Beaterator Review (PSP)

What do you when you want to make a game console more than just a game console? With Nintendo, it just won’t happen. Microsoft is a bit more open, but not by much. Sony’s oddly the best shot, but even then, why? After a brief stint as an free online game, Timbaland saw the potential and contacted developer Rockstar, creators of the online game, and made it from a simple flash game to a full fledged PSP game.

Just so you know, this is no game. This is a music creation program for the PSP that is perhaps the most powerful music generator for its price. It’s no joke, and if you expect to have fun when you’re as tone deaf as my 87 year old neighbor, then you are looking the wrong way.

Beaterator does a number of things to accommodate the unknowing user. First, instructional videos and tutorials are available at every turn. That’s not to say any idiot can figure it out; there is so much that can be done in Beaterator that getting lost is easier than actually achieving anything. I highly recommend going through not only all of the tutorial videos, but also reading the user manual. Huge thanks to Rockstar for pulling through yet again and giving us something useful in the almost-forgotten booklet.

There are three modes of “play” in Beaterator, essentially simple, serious and “I’m the Batman”. Live Play, the simplest form of music creation, has Timbaland playing whatever music you input based on twelve different sounds from twelve different instruments. There is minimal customization, and is meant for making simple songs and tracks; a quick beat, not a finished song.

Once you’ve gotten started, you can transfer your song into the Studio Session, which offers much more customization with the available sounds, gives editing options, and does everything Live Play does but without the extra graphics. It’s there to give your quick beat enough of an edge so that it sounds good, but it’s still very limited.