Loud on Planet X: Fight aliens with music alongside Canadian bands

Music video games have been making a comeback in the last year or so. But if you're not up for digging out your pile of plastic instruments for the Guitar Hero and Rock Band revivals, there's Loud on Planet X, a new game by Toronto-based developer Pop Sandbox.

You might know Pop Sandbox for its previous projects that veered towards more serious subject matter. The developer's 2013 game Pipe Trouble was pulled from TVO's website after complaints about its depiction of oil pipeline bombings.

Fight aliens with music in Loud on Planet X

9 years ago

Duration 2:32

New rhythm game features Canadian artists F--ked Up, Tegan and Sara, Cadence Weapon and more

Loudcomes from a more lighthearted inspiration, according to creative producer Alex Jansen, who used to listen to music while playing old-school arcade games like Ms. Pac-Man with the audio turned off.

All of his projects have the same genre-crossing foundation at heart, though.

"Most of our projects bring people from different backgrounds into a creative environment, and I think Toronto is uniquely incredible for that," he told CBC News, crediting the GTA's independent game developer community as well as its diverse music scene.

Guitar Hero meets Plants vs. Zombies

Loud takesdirect influences from popular games like Guitar Hero and Plants vs. Zombies. Taking on the role of one of 14 artists and bands,you mustfend off an alien invasion with music.

On touch devices, players tap on one of four speakers to the beat of the music to fire lasers at the oncoming alien horde. Special music-themed attacks include a bouncer whose velvet rope will fend off enemies for a brief moment.On traditional gaming consoles and PCs, each lane is assigned to a button on the controller or keyboard.

Fans of the tightly designed music-based gameplay and 2D papercraft art style will likely draw comparisons to Sound Shapes, the award-winning music game that included work from Deadmau5 and Beck. The two games owe much of their design to Andrew Carvalho, who worked on Sound Shapes and is lead developer on Loud.

Loud got its start with a conversation between Jansen and F--ked Up members Jonah Falco and Mike Haliechuk, who also produced music for Pipe Trouble. Two years later, the game's mostly Canadian lineup includes the likes of Tegan and Sara, Lights, Metric and Austra.

It'salso partly funded by the Ontario Media Development Corporationand Factor, a non-profit organization aimed at bringing Canadian music talent to new audiences. Jansen ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 to expand the number of bands from the original four to its final roster of 14. Backers were drawn as audience members in the game's crowd shots.

Musicians and gamers alike

RolliePemberton, a.k.a. Cadence Weapon, DJ'ed the launch party Tuesday in downtown Toronto, but also got a kick out of playing himself on Loud.

"I've always wanted to be in a video game. My whole life, I've been a huge video game fan growing up, and once I saw the opportunity, I jumped at it," he told CBC News.

More than fandom, though, Pemberton knows appearing in a video game is good business.

"Somebody who's never heard my music before might see the little digitized version of me with the digital sneakers and the digital hat, and be like, 'Oh, let's check out this guy's music,'" he says.

Loudon Planet X launches on the PlayStation 4 and Steam on April 19, and on iOS and Android April 21.