We all go through weird phases; it’s just a part of growing up.

No worries, you’ll grow out of these nonsensical ways of living in no time…

Recently, I needed a refocusing of sorts, In a “back to basics” approach, as I felt as if I had become off-kilter and not on point. That is one of the big reasons the “Bonding Experience” felt so right, as GoldenEye is such a classic game in its own right, that jumping back into it didn’t feel like a chore at all. Having had almost three decades to ruminate on the title is a definitely a benefit in terms of understanding the subject material of course, so from top to bottom, a great way to go back to something familiar, just to drive home the habituation of a kind of everyday I seem to thrive in.

The eventual flipside to regaining ones mojo is to keep the ball rolling of course, but in my case, I also want to push myself outside of a comfort zone of sorts, so playing the same kind of video games over and over again just feels lacking in growth. One of the problems with writing about games of my own volition, and without some kind of marching orders or financial dictations to restrain me, is that I will inherently have a bias to certain kinds of games, and that those certain kinds of games will probably gain easy favor with me, so there is never much in the way of disagreeable dynamic or controversial push back on titles I normally play, ending up making my work sound like a cacophony of samey, repetitively reinforced, seal of approval derivative nonsense over and over again.

Hence why I ended up trying out the game I’m going to write about today, which launched this month, so quite topical, and that game is called Mixtape, a coming of age nostalgia fest centered around three friends last night together, as they are about to go their separate ways, after enjoying a healthy chunk of their childhood together.



As the name suggests, the game has a heavy emphasis on music, and developer Beethoven & Dinosaur licensed a bunch of real musicians and bands to set the stage musically speaking, as a 4th wall parallel to the adventure to set the stage as the soundtrack for the hi-jinks the friends will get up to. There are likely bands or songs in here you may be familiar with, and likely lots of stuff you aren’t familiar with. Some names include DEVO, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Rainbow, Lush, Joy Division…a nice spread that avoids doing the same old “classic dad rock” kind of nonsense, though since the game is published through Annapurna, the vaguely amorphous but technically helpful label of “indie focused” gives one a sense of the general mood in mind. Everything chosen seems like it was apart of quite the scrutinizing process in terms of pitch perfect implementation, as each track sets the mood for each scene, so the tunes are essential to the DNA of what makes the game tick, and acts as the saving grace lifeblood of Mixtape.

The type of game that Mixtape embodies is one with a narrative heavy focus, so a lot of the crux of how the game plays out ends up being more along the lines of the player enjoying the adventures that the three protagonists end up having, as almost an unseen fourth member, just passively along for the ride. Since it leans into the vibes of a late high school, teenagers in their twilight era right before adulthood tone, with the waning days that represent the bittersweet ending of naive childhood, it follows a lot of the same beats you may be accustomed to involving media with a similar focus. Any one who is a big fan of media like Dazed and Confused, Freaks & Geeks, The Breakfast Club, and to some extent (though skewing slightly younger but with similar feels) The Goonies, Stand By Me and Stranger Things, you’ll feel right at home in feasting on the familiar eats these nostalgia fests represent.

Mixtape has a range of ways they try to mix-up the gameplay, as due to being a narratively focused experience, you are mostly stuck at a certain pace, in tightly restricted areas, so the go to gameplay mechanics are extraordinarily minimal, with the player mostly treated to some light wandering around from a third person perspective, that is, in-between the larger than life set pieces that the flashbacks
represent.



Mixtape does try to vary the ways you will interact with the three friends as their adventures play out through these flashbacks, as the title attempts to mix-up the gameplay itself, through basic methodologies of interaction. The game starts with a downhill free ride on a skateboard, eventually segueing into a rock out fest in a car (ala Wayne’s World) with a rhythm based QTE sequence, followed up with some more over the top magical realism in a different flashback via a chase sequence, that ends up making the youthful adventures seem larger than life, and sets the precedent of shockingly endeavourous energy with how the story plays out. For a game that feels like its taking a page out of Wes Anderson’s style to suit their own game, there are a surprisingly epic number of moments that happen throughout, helping to make distinct what is normally a lowkey, offbeat, whimsical melancholy that aestheticizes the whole adventure. As an aside, though an important note of interest, Mixtape does share a similar visual style with Enter the Spiderverse, which I felt gives it a lot of points in the style department that deserved mentioned.

Since the game is all about the story, the minute to minute is quite dialogue heavy, as your three cohorts will be endlessly bantering throughout the run time. The voice acting feels natural, as does the writing itself, with all of the interactions feeling natural and down to earth. The whole focus on tone is definitely one that is suppose to invoke a feel good atmosphere, and remind one of convos they may have similarly had with their friends growing up. Since these are a band of rebellious teens, they are still focused on similar basics similarly focused media usually entails: drinking, smoking, dating, the whole nine. It only feels derivative in the sense that well…a lot of childhoods have a lot of commonality, so when concocting a relatable story, you’ll have a lot of similarities running up against each other, so Mixtape may almost feel too familiar to some? But again, I’m not sure if the paradox of creating an originally relatable coming of age story can ever stray too far off a beaten path, and still speak to its target demographic. An interesting ouroboros of creativity of sorts, to be sure.

Since Mixtape is such a tightly focused story based game, everything feels quite polished, as due to its nature of having the scenes play out in a controlled fashion, there isn’t a whole lot of room for things to go wrong, as the player is stuck on a set narrative path. I can see this definitely creating an antsyness within more traditionally focused players, as the game is non-traditional in its premise, so one won’t have to worry about getting the hang of a combat system, understanding skill trees, learning move sets for themselves or how to counter enemy AI, nor exploring a big open world and finding collectibles to unlock new gear or abilities. Though the game has magical realism to it, Mixtape is very much rooted in the ideas of kids being kids: making jokes, being awkward, going to parties…the adventures are the hijinks, with the gameplay being extremely minimalistic interactivity; music to the ears of gamers who enjoy character and story, but what may end up being a jarring discordance for any gamer with a more classic template of game design in mind.

I’m not sure how long the game is, but I’m guessing it is a more bite sized adventure than most, which means I may finish it sooner than other games I’ve played in recent days. I’ll give you an update on how Mixtape plays out, and my eventual final thoughts upon completion.

-Pashford