Tag: video game review

The first part of this review is free from major story spoilers for Mixtape. The end of the spoiler-free section is clearly marked.

I’d really been looking forward to Mixtape. The game’s trailer looked great, I liked the art style, and I’m generally a fan of narrative adventure titles. But what appealed to me the most about Mixtape was the game’s ’90s setting and its promise of an eclectic soundtrack featuring some of my favourite bands and some of the era’s best-remembered hits. I was ready for a nostalgic punch to the gut, and Mixtape delivered.

I always try to approach any title that I’m reviewing without having read or listened to any other critics’ opinions – I fear that doing so risks colouring how I approach any piece of media. But the maelstrom that Mixtape got caught up in a couple of months back proved inescapable, and some of the criticism of the game’s perceived “lack of interactivity” and status as a so-called “walking simulator” did cut through.

I’ll level with you: that line of criticism is valid – but only if you think that a game *needs* non-stop button-pressing and complicated combos to be fun. Mixtape is a game I would categorise as a “narrative adventure;” as the player, you follow a very linear story featuring three main characters, and you play through a series of connected levels, quick-time events, and mini-games – the interactivity levels of which do vary. If you’re a player who wants to be constantly challenged by difficult gameplay, and your reason for picking up a control pad is to “git gud” at a complex title that requires a lot of either button-mashing or complicated combos… perhaps you’ll bounce off Mixtape quite early on. Even if the story might be something you’d vibe with, I’d understand if the gameplay – or, let’s be blunt, the *lack* of gameplay – would turn you off.

However, that wasn’t my take on Mixtape, and I had a genuinely fantastic time with this game.

I’ve said this before here on the website when discussing other titles, but I’m someone who’ll happily play through basic, bog-standard gameplay if I’m caught up in a story. Not only does Mixtape have a truly compelling narrative, but I also really liked its animated, almost stop-motion art style; I found its main characters incredibly relatable, and gosh, does the game have a *fantastic* soundtrack!

So there’s that important caveat: if you hate “interactive movies” or “walking simulators,” and you want a game that offers more interactivity than mini-games, QTEs, and a bit of environmental exploration, Mixtape might not be for you. It might still be for you, though, if you’re after a game with great characters, a relatable narrative, an incredible soundtrack, and a nostalgia overload for players of a certain age – or players who *wish* they lived through that mid-90s era. This game isn’t going to be for everyone, I suspect, which is probably why opinions are split! But if you’re the kind of person with whom the story connects, and if this slower-paced narrative adventure is your style of game? I think there’s a *lot* to love in Mixtape.

I’d go so far as to put Mixtape on my list of contenders for the coveted “Game of the Year” title at the annual Trekking with Dennis End-of-Year Awards!

I would give one caveat, though, about the story Mixtape tells. This is a story about teenage characters having “one last hurrah” before finishing school and going their separate ways. It leans into tropes of the genre that you’ll have seen in dozens of films, not only from the ’80s and ’90s, but really in any coming-of-age title from the last forty-some years. When you stack up an objectively low-stakes story with some melodramatic teenagers… well, you’ll either feel that whack of nostalgia and remember your own schooldays – as I did – or maybe you’ll cringe!

For me, these characters and their stories genuinely hit close to home. We’ll get into more detail about that if you stick with me to the spoiler-ific part of the review, but suffice to say that I think each of them represents not only a character archetype from this kind of coming-of-age story, but a truly relatable part of a teenage experience that a lot of us will share. There were moments in Mixtape that, I’m sure, are curiously American – and as a Brit, I wouldn’t get all of that. But there were plenty of things that reminded me very strongly of my own youth, my own schooldays, and my own “last hurrah” with friends as we parted ways, knowing it would be for the last time.

In that sense, Mixtape really did hit all of those nostalgic notes; its story is genuinely bittersweet. I don’t think I was quite expecting it to resonate with me quite so strongly or quite so emotionally, especially for such a short experience. But it did. Mixtape isn’t a game I’m going to rush to replay; it’s linear, and once you’ve tried the mini-games, explored the levels, and experienced the story, the only reason to go back is to go through it all again. But like any good coming-of-age movie – St. Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club, The Graduate, or even Bend It Like Beckham – it *is* a story I’m going to want to revisit one day. I can already feel that.

And there are some songs, too, that I think I’m going to forever associate with moments, levels, or characters from Mixtape.

