I’ve got to be entirely honest, I didn’t know who Ella Stars was before I started playing the game, and I don’t now either, however I did have a fantastic time with its intense rhythmic battles.
Ella Stars feels like an established character in an established world. Perhaps its the artwork or the character design, but it feels as though I’m playing some adaptation of a long-established kid’s cartoon, with the vast soundtrack and level selection being a best-off highlight reel of story arc resolutions.
When it comes to art direction, that’s probably the best thing that can be said for what is, essentially, a stand-alone rhythm-action game. The drums and speakers that you fight, each little creature that represents a beat, is full of charm and excellently crafted; It feels uncanny.
As a rhythm game, Ella Stars is tough out of the gate. Where most games will walk you in with slower melodies or songs that are simply quite tame choruses, here you’ll almost immediately have a screen that’s covered into beats to hit. It’s your standard offerings, with two hit buttons which can be held, hit in an alternating pattern or pressed at the same time, however the Hip Hop & R&B songs are fast, and even on the easiest mode there’s a lot going on.
While both the artwork and music are fantastic, they don’t necessarily mesh well with each other. The beat-heavy soundtrack is fast-paced and fits the combat-style movements, but the enemy/beat artwork feels closer to Cuphead’s zany, rubber hose style. That conflicts with Ella Stars themself, and the villians, who feel as though they’re in a different style. Put this aside, however, and you’ve still got a perfectly serviceable (if difficult right out of the gate) rhythm-action title, and one that’s absolutely flush with original music to play through.
Ella Stars is available now, for PC.
