Just Shapes & Beats truly lives up to its name: in a 2D environment you get to control a shape and dodge pink shapes that take the form of the currently playing background music. But how good does it stand out?

Graphics - 10/10
The title of most honest game title definitely goes to this one. The player 1 shape is a cyan square, and the story happens in a paradise completely filled with... shapes. Some simple, some complex, but they're all shapes. The minimalism helps a lot in defining great character design, and sometimes in a creative manner, whether it's the NPC, allies and even all the musical hazards and bosses you come through.

Sound - 10/10
Since this is a music game, it's perfectly understandable that sound is a very essential factor in its enjoyment. Featuring a vast selection of over 40 pieces of EDM from several independent and lesser known artists, you'll find yourself strolling around blasting the game's soundtrack on your earbuds, because it's tremendously good.

Addictiveness - 5/10
Here's where the game's problems start showing up. If you're in for a completely casual playthrough of the story and completing the tracks in Playlist or Challenge Mode, alone or with other players in couch or online co-op, there seems to be nothing wrong with it. However, when you're aiming for those Rank S (no-damage runs of full tracks), especially with the recently added Hardcore Difficulty, the game starts ruining its purpose of being a music game itself. Even if you can anticipate an obstacle, most of the time in certain tracks that's not enough, because of the presence of a fun-breaker called... RNG. That's right. If you clear a track then go back to the playlist and play it again, you will sometimes notice differences in obstacle positioning, making the game solely based on reaction. It's okay for a game to become pure bullet hell, but not when RNG is added to the mix. Those Rank S are essential for some secret unlockables which show up at the main menu, making the experience completely torturous and not fun enough. This is why nobody tries blindfold running this game, and that's the chance that every music game should optionally offer. A hard song on a game like Guitar Hero or Project Diva might give you a "git gud" moment, but you can gain some sense of progress as you practice long enough. That's not the case for Just Shapes & Beats in Rank S runs.
The only way to preserve the RNG in a track is by pausing and hitting "restart track"... where's the consistency between different play sessions? There's none.

Story - 10/10
Simple game expects simple story, actually written creatively. [SPOILERS] Paradise gets corrupted by The Boss who steals and breaks the Tree of Life and your goal is to restore it. Start off by making brdiges to a nearby island and volcano, fight the Illuminatti, make your way through the caves, face off with a corrupted cactus, get the first tree piece, sail to the factory, go through traps, save your corrupted round square friend, get the second piece, unlock the gates of the tower ruled by The Boss and face him one last time for good. The plot twists that transition each chapter are its most marking moments, along with sort of mini-games where you get to control a boat and a helicopter, also dodging hazards that come to the beat. The finale brings up .exe creepypastas in a good way, exhibiting light gore and yourself being crushed to death before being revived into a super-shape equipped with a weapon that reminds you of the Dubstep Gun from Saints Row 4, in order to kill The Boss for good before finally restoring the Tree of Life [/SPOILERS].

Depth - 7/10
Story is not just what the game offers. After beating it, Challenge Mode offers a selection of 3 randomly-chosen tracks for you to play in sequence (2 standard and 1 boss). Playlist mode lets you play any unlocked track in any order, earning ranks depending on your performance. Finally, there's Party Mode, where the entire playlist is played infinitely until you want to stop, and your player shape is invincible. It would be better off to show just the hazards there, though... Aim for all achievements and Rank S on every track on every difficulty to [SPOILERS] earn party level-ups in the main menu, making it less boring. [/SPOILERS].

Difficulty - 11/10
As a bullet hell, natural difficulty comes, too bad it's the unfair type of hard instead of proper "git gud" type of hard, as mentioned with the problems showcased in the addictiveness section of the review.

Conclusion:
A simple and creative music game which shows up having lots of potential along with a brutal soundtrack, totally wasted because of RNG, making the game fun only for who doesn't give much of a thing about getting themselves perfect in the game, making itself breaking the purpose of being a music game.

Thankfully, the level editor is being worked on, allowing chances at the creation of properly "git gud" type of difficult levels (RNG is optional, thankfully, plus reviewing player levels follows different criteria compared to official content), increasing tremendously the replayability value.

Final Rating: 6/10