Cosmic DJ Review

Cosmic DJ is a musical adventure and creation game developed by Gl33k, and published by Devolver Digital. Cosmic DJ originally hit Steam as an Early Access title, and graduated to a full release on Steam on October 30th, 2014. Cosmic DJ is available on PC and iOS powered devices.

In Cosmic DJ, players embark on an epic musical journey to reunite band members and repair the broken “Jamtennas” around the galaxy. Using “THE POWER OF MUUUUSIC“, players must create their very own songs to inspire change in the universe. Players have access to dozens of unique instruments that may be used to craft a jam worthy of rocking all of space and time.

Players have the option of inputting their notes using either a tap sequencer using the ZXCV keys, or by using a grid sequencer with simple mouse clicks. These vastly different styles of input should appeal to both novices and master musicians alike. Cosmic DJ’s songs consist of a few campaign segments, each split into 8 tiny sections for players to create music from. Using the grid sequencer, notes can be assigned to different sections for each instrument. As players go through the campaign, these segments will eventually combine into a complete player-made song that may then be exported to .mp3.

What makes Cosmic DJ so different from other music games is that it never takes itself entirely seriously. Everything about Cosmic DJ seems to exist on this fun-first design style that just makes the game so enjoyable. An great example of this is an early mission segment where you must inspire a former band member, now a “space juice” bartender, to rejoin the band by creating an epic jam that includes a space juice cocktail shaker as an instrument. The out-of-this-world instrument choices, not to mention the completely insane storyline behind the game, combine to make a game that feels so different from whatever you’ve been playing before this.

What really impressed me with Cosmic DJ was its focus on fun music creation. After players go through the campaign, or using the quick play option, the songs they create may be given an in-game album cover and then exported to .mp3 file. The cover and metadata embedding for the song is handled entirely by the game, at which point players may then upload to services such as YouTube and SoundCloud. Cosmic DJ’s developers designed the game with this interaction in mind, and in today’s era of strict copyright protection, that’s awesome.

In the past decade or so, music games have gained in popularity and inspired countless gamer’s lives. From the fat melting aerobic exercise of Dance Dance Revolution, to the almost learning to play a real instrument style of Guitar Hero, music games have transformed the way we play games. The truth is though, not all music games have to be this life-changing experience that leaves you a better person. Cosmic DJ will not make you thin and sexy, nor will it even try teach you how to play guitar. What Cosmic DJ will do is provide you with an epic musical adventure that you’ll never forget.

Summary: A game design that focuses on fun makes Cosmic DJ one of the most unique music games you’ll ever play. Simplistic music creation tools and dozens of quirky instruments should provide hours of entertainment.