Mash together Space Invaders, Geometry Wars and Guitar Hero; what you get is Symphony by Empty Clip Studios. The premise is simple; alien invaders are attacking your music and it is up to you to save it by controlling a spaceship and destroying anything that stands in your way. The game allows players to add in their own music libraries, by doing so it also enables greater weapon unlocks for the spaceship once a song is completed.

The game is enjoyable, but a bit too simplistic in its approach. Mastering it at even minimal difficulties can be a bit daunting for some players. Symphony feels a bit repetitive at times but for those who like a challenge they will be greeted with constantly trying not to get blown up and achieving high scores while upgrading their spaceship for optimal performance. The game also plays on the beat of your song selection. If your song picks up tempo then so do your enemies; so anyone who is into heavy metal or hip hop (Gangnam Style almost killed me) may be in for a shocker that their index finger is about to fall off!

Graphically Symphony is a series of polygons that fly around with some amazing lighting. While this may seem simple, it works well for this style of game; however it does become difficult to tell what is attacking your ship once the screen becomes littered with enemies.

Overall Symphony is a simplistic and addictively fun game that almost anyone will enjoy as a time waster more than an epic gaming adventure. Those looking for nostalgic arcade challenges will also find Symphony enjoyable; it takes the best parts of games like Space Invaders or Centipede and incorporates them for a more modern feeling experience that is sure to satisfy.


Accessibility Review.
Symphony does nothing to add, redefine or even assist in accessibility. It is lacking many features to aid disabled gamers in enjoying this tittle.

Mobility-2
The game can be played with the mouse only, no other options exist. The game does use only one button which is nice, but the precision and speed needed to press this one button while navigating your ship is very difficult for anybody with mobility issues. The game does have an in game slider for mouse sensitivity.

Visual- 1
Lots of greens and reds will light up the screen with no option for a color blind mode. Not being able to see enemies properly or see the visual cues of enemies speeding up or slowing down will severely hinder gameplay.

Hearing- 3
Symphony is playable without sound; although much of its appeal will be lost because of the emphasis it puts on music and the ability for players to add their own songs. Some of the audio cues and capability to play on the beat of a song to get higher scores will also be lost. If not color blind the visual cues of enemies speeding up and slowing down will help those with hearing impairments and the cut scenes do include subtitles.