There was one fight in particular that I enjoyed so much that I played it ten times in a row just so I could beat it without taking a hit. Each fight not only holds a lot of meaning within the story, they are also an absolute pleasure to play. While the main levels of the game clearly have a lot of love and care put into them, the boss fights are on a whole different level. These boss fights pit you against your former friends, now corrupted, in climactic battles to save them. Bullet hell games live and die by their bosses and Just Shapes & Beats delivers stunning boss fights in spades.

The first time you traverse a level, you might have to try it a couple of times but once you’ve mastered it, you will feel like a rhythm-bullet hell god. Each level provides a stiff challenge while still being fair. While there are only 55 songs in the game, each one feels special and unique. Each level was lovingly crafted to match the EDM song within it. Each level is a licensed EDM song where pink shapes relentlessly appear to the beat and you must dodge them until the song ends. In order to accomplish your goals, you must make your way through the game’s levels. Anyone who can make me care about a featureless square gets my applause, especially in a genre that typically lacks any sort of story. There are genuine moments of anger and sadness when things go wrong and joy and relief when you triumph. Even with such a basic story premise, Berzerk Games does a wonderful job of making the player actually care about the game’s geometric characters. You must gather three magical triangles in order to save your friends and the world. That is, until a giant, pink monster attacks and begins corrupting everything and everyone around you, turning them pink and evil. You play as a little, blue square in a peaceful world where you live happily with your little, blue friends. When was the last time you played a bullet hell or a rhythm game for the story? The general idea is one as old as game immemorial: red versus blue. Since there is no dialogue, the story is told through little cutscenes and while the story isn’t anything to write home about, it doesn’t need to be anything more. Heck, the story doesn’t even include dialogue. Every level is made of basic, pink shapes on a black background. The controls only include the joystick and a dash button. It is in this simplicity that Just Shapes & Beats thrives. Just Shapes & Beats is a beautifully simple marriage between a rhythm game and a bullet hell that provides a charming story and many hours of replayability.

Just shapes and beats backgrounds