Ever watched a pigeon as it walks along the ground, bopping its head as it searches for little crumb morsels left behind? Ever wondered what goes through its little mind as it goes about its daily business? No? Well, neither have I, but after playing Headbangers Rhythm Royale, I certainly won’t be just looking at them now. I will be giggling internally with childish glee and a smile on my face thanks to developer Glee-Cheese Studio, and publisher, Team 17.

Headbangers Rhythm Royale has you playing as a pigeon who wants to become the master headbanger of all time. To do this, you must pit your headbanging skills against other pigeons with the same dream in a rhythm party game that will have you competing in minigames, and they’re all simple enough. Just press the associated button with the command on the screen, but as it is a rhythm game, the sound is very important, alongside the visual queues.

If you are tone-deaf and/or lack rhythm, you are, unfortunately, not going to have fun with Headbangers Rhythm Royale. When first entering Headbangers Rhythm Royale, you have access to six pages. The first is the home page where you can begin to play and find your friends.

Next is the progress page, where you can see the season’s rewards for earning experience points, earned by just playing minigames or from bonus rewards while playing minigames.

The third page is the challenges page. Here you will find unique costumes to unlock by completing tasks while playing the minigames, ranging from simple things like playing minigames and purchasing items from the shop to more complex tasks, like getting a certain score in a specific minigame.

Next is the customisation page, where you will be able to kit out your pigeon. The diversity of changes you can make, plus the sheer volume of available items is staggering. From full outfits to customising key parts of your pigeon, you will be able to make your pigeon unique to everyone else’s.

Page five is the shop, where you can spend the game’s currency known as crumbs. Your crumbs will allow you to purchase any number of cosmetic upgrades for your pigeon, and these are earned like experience points. It’s as easy as playing minigames, and bonus rewards will also award additional crumbs as well. Finally, there is the settings page where you will be able to do all the standard things to optimise your game.

Being a party game, you will need players to get started. Thirty players will fill an entire lobby, and cross-play is available, so filling the lobby is not too hard. Don’t worry if there aren’t enough players to fill an entire lobby though. Once the timer counts down to zero, the game will commence and any unfilled spots will be taken up with bots, and you’ll need to complete four rounds to become the master headbanger.

Rounds one and two will eliminate ten players each, while round three will eliminate five players, leaving the final five for the last round. Each round will randomly generate a minigame from its pool of minigames for you to play, but even with a large pool of minigames, they all play primarily the same – watch the on-screen command and copy it by pressing the corresponding button.

Having a good ear for sound will certainly give you an edge, as noise identification and rhythm are a must to get into those top spots, but unfortunately, due to the similar nature of the minigames, it can get repetitive.

As you compete in the minigames other activities will also vie for your attention. These activities are very simple, but they’re distracting enough to cause a case of patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time type shenanigans.

These activities can be ignored, but you will miss out on bonuses like additional experience points and crumbs. It’s not all good things as there is also the risk of getting a hindrance, so there is very much a risk versus reward scenario.

Headbangers Rhythm Royale is bright and colourful with a strong cartoony style, very fitting for the party game genre. The displays are also clear, making it easy to visually identify the prompts during gameplay.

It is no surprise that the audio is fantastic. Music and sound effects are clear and concise, as to be expected for a rhythm game.

With everything you’d expect from a rhythm-based party game, Headbangers Rhythm Royale was an absolute delight to play. Supporting cross play with up to thirty players, bright and colourful graphics, and simple gameplay, it’s quick and easy to jump into a session to unwind.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove