Sound Shapes review: pet sounds

In fact, every piece of music is good or better, and each level is so well suited to the music — again, particularly in the Beck levels — that Sound Shapes builds into a very particularly engaging musical experience.

I have a hard time imagining someone not enjoying the campaign, but I could understand wanting more. Sound Shapes stops short of the masochistic life-grind that other platformers aspire to, and while that does make for a more consistently pleasant game, it never quite reaches the intersecting nirvana of technique and perfect timing that a Mario or Super Meat Boy does. And, for those who want more from the campaign, the leaderboard integration is the only place you're likely to find it. Finishing the campaign does unlock "Death Mode," a set of challenges for each level. But these depart from the musically motivated main levels and emphasize twitch platforming, which feel at odds with Sound Shapes intent.

For the more creatively minded at least, the included creation suite is one part level editor and one part music sequencer. At the time of this writing, there is already a fair amount of new levels for players to check out, and I expect that the musical nature of Sound Shapes' editor will be the impetus for thousands of new tracks. That said, the initially simple interface of the creation tool quickly gives way to some very complicated concepts of both level design and music theory, and after completing the campaign, there are hundreds of tools and pieces unlocked.