Mevo and the Grooveriders (Windows)

If Super Mario married a guitar god from Rock Band, their offspring might resemble something like MEVO AND THE GROOVERIDERS, a quirky side-scrolling rhythm puzzler for the PC. The game is entertaining and challenging, and what it lacks in the originality department it makes up for in sheer fun. Music is good and silence is bad -- this is what you need to know going into this game -- as our hapless alien critter must reunite his band, the Grooveriders, and bring funk back to save the universe.

Players must control Mevo through increasingly psychedelic worlds, by running, jumping, swimming and flying from the left side of the screen to the right. Much like console games like the Rock Band and Guitar Hero series, the core game-play element here is to tap the correct button on your keyboard at the right time. While navigating through these five worlds -- Ocean, Jungle, Desert, Space and Wormhole -- players will be instructed to tap the left or right Shift button (or Spacebar and Enter) just as Mevo comes across it. Sometimes you'll need to tap and hold the button for a predetermined amount of time (such as down the curved stem of a giant flower in the second world) or both keys at the same time or alternate between them quickly ("freestyle").

Yes, the game is fun as you'll make your way through the varied worlds, collect rewards, pull off combos, unlock badges and awards, and use power-ups. If you hit enough correct notes during each of the levels you'll advance to the next and unlock silver, gold, or diamond CDs (at least one diamond CD is required to advance to the next world). Play well and gamers can unlock ways to customize Mevo with funny hats, facial hair, and dance moves. The music in the game is also downright catchy. With playful funkadelic tracks, rock riffs, and some electronica beats, there is certainly a lot of good and original music to sink your mouse into.