Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Twitch
    Game on Aus
    • News

      We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

      June 28, 2022

      GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably…

      ANZPL Season 4 Champions

      World Of Tanks ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final: Champions Decided In Sydney Derby

      June 27, 2022

      The ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final is here. The Sentinels take on the Skorpions to find out who will be the Season 4 champions!

      Best Console Digital Deals of the Week 24/6/2022

      June 23, 2022

      PlayStation has released it’s Mid-Year Sale offerings along with a few great choices for deals to be picked up on…

      Sentinels vs Skorpions to clash in World of Tanks ANZ Premier League Finals

      June 23, 2022

      [This press release has been provided by Wargaming PR and is presented by the GOA team for your information] The…

      Fall Guys is finally available on all platforms…and it’s free!

      June 22, 2022

      The wildly chaotic, battle royale-like party game, Fall Guys, has finally launched on all platforms. Up until today, Fall Guys…

      View All
    • Reviews

      We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

      June 28, 2022

      GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably…

      The Quarry – The Review

      June 24, 2022

      OK readers, I have a secret to tell. And I might lose some of your respect after I tell you.…

      Necesse screenshot

      Necesse – the perfect blend of two iconic indie games

      June 23, 2022

      I really don’t know how to open this other than: more people need to be playing Necesse ASAP, it’s my…

      More D&D Monsters! A review of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters Of The Multiverse

      June 22, 2022

      THERE are a lot of sourcebooks for Dungeons & Dragons out there. D&D 5e (the current edition) has something like…

      SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless Gaming Mouse Review

      June 19, 2022

      DESPITE never being the hugest fan of MMO/MOBA games, largely due to my lack of patience and willingness to invest…

      View All
    • Podcasts
      game on aus logo

      Predators Beware!

      June 23, 2022

      Stormie’s not well this week so Pete and Jim carry on! The lads chat how many lootboxes you need in…

      Episode 245 Hero Card

      Episode 245: Summer Games Fest!

      June 17, 2022

      Catch up with all the news from a weekend of announcement at Summer Games Fest! Pete, Stormie and Jim talk highlights and lowlights along with games that are just too big!

      Episode 244: Diablows?

      June 9, 2022

      Pete has some things to get off his chest about Diablo Immortal and new Pokemon while Stormie and Jim nod…

      GOA Pod 243

      Episode 243: Happy Birthday Solitaire!

      June 2, 2022

      The gang talk about their cozy Bloody Good Game Of The Week thanks to Aussie Broadband, licensing music for games…

      GOA Pod 242

      Episode 242: The Richie Benaud Episode Number

      May 26, 2022

      Two… two four two. Yes, episode 242 is here and like the late, great Richie, it’s marvellous. Pete and Jim…

      View All
    • Categories
      • BY PLATFORM
        • Playstation
        • Xbox
        • Nintendo
        • PC
        • Mobile
        • VR
        • Retro
      • BY GENRE
        • Action
        • Action-Adventure
        • Adventure
        • Battle Royale
        • Fighting
        • FPS
        • Horror Games
        • RPG
        • Simulation
        • Sports
        • MMORPG
        • MOBA
        • Party Game
        • Platformer
        • Puzzle
        • Strategy
        • Survival
        • Indie
      • GOA ESSENTIALS
        • Esports
        • Conventions
        • Tabletop
        • Hardware
        • Furniture
        • Funny
        • Streaming
        • Win
        • Podcast
        • Video
    • More
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
    Game on Aus
    Home » Dive Bar Superstars – The Review
    NEWS

    Dive Bar Superstars – The Review

    Nick HollidayBy Nick HollidayNovember 25, 2021
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    For most of the pandemic, many people entered into ventures outside of their regular field of work for different reasons. Some examples include driving for Uber, taking up full-time streaming, and/or starting an OnlyFans. But Simon Ridley, the drummer of Aussie dance-punk trio DZ Deathrays, put down his drumsticks during lockdown to create a video game from scratch.

    The end result is a simple game called Dive Bar Superstars, starring the band themselves as you lead them to superstardom. Its gameplay concepts are familiar to the same old mobile games I’ve played in the past, but also had me bopping along to every beat.

