The Quixotic Engineer

What do the Nintendo DS and Looney Tunes have in common? They both have a well-deserved reputation for shovelware. Since dozens of mediocre licensed titles come out every week, it’s no surprise that this one managed to skip the endless cycle of previews that plagues games journalism today. It didn’t feature any bold new mechanics, and garnered an unremarkable average review score of about 67. Heck, I wasn’t even aware of its existence until Skrud suggested I check it out. However, if you enjoy rhythm games, this is a game that is definitely worth your time.

Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor is a blatant Elite Beat Agents clone. Like EBA, there are notes on the bottom screen that must be pressed with the stylus in time with the music. It also splits up section of the song with a cartoon narrative, in this case featuring the familiar cast of Looney Tunes.

However, it’s what Cartoon Conductor does differently that make it truly remarkable. The most important distinction is that, like the Looney Tunes cartoon, the game only features public domain classical music. EBA may have Bowie and Freddie, but this game lets you rock out to Wagner, Beethoven and Bach. What’s great about this is that you’ll instantly recognize every single one of the songs, they’re burned into our collective unconscious from movies and television.

You may now be thinking to yourself that EBA’s drum-like style of play, while ideally suited to 4/4 pop songs, may not mesh well with symphony music. The designers had this in mind and tweaked the gameplay accordingly. Instead of dancing to the music, you lead the orchestra as the titular conductor. Rather than strike each note, you press the first note of the series and glide the stylus to the next in time with the music. This makes sense physically, as each series corresponds to one directing arm movement. They mix things up occasionally with a Guitar Hero-style cascade of falling notes, which must be pressed when they line up with circles at the bottom of the screen.

The designers commendably applied the paradigm of being the conductor to every aspect of gameplay. For instance, at the beginning of each song you are requested to tap the screen thrice, just as a conductor would tap the score with their baton (thank you Wikipedia for the terminology.) Unlike the Guitar Hero series, where a missed note results in silence or harsh feedback, messing up in Cartoon Conductor causes the orchestra to hit the note off-key. This is a really interesting response mechanic, one that I hope future rhythm game designers pay attention to.

For a licensed DS title, Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor has a surprising amount of polish and depth. If you’re a fan of rhythm games, especially Elite Beat Agents, I highly recommend checking it out. Furthermore, it’s easy to find (having only been released in June) and comes at a budget price ($20.)

I plan to make Hidden Gems a regular segment at the Quixotic Engineer, so expect to see more great overlooked titles profiled in the future.