Rhythm Game Made Too Easy

Surf and slice musical notes along a circular pipeline in Badsnowball’s latest rhythm game, Cyber Surfer. A catchy mix of chart-topping hits paired with bright colors seems like a recipe for success. However, this is not the case when it comes to Cyber Surfer. While the concept promises hours of entertainment, the execution falls short. From the song selection to the mechanics, the game is way too simple. That simplicity takes away from the overall fun of the game.

Surfing Songs

There are three levels of difficulty in Cyber Surfer: easy, hard and expert. Each song was placed into only one of these categories. Almost every song I played was on expert level, but I cleared them with 100% accuracy on the first try. That might sound impressive, but it isn’t. Notes approach in one big line, so you only need to move slightly between them. Only one note ever caught me off guard; it was placed way to the left. Otherwise, the notes generally follow each other.

There are fake notes you can hit, but they’re obvious and you have to move out of your way to hit them. It’s almost impossible to accidentally hit a wrong note. They are literally placed on the ceiling, meaning you have to swipe all the way around to hit them. There are no other obstacles. When you hit a wrong note, a countdown begins. During this time you may watch an ad and continue playing or exit to the song selection screen. From what I can tell, watching ads allows you to continue from a checkpoint as many times as you want. So there are no real stakes to hitting the wrong note.

It would help engagement if fake notes were harder to avoid or real notes were spread out. Badsnowball could also add obstacles to dodge that damage your health and less attempts to start from a checkpoint in the song.

Song Selection

One of the most important things about a rhythm game is the music. While Cyber Surfer’s selection isn’t bad, it is limited to only 28 songs in total. In addition to the small selection, some of the songs are a bit strange. Firstly, they aren’t full songs. Players typically expect rhythm games to have full and alternate versions of the songs they are playing. In this case, the developers opted to cut the songs short with haphazardly placed fades that stopped everything abruptly. They feel incomplete. Secondly, the game occasionally skips sections. It is common to do this in order to omit swear words and make the game more family friendly. However, much like the fades, the skips were noticeable and threw off the flow.

There’s also a weird sound whenever you hit a note. It’s meant to provide positive feedback when you hit a note, but it lags behind the song. Some songs manage to blend the sound pretty well. But when it doesn’t blend well, the sound overpowers everything and takes away from the enjoyment of the song.

Ads and Premium Currency

Thankfully, ads usually appear right before you play a song and then at the end. There are no ad windows while you’re playing so you can just focus on the music.

The game’s premium currency is diamonds. Normally you must watch an ad before playing a song. However, with diamonds you can buy a song, meaning the ad is only at the end. Obtain diamonds by collecting keys as you traverse a level. Once you’ve collected three keys, another screen pops up at the end of the recently completed song, and you choose any three of the nine chests displayed with various unknown quantities of diamonds in them. Players are expected to use these diamonds to unlock new songs. Songs only cost 300 diamonds each. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it gets tedious. Keys aren’t guaranteed each time you complete a song.

Final Notes

Cyber Surfer is a colorful rhythm game with a simple swiping mechanic. However, song selection is limited and there’s no risk of failure. These glaring pitfalls diminish the engaging and replayable nature that similar titles have mastered.