Mixtape is a relatively short experience. My playthrough clocked in at just shy of three-and-a-half hours – but I think that Mixtape, at £16/$20, is priced fairly for such a short title. The game ran well, without any crashes, bugs, or framerate issues on my PC, and I didn’t have any trouble with adjusting the settings to my liking. In terms of difficulty, I managed the game in one hit, despite having arthritis which affects my hands and fingers, and while I wasn’t perfect at every mini-game or QTE, the game was more than forgiving enough to let me progress.

I think I’ve said all I can without getting into narrative spoiler territory. If you want to know if I recommend Mixtape, the answer is a categorical and definitive “it depends!” If you like narrative adventure titles, ’90s nostalgia, and great music, it’s an enthusiastic “yes.” If you want games with a great deal of interactivity, and story matters less to you than engaging gameplay, perhaps it won’t be your thing. If you think of Mixtape as a three-hour movie with some interactive sections… well, you can answer the question of whether you think that sounds like something you’d enjoy. But I reiterate what I said a moment ago: this game won’t be right for everyone.

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Spoiler Warning: This is the end of the spoiler-free section. There are narrative spoilers for Mixtape – including the game’s ending – from here on out.

I’m the wrong side of forty years old, suffering from arthritis and other health issues that make me feel even more decrepit, and my schooldays are so far behind me by now that I can’t even glimpse them over the horizon any more! So why, then, did Mixtape make me feel like a teenager again for those three-and-a-bit hours? Am I just a pathetic middle-aged person, desperately trying to reclaim any semblance of youth? And did Mixtape offer me that escapist fantasy for a short time? Or is there something deeper… does this game truly embody what it means to *feel* young?

I’d love to offer Mixtape to younger players – folks in and around the age group of the game’s protagonists – and see what they think. To them, Mixtape might feel like an old person’s idea of what “being young” is, or its ’90s setting might make them feel like I do when watching films from, say, the ’60s or ’70s. Maybe Mixtape feels the way it does to me because this was my coming-of-age moment, too.

I’ve written about this here on the website before, but 1999 and Y2K were “my years;” that was the end of my schooldays, the beginning of “adulthood,” both in a legal and, I suppose, a practical sense, and the ’90s as a whole were my adolescence and teenage years. Mixtape doesn’t tie itself to one specific year, but I get an early-to-mid ’90s vibe from the game. I think a ticket stub was dated 1993 at one point, so it might be set a year or two after that. I guess that makes me a bit younger than the game’s protagonists – but I lived those years, you know? I… I *feel* the era that Mixtape is bringing back to life. And because it coincides with a similar period of my own life… the game brought back all kinds of memories that I just wasn’t expecting.

And I feel… well, I feel a lot of things, to be honest. Partly I feel old: knowing that that part of my life is so long gone as to be someone’s idea of a “cool vintage setting” for a story! Partly I feel kind of pathetic: I’m this old dinosaur pretending to be young and hip again by going through this story. Partly I feel like these characters, relatable and fun as they were, just aren’t me anymore: I’m looking in from the outside at teenagers doing teenage things, and I just don’t fit in with that age group. And partly I feel like I’m seventeen again: like someone’s dad banning them from a party, or not being able to scrounge up enough pennies to buy a few beers are the biggest – and only – problems in the world. That carefree moment of youth when teachers and parents are the obstacles to fun, and nothing else matters but your friends. That’s Mixtape in a nutshell.

And that sensation… I don’t think I was prepared for just how well Mixtape captured it, bottled it, and then smashed me in the face with it over and over again!

I remember what it felt like to be a teenager, desperate to go to some big party. In the rural area where I grew up, there were so many farmers’ kids at school that there’d always be someone willing to volunteer a field for us to throw a party – and we’d set up a boom box, play tunes, drink way too much, smoke cannabis, and just… be free. That feeling… I mean, I haven’t felt it in a long time. A long time. Until I played Mixtape, and all those memories and feelings came flooding back.

That’s testament to the power of media, and to interactive media in particular. I stand by what I said above: Mixtape is not the most interactive game out there. But the interactive elements that it brings to the table are a huge part of what makes it work and what makes those feelings hit so hard; I don’t think you’d get it in the same way if you watched a video of someone else playing the game, or a compilation of cut-scenes. The interactivity – actually taking part in the kids’ journey – is what makes it work and what makes it hit as hard as it does.

Let’s talk characters!

Cassandra is probably the character who came closest to my own teenage experience: her overbearing parents seemed to be trying too hard to keep up appearances and cut her off from her friends and the things that she enjoyed. It was an exaggerated portrayal, and far from my own in some respects, but I felt her sense of entrapment; that she didn’t have the freedom to do what she wanted, that her parents wanted her to follow a path they’d chosen. And that sense of rebellion, of wanting to do the opposite of what’s expected of you – a typical teenage thing, I guess!

Cassandra’s arc was genuinely fun to watch unfold. Flashbacks showed her meeting her friends for the first time, her genuine wish to branch out and find her own path, free from the demands and expectations of her parents… and she got arguably the most complete story of all three characters, as her arc with her father actually ended with at least the beginnings of an understanding between them, and she also resolved her conflict with Stacey.

Slater reminded me *so much* of several people I knew when I was in school – the typical directionless, unbothered, seemingly “chill” guy who considered himself to be deep and thoughtful. Maybe that’s harsh, sorry! But I’m looking at these characters now with the (questionable) benefit of decades of life experience, so some of the things they come out with – Slater especially – just feel so… naïve and childish. The words make sense, and I can absolutely tell that they’re serious and sincere. But when they’re said in relation to something so small in scale and so fundamentally meaningless as a teenage party… the philosophy definitely wears off!

And I think – I *hope* – that Mixtape is self-aware when it brings these characters to life. Yes, there’s an earnestness to Slater and his philosophising about friendship and life… but there’s also an awareness from the developers, I think, that this is a teenager, right at the start of his journey, who isn’t gonna feel that way forever and who might look back on saying things like this and, well… cringe a little! I know I do when I think back not only to the people Slater reminds me of, but to my own words and actions in those days – words and actions not unlike Slater’s, in some cases.

That brings us to Stacey, the game’s main protagonist and the character you spent 95% of your time playing as. I thought, for much of the game, that Stacey’s arc was going to involve realising that her dream – to go to New York and become a professional mixtape-maker – wasn’t practical, and that there was value in sticking with her friends, even just for a little while longer. That seemed to be her trajectory, at least for parts of the game. So it was a surprise, I admit, that the game ended the way it did.

The ending didn’t “rob” Stacey of her arc, nor deprive her character of something big and meaningful – and there’s something positive, in a way, about seeing a young person pursue their passions and their dreams with that almost naïve optimism that you only have when you’re seventeen! But it does mean that Stacey kind of begins and ends the story in the same place – her last night in town, bidding everyone goodbye, ready to strike out on her big adventure.

I’ve been there – I’ve been Stacey in that moment. And I’ve also been the friend left behind when others are moving on and going their own way.

This was another thing that punched me in the gut with “the feels.” That sense of a chapter of your life coming to a close – and not only that, but the *first* chapter, your schooldays, the only kind of life you’ve ever really known… it’s a truly strange sensation that I think only hits a person once in their life. And Mixtape made a creditable recreation of how that moment, that “one last night together,” really feels. We approach that feeling from Stacey’s side, but as the story unfolds, we also get it from Cassandra and Slater, to varying degrees.

I liked Stacey’s repeated fourth-wall breaks, and how she’d directly address the camera when introducing and explaining the various songs on the game’s soundtrack. Combined with some of Mixtape’s other fantastical elements – soaring through the sky, watching a baseball stadium appear out of nowhere, and so on – I think it worked exceptionally well, and it added to the sense that, despite the very real feelings the game brought up, it’s a fantasy as much as anything else.

Mixtape also has something to say about the reliability of memory. Dreams, memories, and power fantasies all seemed to merge together – not only in flashback sequences, but even in levels and story moments set in the present day. We see characters soar through the sky, ride on the back of a dinosaur, make fireworks explode in time with the music, or float through a series of disconnected video clips. And none of this is presented as weird or unusual in the context of what was otherwise a very simple and grounded real-world narrative – which means Mixtape is deliberately leaning into the way we – especially as younger people – process thoughts, memories, dreams, and fantasies.

In a worse game or a worse story, it would feel jarring to go from a grounded, normal story about three teenagers about to graduate from school to Harry Potter-style flying cars, or floating through a void of images and video clips. But Mixtape makes that weirdness… work. I don’t want to say that it “shouldn’t” work, because a good enough story clearly *can* bring together the ordinary and extraordinary in a cohesive way. But the way Mixtape makes it feel so natural and so effortless… it’s really something to see. I really, truly adored this way of experiencing the story. It reminded me, again, of being a kid or a younger person, looking out of the window of the car and imagining flying through the air or sprinting along at high speed.

