Been having a slump and not in the mood for gaming lately. Maybe it's the rainy, cold weather but I just wanted to play something small today, so I started Frederic: Resurrection of Music which I had installed for some time now.
Disregard the playtime, the majority is from card idling. I started and finished it in a single setting and less than an hour of actual playtime.
You have seven piano keys on which notes fall and it's all about timing your actions. In terms of controls you can map each piano key to a keyboard key, use your mouse or even use the touchscreen in case you have such a tabled/notebook. Mouse ended up being the most comfortable for me.

It's a small and charming rhythm game with a wacky story and good artsyle and great, catchy tunes (classical covers). It's the first rhythm game I played, so I appreciate it being newcomer friendly.
Doesn't mean there's no depth to it. You can always rack the difficulty up and try to get your highscore higher and higher which ought to give it some more hours.
Played on Normal difficulty and it was a breeze. Successfully completed every song on first try apart the second to last one. Took me more than five tries.

It works all fine and well apart certain songs where the notes and music don't fit very much and that leads very quickly to you getting out of sync with the game.
Otherwise there are a couple bugs and lack of polish, mostly only in cutscenes, so that doesn't really take anything away from the otherwise fun and short romp.
Oh, the soundtrack is also included in MP3 which is a great bonus since you'll likely end up enjoying many if not all tracks. Recommended.

Great concept, interesting visuals, super great that you can play it more or less just as easily with a mouse as you can with the keyboard, very well balanced, weird sense of humor that works well for it. I cannot recommend this game enough when it is on sale for a dollar. The sequel on the other hand...

I played this game obsessively on iPad and simply love it. It is very entertaining and the music is awesome. The reason why I can't recommend it here is with keyboard controls it is just horrible. This game was made for touchscreen and that's where it should be played. If you own an iOS device, play it there, it is worth it.

Perfet if you want i wonderfoul night

(Full review follows below)

• Game Name: Frederic: Resurrection of Music
  
• Original Release: 2014
  
• Genre Tags: Innovative; Musical; Avant-Garde
  
• My Overall Grade: A-
  
• Estimated Playtime (Campaign): 4-9 hours
  
• Multiplayer Aspect: None
  
• Recommended To: Novelty seekers; Avant-garde enthusiasts; Casual gamers

Frederic: Resurrection of Music is a short and simple game which employs a fundamental mechanic that will have you using your keyboard like a piano. The game’s best attribute is definitely its innovative feel (even though it borrows heavily from Guitar Hero and the like); and I also thought the soundtrack was pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, many of the other areas of the game are somewhat lacking.

There is a story and there are cutscenes; some of it is OK and mildly amusing, some of it is cringe-worthy. I wonder if perhaps the game would have been better off without any of that. However, the game is already incredibly short, so I suppose the story helps to add a little fluff. There are only 9 songs in the campaign, and even on the hardest difficulty available it shouldn’t take that long to learn them and to beat them. Then there are also a small handful of bonus songs to unlock in the “arena” mode, but it remains a rather short game. There is, however, a score system, so there is some incentive to replay levels to try to better your score.

The heart and soul of the game is in the gameplay and the music. The central mechanic of the gameplay is quite novel and I found it to be quite refreshing to play something a little bit different. The main way to play is to use your keyboard to strike keys as the notes move across the screen, in a very similar fashion to Guitar Hero. I found this to be challenging and wildly fun. If you find yourself getting your fingers mixed up too much, you can also use the mouse to simply click the notes. This will make the game marginally easier, but (in my opinion) also a little less fun.

As for the music: I enjoyed the soundtrack very much. I even caught myself humming some of the songs in the shower and the car. When you own the game on Steam, you get a complimentary OST in the “music” tab of your library, so you can listen to the songs through Steam even without the game running.

Frederic: Resurrection of Music could use work in some other areas, certainly, but I felt the fresh gameplay and nice soundscape were more than enough to create an enjoyable experience— albeit a short one. I highly recommend this game for anyone who is thirsting to play something that is a little different and innovative.

Follow my curation page to see more of my recommendations!

- controls are hard to get used to, even if you re-bind
- all music pieces got a 'modern' makeover without ruining them
- illustrations are wonderful
- could have some more songs, but for the price it's alright

I'd say don't buy it if you're not into music/rhythm games, but if you are and have a few bucks to spare, get it.

BEFORE YOU POINT OUT MY TIME PLAYED: I've played much more of this game on a tablet. My review for the PC version will be based on the difference in playability between the two. I've played enough to come to a conclusion about that.

Frederic: Resurrection of Music is a rhythm game where you catch falling notes onto piano keys at the bottom of the screen. Think of Beatmania without the turn table, and you've basically got it. The timing for a perfect hit takes a little getting used to, because it's relative to the center of the actual key on the piano itself. Since a black key is much shorter than a white key, a perfect hit on a black note will be higher up on the board than a white note. Otherwise it's fairly simple, with normal notes, hold notes, and swipe notes where you move across as you hit a key (more on that later). The note patterns are fairly good, and fit the pace of the songs. The music is all Chopin compositions redone in various contemporary music styles. The songs are...alright. The western themed one is pretty terrible, but they're all still recognizable as Chopin. It's also worth saying that the story is absolutely insane. Nothing makes sense and it's pretty great.

First and foremost, this is a game meant for tablets. There have been tablet games that have made the jump to steam with varying amounts of success, but Frederic is absolutely designed for a multitouch screen. Before you even boot the game up, it asks if you want to launch the touchscreen version instead. To get around most people not being able to touch their monitors to make things happen, you're given two other control styles that you can mix and match as you want; keyboard and mouse. Keyboard sounds like it would make sense, since you're emulating touching keys on a piano, but it never actually feels right. You can reconfigure the keys to anything you want (except for the space bar, which is reserved for using a special move), but it's still just not a very natural feel. You could probably get somewhat used to it with enough times, but remember, the timing on a perfect black note is different than a perfect white note. So, every other finger has to hit a note slightly earlier than the others.

Remember how I mentioned slide notes? They're meant for you to touch the key and then swipe your finger across the piano. You can't do this with a keyboard, naturally, so those are some points you're just not going to be able to get. Now, you can use a mouse instead and just click the keys, which will allow you to hit slide notes. But then you have some hold notes that continue as other notes are coming down, since it was made with multitouch in mind, which makes the mouse not ideal for that situation. Then there are bonus golden notes that fly up from the piano for extra points. On the tablet, you just tap the note to get them. On the PC, you could click on it with the mouse, but if you're using the mouse to play then you're probably too busy hitting other notes or holding a hold note to go click it. You can also collect those notes by pressing a key on the keyboard, but that key is random each time. So have fun with that.

If you have a tablet or a good phone, I would definitely recommend getting Frederic there if you're a rhythm game fan. It's definitely the way the game is meant to be played and works just fine there. There are two bonus levels in that version that are locked behind DLC (as opposed to this Steam version which has them for free as unlockables), but the bonus levels only cost a dollar total and the base game itself is $2. It's the way the game was meant to be played, and you're just going to get a subpar and sometimes frustrating experience on the PC.

Now, there are two reasons why you might actually want to get the Steam version. If you DO have a touchscreen of some sort for your computer (or if you're using a Surface or something), then you can play the game the way it's supposed to be played and it will work just fine. You would be paying $3 more compared to an app store version, but you do get the soundtrack as an extra if you really want that. The other reason may be if you have a Beatmania controller you can plug into your computer. The keys on the controller match up to the keys in game, so that might actually be kinda cool. Unfortunately, you still won't be able to do slide notes, and unless you play it one handed you're definitely not going to get any bonus gold notes. It's enough of a novelty though that it might be worth playing with.

If neither of these conditions apply to you, then don't bother getting Frederic on Steam. It's just not the way this game is supposed to be played.

With over 230 compositions under his belt, Frederic Chopin was one of the world's leading musicians in the 1800's. He's been referenced and even starred in multiple video games in the past, and Resurrection of Music is the latest in that trend. It's probably the best fit, being a rhythm game full of imagination and heart. This is an easy recommendation to anyone who enjoys music.

In Frederic: RoM you play as Chopin himself, recently raised from the dead, and musically battle other musicians across the globe. Armed with nothing but a magical piano, it is up to you to show that you are still relevant in an age of Auto Tuners, Synthesizers, and Pro Tools.

The soul of this game is in the music, which is fantastic. A selection of Chopin's own works are remixed to fit the theme of several countries as you fight for global domination. Forever Entertainment has shown great care and creativity in the construction of these songs. Frederic's compositions ring through beautifully, which is a testament to their ability, considering how easily they could have ruined these amazing pieces. Rhythm games are only as good as the music they include, and with so many of them asking the player to provide their own songs these days, it's nice to see a developer actually take the time to hand-craft original tracks. Each song is not only fun to play, but catchy, enjoyable, and memorable as well. The soundtrack comes with the game when you purchase it through Steam, making the price tag all the more worth it.

The gameplay is easy to pick up if you've ever played a rhythm game before. Hit the keys when the notes pass over them. The closer to accurate the timing, the more points you receive. Once you get a combo going, you can pick up bonus points for hitting random keys on the keyboard, and even utilize a musical attack to mess with your opponents. While it's not very deep, it's a blast to play, and you'll feel like a true pianist as you do. Who doesn't want to feel like Chopin?

While you duke it out with these other musicians, colorful and silly animations play out in front of you, themed to the country, just like the music. They can be very distracting, adding to the difficulty of the duels, but are entertaining in their own right. Sometimes the caricatures and parodies can border on offensive, but they are all in good fun, and people are too easily offended these days anyway.

There is a story here that plays out in animated scenes in-between battles, but it is told horrendously with some of the worst voice acting you'll ever experience in this lifetime. That being said, this is a rhythm game, and who plays rhythm games for the story? You can easily skip these sequences and you won't miss anything important.

What else is there to say? Frederic: RoM is a fantastic experience that should not be missed. There is a sequel called Frederic: Evil Strikes Back, so be sure to check out my review on that game as well. If you enjoy this game, and want to learn more about Chopin, be sure to check out a game called Eternal Sonata, or Trusty Bell depending on your region. You won't be disappointed.

Frederic: Resurrection of Music is a rhythm game in the tone of Guitar Hero, but you play a piano instead. You are the reanimated corpse of the famous composer Frederic Chopin and you travel around the world having musical duels with stereotyped characters and did I mention remixed music?

• Fun Story and Cutscenes - The game features a bit over an hour of cutscenes as you progress through the story and encounter all sorts of musicians. The animations are choppy and the voice acting amateurish, but the end result is fun, enjoyable and very stereotypical. Don't expect this game to be serious, 'cause it's not - and that's great!
  
  
• Great Music! - The most important aspect of a rhythm game is the music, and Frederic doesn't disappoint! There are a total of 12 tracks you can play - 9 story related and 3 bonus. All of them are reinterpretations of the original Chopin's plays, but in contemporaneous styles: electro, reggae, country, R&B, you name it. The sound quality is also superb and the music is very catchy.
  
  
• Complimentary and DRM-Free OST - The game gives you the tracks in the game for free as high bit-rate MP3 files, so you can listen to them anytime, anywhere. A good gesture from the developers! Kudos!
  
  
• Gameplay Choices - The game lets you choose whether to play this game using the keyboard or the touchscreen! That's right! Native touchscreen support for the tablet users who want to be the next virtuoso! For the majority of us who will use the keyboard anyways, it's still very enjoyable, and as a pro-tip from me, change the controls from AWSEDRF to ZSXDCFV. The new spacing of the keys resembles much better with piano keys, so you accidentally press the wrong button much less often.

• Moderate learning curve. - The songs are relatively very easy, and the songs are repeated segments that you will most likely have in muscle memory by your second playthrough. At first, however, it seems really hard, especially with the default controls, but after you play it for a while it will come to you.
  
  
• Level Rating System - I have no idea what the game wants from you when it gives you the stars at the end of the level. I found myself ending up with one star despite having a 98% accuracy.
  
  
• Almost no difference between difficulties - There are four difficulty steps: Too Easy, Normal, Hard, Chopin. The last two have a negligibly small amount of extra notes compared to the others, and the only real difference between them is the number of points you get for hitting the notes and the amount of notes you are allowed to miss, as the harder the difficulty, the more notes it takes to fill the progress bar and the more it will decrease when failing to press a note. On Chopin, you are expected to have a 90-95% hit rate to pass, which is not hard after you get used to it.

This game is a good rhythm game, albeit short, but features original, awesome music and an interesting concept. Recommended for those who like remixes and comedy indie games.

If you enjoyed this review and want to see more of my work, consider joining my group and follow my curator page! Link to the right!

Jad's List - Curator Group

If you like music..

or if you like classical music...
or if you like modern music...
or if you like rhythm games...
or if you like fun games...
or if you like music games...
or if you like great soundtrack...

You've definitely like this game. Because Frederic: Resurrection of Music is one of a kind indie rhythm games on steam, and its featuring remixes from Frederic Chopin composition in many music genres.

For the gameplay, maybe its too hard to play it on normal. Sometimes too easy is hard too. Because of default key setting in keyboard is near impossible to master. So, change the key bind is recommended. I'll manage to play this game in chopin level with A+S+D+F (Left Hand) and I+O+P (Right Hand) without any problem. So, its "easy to learn but hard to master" kind of games.

Anyway, this game is one of my favorite games on steam, especially for the brilliant soundtrack.