Frederic Chopin is back! After successfully playing his way to victory in Resurrection of Music, the evil isn’t over yet!
After finishing Frederic: Resurrection of Music I immediately jumped into Evil Strikes Back. Since I had to go down to Too Easy at the end of the first game, I decided to just start there this time around. The core game is very much the same, though some… questionable… changes were made in this sequel.
Frederic has to stop some more evil, and the only way to get there is to have musical duels along the way. Forget the grand piano though! He has a portable electric piano now! Wait, what? When did he get that? Why did he START THE GAME WITH IT? Oh, and the magical golden carriage that he can just store in a briefcase is gone too – he’s upgraded to a flying delorean! …Yes, they really did go there.
The biggest way the departed from the first game though was the music. Instead of remixes of his masterpieces, we have original music. Not very good original music. Well, it’s still decent, but it’s nothing like the remixes of the first 
game. Sorry, I don’t really see the appeal of “Frederic Chopin” playing some remix of a Lady Gaga or KISS song.
While the core game is very much the same, some additions were made. You’ll now occasionally be presented with the opportunity to hit the same key repeatedly until a glowy line ends or to just hold it. There are also times that come up where you need to hit two keys at once. These changes are great and all… but there’s still no tutorial and you have to figure it out for yourself. Expect many mistakes to be made trying to learn it…
Difficulty still isn’t very balanced at all, though now Too Easy doesn’t seem AS “auto-win”. As-in they actually do take away from your meter if you miss a note, but just barely. Granted I didn’t try the higher ones, but I presume they’re still as punishing if you miss anything.
Overall, Frederic: Evil Strikes Back gets a big “pass” from me. The lack of remixes of his works, the sudden electric piano, the fact the background videos don’t seem to really interact with how you’re playing at ALL… The humor still felt pretty dry to me. In fact it felt even more poorly done. Indeed, I’m ready to face the wrath of Genghis Hahahan or whatever his name was for this score.
Frederic: Evil Strikes Back Review Score
1.5/5
