Harmonix Announces Chroma, a "Music-Driven First-Person Shooter"

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
Harmonix Announces Chroma, a "Music-Driven First-Person Shooter"

Chroma is what happens when the studio that gave us Guitar Hero and Rock Band makes a first-person shooter.

Harmonix Music Systems has announced its next big thing, and it's a shooter! That's right, a shooter, an FPS, the kind of thing that typically involves burly men and evil aliens and guns and explosions and good times all around. Not necessarily the sort of game you'd expect from a studio best known for turning millions of people into pretend musicians, but this doesn't look like an entirely conventional shooter, either.

Chroma is a class-based online shooter that puts you into the fight as a Fader, a "musical icon of the future," where music is your weapon and sound is your arsenal. What does that mean? No idea, and Harmonix doesn't seem too concerned about clearing it up at this early stage, but different weapon loadouts will produce different sound and effects that will "reflect your musical tastes and personal style" as you go into combat - a Motorhead versus Mozart type of thing, perhaps.

Players will also have to contend with shifting terrain as they battle for control of the Signal, as the landscape changes during "major musical moments," throwing up cover, sniper platforms and other strategic elements in time with the music.

Chroma will be free-to-play, which I know won't excite the pants off of everyone, but Harmonix insists that it won't be "pay-to-win," and that all players will be able to enjoy a "fun and fair experience." We'll see how that works once the game launches; in the meantime, there's a reasonably cool teaser you can enjoy and a closed alpha you can sign up for at playchroma.com [http://www.playchroma.com/]. Chroma is slated to hit Steam later this year.

Source: Harmonix [http://www.harmonixmusic.com/games/#chroma]


Permalink
 

Alpha Maeko

Uh oh, better get Maeko!
Apr 14, 2010
573
0
0
A combat experience that flows with the music?

Sounds like you're basically creating your own music video with each fight.
 

Ignatz_Zwakh

New member
Sep 3, 2010
1,408
0
0
I really really REALLY hope you get to implement music files for bands you like with this thing as opposed to a pre-set OST.
 

CriticalMiss

New member
Jan 18, 2013
2,024
0
0
Obnoxious trailer dubstep strikes again! Not really the best first impression, to me at least. I'm interested to see how music is used as a weapon, whether it will be somehow similar to Magicka (have a number of vague music-y things that combine to create shots with different effects) or if it will just be guns what does make musics. Although if they are still attached to EA then I won't be playing it anyway.
 

shiajun

New member
Jun 12, 2008
578
0
0
So it's Rez coupled with Audiosurf, then adding some class system in there, sort of? Sounds interesting, though I would surely like more info before deciding it's interesting or just some meh thing. I do have a doubt though. How can the landscape be molded to music in real time if everyone's weapons use different music for their playstyle? Which track will it be based on? It all speaks to preset music in the game, which kind of dampens that whole "personal musical taste" bit.
 

Arqus_Zed

New member
Aug 12, 2009
1,181
0
0
Harmonix lost me when the entered the "peripheral"-scene.
I loved Frequency and Amplitude, but I quit as soon as the age of Guitar Hero started.

The concept sounds interesting, but the free-to-play is a huge turn-off for me - and I really need to see some gameplay before I can get exited about it.
 

AliasBot

New member
Jun 14, 2013
118
0
0
So long as they're genuine about the "free-to-play isn't pay-to-win" thing, and it would just be used for different sounds or instruments or the like (so just cosmetic stuff), this looks like a game I can't wait to try out. If the musical aspect/keeping in rhythm is actually an important part of gameplay, it might actually put me and my decidedly less FPS-capable rhythm-gamer friend on relatively equal footing. More than that, it looks like it could be a game we both actually want to play. Need to remember to grab this when the beta goes up.
 

Alarien

New member
Feb 9, 2010
441
0
0
Harmonix started struggling the moment that another company, in this case Ubisoft (Rocksmith) started to take their idea and turn it into something practical. I like Harmonix, but they've pretty much lost the war that they started.

That said, if this doesn't come with a Trance Vibrator, screw it. Not interested. I still have Rez.
 
Aug 1, 2010
2,768
0
0
This sounds completely awesome.

I was never big into the whole Rhythm genre, but adding shooting and The Matrix seems like a great way to liven it up.

Also, I'm probably late but I'll say it anyway so I can say I totally called it later one: inb4 whining about the female costume.
 

windlenot

Archeoastronomist
Mar 27, 2011
329
0
0
I'm confident in Harmonix for the reason that they've succeeded in what they set out to do, no matter how strange or unmapped the genre was. Amplitude was great, Guitar Hero 1 & 2 were great, Rock Band is my favorite franchise of all time, and I even enjoyed Dance Central. This seems like a really weird concept, but I have faith in this based on their successes.