SOUND VOLTEX III Gravity Wars Arcade Machine is a rhythm and music game in Konami's BEMANI series, which features with 6 gameplay buttons and two Beatmania IIDX style effector knobs.
The game is played by hitting one of the 6 buttons or turning the dials to a set of incoming objects once they overlap the Critical Line. Successful hits will build up a gauge called the Effective Rate, which must be at 70% or more in order to clear the stage.
The music and rhythm machine's game play is easy to understand with only three moves to learn. The controls include:
- Analog devices, otherwise known as effector knobs or dials, are used to match the line while turning the dial. Turn it slowly for slanted lines and give it a quick spin at a sharp turn. Turn the left dial for blue and the right dial for red.
- Long FX objects appear orange and reqiure players to use one of the two FX buttons (sit below the four white buttons on the panel). For long orange bars that appear, press and hold the corresponding FX button, and time your hits for short orange objects.
- Chip BT objects are white and will require players to hit one or more of the four white buttons on the panel. Time your hits for the short white objects once they reach the Critical Line, and press and hold when long white objects appear.
There are a number of features for more fun for players, such as the Matching feature. Using this feature, players can select either to play online with others worldwide, or in Friends mode to play with others in the same store. Up to four players can join for either one. All players in a Friend Matching will gain a Packet Bonus, which makes earning Appeal Cards much easier! Any empty spots left in the four player matching will be filled bu other players online. Player can also choose their own difficulty levels and any track can be played in Macthing.
There is also the feature called Skill Analyzer which is a mode that features set courses to challenge players. Each skill level has three different Tracks to put your skills against, and there are currently 10 skill levels.
There are several modes of play, including Light Start, Standard Start and Blaster Start. There is also a feature related to this last mode, called Infinite Blaster in which players must break through a Blaster Target to acquire an Infinite Effect in this game system. Other handy features include Hi-Speed, Headphones, and Sorting.
System Changes include:
- Real Card Generator: Similarly to Konami's lineup of kids games (Orecabattle, Otocadoll), Gravity Wars can now print "real appeal cards".
- Portions of certain charts will cause the entire chart to shake when you hit BT (the main four) buttons.
- In addition to the usual rotation, charts can now zoom in and out.
- EARLY/LATE indicators appear next to timing judgment.
- Hitting the start button twice can now let you apply more fine-grained adjustments to high speed.
- Hitting the 6 button while adjusting high speed lets you save your desired scroll speed (HS * BPM), effectively giving Sound Voltex a green number equivalent.
- Instead of hard failing out of charts, you now get switched over to normal gauge.
- Appeal cards are now grouped in folders, either by version or by theme (Touhou, GUMI folders).
SOUND VOLTEX III Gravity Wars Arcade Machine is suitable for players of all ages and skill levels, and this bright cabinet and unique game play devices will draw players in from all across the floor.
