Parent's Guide: HarmoKnight - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

HarmoKnight is a fusion of rhythm-action and platformer that follows a young boy named Tempo and his friends on their quest to rescue a princess from the clutches of the evil Noiziod aliens.

The controls here are fairly straightforward, without any reliance on complex combinations of button presses. Instead, your character automatically runs along each stage, while your child has to press buttons in time with the music to make him jump, or whack enemies, as they try to collect as many notes as they can. Boss fights mix the general formula up a bit by giving you a sequence of actions to repeat back, Simon Says style, ('jump, jump, left'), although the basic concept remains similar enough that it shouldn't cause too many problems.

In terms of potential barriers for children - the aforementioned story is told entirely through text, with no voice overs whatsoever, but while a decent reading ability would be an advantage, it's by no means a necessity, as the story isn't really all that important to the game. What may pose more of a problem is HarmoKnight's difficulty - requiring some perfectly timed button presses in places (for example, to jump at exactly the right moment to avoid falling off a cliff), your child will need quick reactions and/or some solid musical timing to get their button presses spot on. It's challenging enough for adults at times, so younger children especially may end up finding this a bit too demanding, despite it's cute and colourful presentation.

HarmoKnight is pretty much another squeaky clean entry from the makers of the much-loved Pokemon series. There's no guts, gore, sex or bad language - perhaps the only marginally questionable thing is that the main character, Tempo, hits a number of enemies with his magical musical staff. Enemies simply disappear in a puff off smoke and don't seem to suffer any ill effects - and they're naughty aliens anyway, so we suppose it's ok.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS