Back on October 4, 2019, I reviewed Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams. A portal of sorts that allows you to embrace positivity, emotions, and magical places. A world of no violence, but different worlds of personality and showing that it was not about the destination, but about the journey of getting there. A way for our dreams to show us the interpretation of our own subconscious. But does Developer Frost Earth Studio add to the experience with their newest DLC for Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams? Let’s find out with Brain Beats for the PlayStation VR.
Brain Beats is a musical VR game driven by rhythm and is by the same psychophysical wellness professionals that brought the experience of Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams. At first glance, it may have a familiar look to it, but it’s the approach that it goes about it is interesting. Here, you are given the opportunity to either deal with your stress before experience the Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams experience. Sometimes, depending on how our day starts, goes and ends, our stress levels can be all over the place. Some may have this built-up stress that just needs to get out and some may just have a tiny bit that might do ok with it staying inside or just needs something to help give the mind the mental break it needs at times. This is where Brain Beats comes into play. So as with any activity, you will want to start with the tutorial as it will show you how to interact with the globes that come at you to the beat of the music.
So now that you have gone through the tutorial, it is time to decide on which of the modes matches your stress level and select a song from the list. The three different modes are Relaxed, Energy, and Adrenaline. Relaxed of course, will have more relaxing songs where the pace is slow and relaxed. Energy steps up the type of songs along with faster globes coming at you, and Adrenaline as you can imagine comes at you with high beats of songs with faster globes heading your way. There are a total of 27 music tracks included that you are sure to find some songs and modes to match how you are feeling.
Playing Brain Beats is really quite simple. Touch your blue hand to the blue globes and your red hand to the red globes, certain globes will require both hands, and then you have blocks that you will need to hit with swords by squeezing the triggers on the Move controllers (which is a really cool concept) as well as some objects that you will want to avoid. That’s really it. To your left, you have your score along with any combos you made. Getting into the different modes, you will start to have where the globes and blocks will switch, making you aware that your focus needs to be, well, more focused. But, one thing I will say here is that your experience with each song that you try to repeat will generate different patterns. So if you are the type that can remember how it was the first time, playing the song again, very well could result in different patterns which is not a bad thing and keep the expectations somewhat unexpected and that is something that can be appreciated.
After each song, you can see your high score, best combo, how long you played and even your calories that you burned. Along with everything presented, you can even make your own play list and even plans for more tracks that will be added in future DLC. Music wise, the songs do match the modes and playing the Relaxed mode did feel relaxing and the Energy mode did get me going, but the Adrenaline mode is just that, full of adrenaline. So if you are the type of person that feels like they might be really stressed, it might be a good idea to start with the Adrenaline mode and then work your way to relaxed or perhaps you are the type with little to no stress at the time, like I was, then I found that starting with the Relaxed mode and working my way up worked best.
There are some things that I would have love to see added. For one, I would love to see different back grounds into the mix based on the modes. Right now, it’s the same background that changes color based on the mode. If there was a way to incorporate our own pictures as a way to add to the modes just might be something to think about. And secondhe songs. I appreciate the 27 songs that are here. Some of the songs, I played over and over just because I liked them. But whet if we could use our own music. Just put our own songs on a usb drive and be able to add those songs to make our own play list would be a great added feature.
Sometimes we are eager to get to the destination, but it’s the journey to get to the destinations that really is important. It takes the appreciation of how and why we get to where we need to go as well as finding out new ways to deal with the challenges in our lives, no matter how relaxed, energized or full of adrenaline they may be. It’s how we deal with them and how we try to not let them affect us or the ones around us. Because with all that is going on, couldn’t we all use more of a stress free life?
Brain Beats is out now as well as the Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams and Brain Beats Bundle on PlayStation VR. A review code was provided.
To learn more about Frost Earth Studio, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I am going to work on being more stress free, make bigger combos, and relax with my dreams.
