停不下來的《音樂節奏》
Smartphone apps are a dime a dozen. Each day, dozens premiere on app Stores worldwide, and by the next week, only a handful haven’t been left to collect dust in user’s app drawers. But an exception does exist — Cytus (《音樂節奏》), a cell phone game created by Taiwan-based company Rayark, has remained in the top three on the App Store for more than two years. How has it managed to do so, especially in a fluid industry where people constantly crave new thrills? Let’s check out the app to find out.
智能手機APP如今已多如牛毛。在全球APP商店裏，每天都有一堆新鮮APP上架，但是一週之後，其中的大部分都會被遺忘, 塵封在用戶收藏應用文件夾的“抽屜”裏。不過，其中一款APP卻出乎意料的“長壽”。這款名爲《音樂節奏》的手機遊戲由一家總部位於臺灣的公司Rayark開發設計。迄今爲止，它高居APP商店前三甲的位置已超過兩年之久。在這個人人不斷尋找新刺激的不斷變化的行業裏，這款APP到底是如何做到“長盛不衰”的呢？讓我們一探究竟！
If you’re familiar with Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, then you should be no stranger to Cytus’ gameplay mechanisms. However, there are a few twists in this rhythm game. With most music games, the notes usually scroll toward a designated area where you must tap the notes in time. Cytus instead has a scan line traveling up and down the screen to match the tempo of the music. When the line passes through gray circular touch points, which gradually expand, flushing with color as they become active, you need to tap them or hold your finger down for longer notes. Occasionally you’ll be asked to follow a diagonal line of circles, dragging your digit through them as the line rises or falls.
如果你熟悉《舞蹈革命》、《吉他英雄》，那麼《音樂節奏》的遊戲機制你也一定不會陌生。只是這款節奏軟件有幾處不同之處。在多數音樂遊戲中，音符一般在固定的區域內滾動，你只要適時點擊音符即可。但在《音樂節奏》中，有一條掃描線在整個屏幕中上下移動，以匹配音樂的節奏。當掃描線經過不斷變大的灰色音符的圓心時，音符被激活變紅，此時你需要點擊音符或是長按後底部的音符不鬆開（直到該音符結束）。有時，你還要根據節奏的起伏，將帶箭頭的音符滑塊沿着斜線和圓點組成的路徑上下拖動。These twists aren’t what really make Cytus stand out. What matters the most is the core of the game — the music. Cytus consists of 90 free songs ranging from techno to J-pop. And as androidap points out, “Cytus is like the Billboard’s Top 50 of J-pop”.
不過這些新特點並不是讓《音樂節奏》脫穎而出的真正原因。它成功的關鍵在於所用的音樂。《音樂節奏》囊括了90首免費歌曲，從電子舞曲到日本流行音樂應有盡有。正如androidap網站所言，“《音樂節奏》就像日本流行音樂‘公告牌50強榜單’ (《公告牌》是創辦於1894年的美國音樂雜誌，以發佈各類音樂排行榜而聞名)。”
According to developer Rayark, high quality original records were contributed by the likes of Japanese video game music composer Tsukasa Masuko and Japanese music producer naotyu- (full name Naoki Chiba).
該遊戲的開發商Rayark表示，這款遊戲中的高質量原創曲目都出自如日本電子遊戲音樂作曲家増子司、日本音樂製作人千葉直樹等人之手。And even if J-pop is not your cup of tea, you can fully appreciate Cytus, because the songs themselves are energetic and well suited to this kind of game.
就算你對日本流行音樂並不感冒，《音樂節奏》一樣可以讓你沉浸其中，因爲它的歌曲都充滿活力，十分適合此類遊戲。