I am not the best gamer in the world – I wasn’t when I was younger, and I’m definitely not now that arthritis is afflicting my hands and joints! So I appreciate that Mixtape isn’t a game with stupid difficulty spikes, or that punishes anything but frame-perfect button-presses in quick-time events. There were a couple of places where I didn’t get everything right – Cassandra’s softball game, for instance, and it took me a few tries to hit all of the targets in the rock-skimming game, too. But even then, Mixtape didn’t punish failure, nor send me back to the start of a level as I feared it might. Instead, I could progress through the story at my own pace, enjoying the moments and the narrative without really needing to worry too much about making mistakes or missing essential button-presses.

That style of gameplay – let’s call it “casual,” for the sake of simplicity – is not everyone’s cup of tea, and I totally get that. I could see people wanting the game to implement a more difficult mode where timings matter more and where mistakes are costly. Maybe, if you ask nicely, developers Beethoven & Dinosaur will consider it in a patch or update! But speaking for myself, I’m just not that kind of player, and I found Mixtape‘s difficulty, accessibility, and forgiving gameplay to be just my speed. I came for the story, not to punish myself trying to “git gud” at frame-perfect button-presses.

Mixtape’s explorable environments weren’t huge, but they were beautifully designed and well laid-out. They also had just the right amount of content for their size; they felt neither overstuffed nor too spread out and sparse, making walking around and examining things feel worthwhile. In terms of visuals, all three characters’ rooms looked… well, like typical teenagers’ rooms from that era. Like my old bedroom, or bedrooms of my friends – only a little larger, I guess, since this is set in America! Slater’s loft, in particular, reminded me of the attic bedroom of a friend of mine; a hangout spot that was conveniently located five minutes’ walk from our school, and where we spent a ton of time playing games and kicking back.

I liked the way the game indicated which interactions would advance the story and which would expand it – that kind of thing gives players the choice to dive deeply and explore a game’s world or to push through. Personally, because I was getting so into the story, I was happy to explore every nook and cranny, and I enjoyed practically all of the flashbacks, vignettes, and even just lines of dialogue from Stacey upon encountering an item in the level. These things added a ton of detail to the world and the backstories of the main characters.

And on the subject of voice acting, Mixtape once again excels. Bella DeLong was fantastic in the lead role as Stacey, incredibly convincing as that kind of teenage character. Max Korman, Jessica Ma, Monique Thomas, and JB Tandena round out the major voice roles, and all of them did a great job at bringing their characters to life in a realistic, believable way. Given the game’s subject matter and art style, it might’ve been tempting to go over-the-top with some of the voice direction; I’m glad that Mixtape stayed on the right side of that line.

These were all compelling and interesting characters in their own ways, and voices that matched the tone that the game was going for was always going to be vitally important. In a narrative adventure like this, the story lives or dies on the strength of its characters, and a big part of getting me invested in these characters is the voice acting. I’m pleased to say it was excellent across the board.

I suppose, for a game called “Mixtape”, we should actually talk about the soundtrack, eh?

It’s not a new thing for games to use popular songs in their soundtracks. Nor is it unique to Mixtape for a game to set a level or an action sequence to music. A memorable example for me would be Control – if you’ve played that game, you’ll know the level I’m referring to! But it is pretty unusual for a game to lean so heavily on its soundtrack, making the songs integral to the narrative itself, and incredibly important to the main character in particular.

Stacey is set up from the start as being incredibly passionate about music, and this extends to the way she introduces all of the songs in the game. Not only does she turn to the camera, breaking the fourth wall – as we discussed – but she explains why a song is relevant to the passage of gameplay or the narrative moment that we’re seeing or playing through. It heightens and elevates the soundtrack to draw attention to it in this way. And it goes without saying that the song choices were pitch-perfect.

Mixtape was more eclectic with its music than I thought it might’ve been, so if you were worried that you won’t enjoy the game because you don’t like ’90s pop/rock songs… don’t be! There’s way more to it than that, and even tracks that I’d probably skip if they came up in a playlist worked well or at least felt in keeping with the narrative moment that they were part of. And really, there weren’t any songs on the game’s soundtrack that I actively disliked. There were a few forgettable numbers, sure; songs I’d never intentionally seek out or choose to listen to. But there were – to use some popular slang – plenty of bangers, too.

