I remember the golden age of Guitar Hero when plastic peripherals ruled the gaming space, and Guitar Hero III was common in living rooms across the world. That heyday is long since passed and arcade guitar games have been dormant, despite attempts to revive them. LOUD, developed by HyperStrange, is one smaller effort to bring back game-based riffing.
LOUD follows the story of Astrid from her first steps learning guitar through to performing in front of crowds. To be fair, the story is merely a device to unlock new songs, guitars, and outfits. The plot is rather basic and predictable with Astrid being the sole focus. There are other characters mentioned but they hardly have any screen time, and some narrative beats lack impact because the characters were only in two previous scenes. There are fourteen levels in total with each one ramping up the skill required to pass. The game has three difficulty levels to start with, with Chillin’, Skillin’ and Grindin’, basically your easy, medium, and hard. However, to unlock the toughest Grindin’ difficulty you need to get an S rank on the Skillin’ difficulty which is a lot easier said than done.
Playing LOUD on Switch the control scheme is simple enough to follow. There are six tracks on scene with each corresponding to a button. On the left hand side the three tracks are mapped to three of the directional buttons, while on the right the three tracks are mapped to the X, A, and B buttons. Along these tracks stars will flow and you have to press the right button when that star reaches the end of the track. On the lower level the speed is easy enough to keep up with but on Skillin’, especially on later songs, your reaction times are truly tested. The Liberator difficulty, the fourth and final one, that unlocks at the end reminded me of trying to play Dragonforce’s Through The Fire and Flames on Guitar Hero on the top difficulty.
The songs are unique compositions for LOUD with the influence being the indie, pop punk, and emo music scene of the early to mid 00’s. A scene I know all too well. Across the board the songs are decent and have a mix of rhythm from slower jams to fast paced solos. On top of pressing the buttons as the stars flow there are other types of notes. There are long notes where you hold the button down while, at least on Switch, flicking the analog sticks to mimic a whammy bar. Another note is for mashing which means pressing a button as fast as possible. As you build streaks the multiplier will increase so you can build up your points. However, miss enough notes and you will earn a strike. If you get three strikes then the song will end.
Graphically, LOUD is decent. When playing Astrid will look at the buttons that you are pressing which also changes her pose while holding the guitar. There are four locations to play at from a bedroom to a bar. However, the majority of your attention will be drawn to the notes as they come down the tracks as you attempt to become a guitar legend. LOUD has replayability value if you are aiming to get an S rank on every level. If you want to do one run then LOUD lasts around  three hours on the easy and medium difficulties.
