Noise Canceler is a two-button and two-lane rhythm action game that follows the plight of multiple characters as they experience a new technology in their ears. Each character owns and wears A-Pods (can’t possibly guess where the inspiration for that name came from) and the earbuds and is meant to create music to match the wearer’s emotion. The tech is in beta testing, so it causes glitches during playtime, and this sets up a curious and fascinating rhythm action game.
When playing a song in Noise Canceler, you’ll be using the F and J buttons on your keyboard for the left and right ear, respectively. Each song lasts a couple of minutes and will initially either start off with two lanes coming from the edge of the screen into the centre to hit the earphones, or you’ll have two rows of notes travelling horizontally for you to tap away to. The base difficulty isn’t too taxing, as you’ll have hold buttons and quick-fire juggles to deal with. Where Noise Canceler deviates from the norm is with the stereo glitching of the earphones. Sometimes one ear will crash, so you’ll only hear music from one side, and the notes will follow. Sometimes the A-pods flip between bud mode and docked mode, moving the UI around the screen at awkward times. Characters sometimes share earbuds and so you’ll only hear one side of the music and need to hit one side of the beat track. For one character, you’ll be told one ear’s pattern before it vanishes and you’ll need to repeat it back. All these ideas play into stereo sound design, and it’s why I recommend playing this game with headphones on. The added audio cues and switch-ups help keep you in the rhythm of the game. It’s ultimately the glitches that make Noise Canceler tricky at times to earn a perfect S rank clearance, and that’s where melody and pattern recognition will help.
Whilst this all plays out, cute pixel stories play out on the screen for the different characters you are following. Each one has a preferred music genre, and you’ll get a few songs based around that, usually culminating in a vocal-based finale for their chapter in the story. This allows for a wide range of music to be included. One character likes rock, another hip-hop, and another J-Pop. It keeps things interesting, and the visuals change up for each character, too. As the game is launching into early access, I’ve not played the full release, but from the 14 songs and 4 chapters included at launch, I’m very pleased with the gameplay loop and positive about its future additions. My only minor complaint is that sometimes, when the UI changes around the screen, it’s at the most awkward moment that causes you mild panic as you try to realign yourself to the new position and speed of the chart. I’ve gotten better at it over time, and I’m sure it’ll just be part of the gameplay quirks in the long term. Just know it’ll take some getting used to!
Noise Canceler is a great addition to the music and rhythm action genre. With some sensitive storytelling about emotion and music (it’s not deep, but it does a good job in the few screens of story you get pre/post each song), a variety of music, and well-synchronised rhythm charts to tackle, this is suited for new and experienced music gamers. It might look unassuming, but it packs a memorable punch.
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