Two sequences really stand out to me – probably because they paired two songs I genuinely adore with two fun gameplay sequences.

The first is the softball one: Stacey introduces Stan Bush’s The Touch as being the only sports-themed song she knows, but it really was just pitch-perfect for that moment. The QTEs were hard, sure, and I struggled with the analogue stick-and-button combo a lot of the time! But the soundtrack was great, and managing to land the perfect hit, then seeing a piece of the baseball stadium rising from the ground? It was magical.

Then there’s the desperate race to get to Cassandra before her dad finds her. Set to John Paul Young’s Yesterday’s Hero, this entire sequence – which was perfectly timed to coincide with the song, by the way – felt like it came straight from the kind of coming-of-age movies that inspired Mixtape. I think that song is now gonna be forever tied to that video game sequence – running, jumping, and sliding with Stacey as she battled to make it in time to save Cassandra from her dad’s wrath. It was… beautiful. Touching. And just fantastic all around.

Aside from the sequences and levels we’ve already discussed, Mixtape had some other fun games and mini-games. The skateboarding mechanic, while not exactly as in-depth as something like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, was a lot of fun – and, again, another nostalgia blast. The skateboarding sequence with the explosions was incredibly fun and memorable, too! And what other game could make painting a door so… fun? I loved that you could stylise the door and then have it show up in future vignettes and chapters of the story, too.

The drunken stumble through the video store was hilarious, and I felt Mixtape captured a character’s inebriated state in a way few games ever really manage to! Then there was slingshot shooting, rock-skimming, and even moving a couch that were all a ton of fun, creative, and just neat little mini-games. They aren’t necessarily things you could build an entire game around, but they work well as pieces of a larger whole. Not so keen on the kissing mini-game, though – but that’s just me!

I particularly enjoyed the slushie machine mini-game, and how the exact combo of slushie flavours would then show up in the subsequent cut-scene. I know it’s such a small thing, but it really was fun to mess around and experiment with different colours, seeing how the cup came together.

And, of course, we have to mention the dinosaur theme park experience! One of the kids’ fondest memories involved sneaking into this abandoned Jurassic Park-inspired theme park, and messing around. The ride was the highlight, but I also enjoyed the camera mini-game, and how you could actually get some pretty creative shots, despite the limitations of the ’90s digital camera. The camcorder mini-game, in the final act, was in a similar vein, and I liked how you could film different partygoers and make these little vignettes.

So I think that’s everything I wanted to say.

Mixtape isn’t gonna be the right game for every player. But it’s confident in knowing what kind of game it wants to be – a narrative adventure. It’s bold with some of its storytelling choices and character beats. And it leans heavily into nostalgia and that sense of being a teenager again, going through that final goodbye before everything changes. And it absolutely *nails* that feeling in a way I just wasn’t expecting.

I had a great time with Mixtape, and it’s a game I’ll be happy to recommend – to a certain kind of player! And speaking for myself, it’s a game I can already tell I’m going to want to return to every once in a while. It’s like a good film, in that sense – I don’t want to watch The Breakfast Club or St. Elmo’s Fire every day, but sometimes, when I’m in that nostalgic mood… I really enjoy them. And Mixtape is the interactive version of that kind of story.

Earlier this year, I reviewed Pragmata and Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown. But if you want to check out titles a bit more similar to Mixtape – at least in some ways – I hope you’ll consider taking a look at my reviews of Indika and South of Midnight. If you liked Mixtape and you’re on the hunt for something to play next, I think either of those could be good choices. Click or tap the links to read my reviews of any of those titles.

And I still have several games in my pile that I hope to get around to in the next few weeks! If you’re interested in reviews of the likes of inKonbini: One Store, Many Stories, Mouse: P.I. For Hire, or Kioku: Last Summer, I hope you’ll stay tuned. I can’t *promise* reviews of all of them imminently, but they’re on my list, so to speak. Thanks for reading, and I hope this review has been useful, interesting and/or enjoyable for you! Happy gaming!

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Mixtape is out now for PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series S/X consoles. Mixtape is the copyright of Beethoven & Dinosaur and/or Annapurna Interactive. Some promotional screenshots courtesy of Beethoven & Dinosaur/Annapurna Interactive. This review contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.