Launch Station: Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure

Another week, another rhythm game for the 3DS.  Last week saw the release of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy from Square Enix, this week sees Sega's offering in Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure.  It seems in the dead of summer, the 3DS is getting some love with a good stream of quality games coming out.  Well it is a good time to be a 3DS owner then as there will be a new game to look forward to almost every week this month.

Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure is a first -and-foremost a rhythm game with puzzle and adventure elements mixed in.  In Rhythm Thief, you play as Raphael, also known as illusive art thief Phantom R.  Raphael is searching for the whereabouts of his father, who went missing a few years ago.  During Raphael's adventures, he runs into a mysterious girl known as Marie and a seemingly resurrected Napoleon Boneparte, who is trying to take over Paris.  The bulk of the story mode has you going from level to level playing a series of rhythm games.  Each and every level in the game has a different rhythm mechanic that uses each part of the 3DS (touch screen, d-pad, face buttons and gyro) to the best of it's abilities.  For Sega aficionados, Rhythm Thief features parodies of past Sega rhythm games such as Space Channel 5 and Samba de Amigo hidden throughout the game.   Outside of the rhythm game based levels, you are able to travel to various areas in Paris, talk to NPCs, solve puzzles to advance the story, find hidden rhythm games and story branches and use the medals you earn by completing levels to buy mini-games and movie clips from the shop.  Rhythm Thief also features a multi-player mode where you can take on friends in a variety of rhythm challenges and StreetPass functionality that has you challenging the people you StreetPass to beat your high scores and vice versa.

It is great to see for the entire month of July the 3DS release schedule is dominated by third-party games.  Nintendo makes some of the best games on their systems, but the third-party support is what will makes or breaks any system.  So it is nice to see Nintendo step back for the month of July and let other companies take the spotlight on the 3DS.  Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure has been on my radar for awhile.  Everything I have seen and read about the game looks very unique and a lot of fun.  If you want to see for yourself, try the demo on the Nintendo eShop.  It does take a few tries to get use to each levels control scheme, but once you figure out the rhythm the game is a lot of fun.  While I do not plan to pick up Rhythm Thief right away, it is a game that I will eventually pick-up for the 3DS in the near future.  For those looking for another good rhythm game for the 3DS to go along with Theatrhythm, you should definitely considering picking up Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure.