spin a multi-coloured wheel at the bottom of their screen to match the colours of a stream of falling notes.

The original is a beautifully-designed homage to a golden era of arcade rhythm games, embracing the flashy neon aesthetics and over-the-top voiceovers that defined cabinet classics like Dance Dance Revolution. This new mobile edition with its forced ads and energy system feels decidedly less like a labor of love than an opportunistic cash grab, though fortunately, its frantic, satisfying rhythmic gameplay remains as innovative as ever, even if it’s been dumbed down a bit for smartphones.

At the bottom of the screen is a wheel divided into red and blue blocks that you can spin by tapping, holding, and moving your finger left and right. Red and blue notes are tossed toward the wheel in a pattern that follows the beats of the track; your job is to spin your wheel so that each colored note is “caught” by a wheel block of the same color. Things get a bit more complex when the game throws swiping, tapping, and flicking into the mix. You begin a run with a full health bar, and every note you miss reduces your HP by a small amount; if your HP reaches zero, your run is over.

Spin Rhythm XD, which released on Steam Early Access in 2019, uses a deceptively simple two-button control scheme combining taps, swipes, and flicks to create something that feels a bit like a spiritual successor to the criminally underrated Amplitude and Frequency. Its mobile iteration is even simpler: the second button is gone, the tracks are shorter, and the note charts are significantly easier. The result is a much less challenging experience streamlined for mobile devices. The lowered difficulty has spurred a fair bit of pushback, largely from fans of its PC game hoping for a one-to-one conversion to take on the road. However, the frenetic, gesture-based gameplay of the original remains largely intact, and any technical niggles are easily forgotten when you’re swinging and swiping to the pulsating beats of Spin Rhythm’s eclectic electronic soundtrack.

Less intrusive rewarded ads

One of Spin Rhythm’s biggest criticisms has been its monetization model. Speaking as a longtime fan of rhythm games who also plays a lot of mobile games: it’s honestly not that bad. You can watch a video ad to double the rewards you earn at the end of a stage, get extra energy to continue playing, or save a failed run. There’s also the occasional forced video ad, which plays automatically every three or four runs, but those can be skipped after five seconds. None of this is out of the ordinary for a free-to-play rhythm game, and the video ads in Spin Rhythm are far less intrusive than in much of its competition.

For a game that’s heavily inspired by arcade rhythm games, Spin Rhythm releasing without a score system seems like a massive oversight. One of the main reasons music game fans replay the same songs over and over is because they want to beat a personal record. The current system rewards you with trophies for completing a certain percentage of a track, which basically means you can fumble your way to the finish line and get just as many points as someone who nailed most of the track. There’s an added bonus for getting a perfect streak from start to finish, but there’s nothing in between total failure and a perfect score.

Spin Rhythm takes a great rhythm game and pares it down for a mobile audience. The final product is something that doesn’t quite reach the same peaks as the original, but still stands head and shoulders above its competition in the free-to-play rhythm game space.

By Andi Nuruljihad for Gamesforum