    To be honest, I wasn’t very familiar with DZ Deathray before hearing about Dive Bar Superstars. However I quickly became a fan after a quick search on Spotify, which had me amped up to play. And in a way, I’m glad I became a fan.

    Dive Bar Superstars puts you in the shoes of a retro-pixel version of DZ Deathray, more specifically vocalist/guitarists Shane Parsons and Lachlan Ewbank. But the band’s not famous yet as your first gig is a house party. And like any other up-and-coming band, you’re in need of two things: fans and money.

    Using DZ Deathrays back catalogue of 30+ songs, you jam out to gain as much love and tips as possible from your audience. The better you play, the bigger the audience becomes. As you earn money and recognition, you unlock greater abilities, additional tracks, pyrotechnics and, most importantly, bigger stages to perform on.

    The majority of these unlockables can be obtained relatively quick with great ease. In no more than an hour, my band was inches away from being ready to hit the main stage with a decent chunk of ability upgrades and songs under our belts.

    Dive Bar Superstars also throws typical rock band challenges at you, such as rowdy bottle throwing audience members, electrocuting microphones and pyrotechnics. Yes, even the thing that make your shows much more epic can also hurt you. Which is pretty logical. A prime example is the Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial of ‘84. Ergo, these on-stage dangers should be avoided at all costs. But from personal in-game experience, this wasn’t as easy as it sounds.

    The Pyrotechnics were especially challenging to deal with. Whether it was a misjudgement of how close I was to them or the wombo-combo of my microphone zapping me into a pyro as it was going off. After one-too-many deaths, I became extremely cautious about making my shows look as awesome as they can. No rock show is perfect. But in this case, everything has to be timed perfectly.

    While I definitely didn’t mind rocking out to DZ Deathray’s back catalogue, I was a bit disappointed that I was running out of things to work towards. Games with similar mechanics usually require plenty of grinding to unlock/level new abilities, areas, etc. And yes, even with over 30 songs to unlock there’s a quicker way to do so. But I won’t tell you how.

    Understandably, this is Simon Ridley’s first game. And even though there isn’t much to work towards after the first hour or so, he’s done a great job at executing a cool idea of a game. The retro-pixel art style is, as always, multiple ticks of approval for me. The core concept is there but a possible sequel or follow-up of sorts would do even better with upgrades of a higher value or additional unlocks. For example, more outfits, guitars, alternate signage or something like “roadie/groupie power-ups”.

    But Dive Bar Superstars is ultimately something for the fan. And if you’re a fan of Aussie music or dance-punk, DZ Deathrays are more than happy to have you. Dive Bar Superstars is a fun little game to rock out with to pass the time while listening to some legendary local talent.

    Dive Bar Superstars is available now on the App Store and Google Play.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleSeason 6 of Fall Guys kicks off next month
    Next Article Blaze and the Monster Machines: Axle City Racers

    Related Posts

    NEWS June 28, 2022

    We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

    GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably…

    ANZPL Season 4 Champions
    ESPORTS June 27, 2022

    World Of Tanks ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final: Champions Decided In Sydney Derby

    The ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final is here. The Sentinels take on the Skorpions to find out who will be the Season 4 champions!

    Subscribe

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Ads
    Advertisement
    Categories
    • ACTION
    • ACTION-ADVENTURE
    • ADVENTURE
    • BATTLE ROYALE
    • CLOUD GAMING
    • CONVENTIONS
    • ESPORTS
    • FEATURE
    • FIGHTING
    • FPS
    • FUNNY
    • FURNITURE
    • GOA
    • HARDWARE
    • HORROR GAMES
    • INDIE
    • MMORPG
    • MOBA
    • MOBILE
    • NEWS
    • NINTENDO
    • Open-World
    • OPINION
    • PARTY GAME
    • PC
    • PLATFORMER
    • PLAYSTATION
    • PODCAST
    • PREVIEW
    • PUZZLE
    • RACING
    • RETRO
    • REVIEW
    • RPG
    • SIMULATION
    • SPORTS
    • STRATEGY
    • STREAMING
    • SURVIVAL
    • TABLETOP GAMING
    • TECH
    • VIDEO
    • VR
    • XBOX
    Related Article
    NEWS

    We look at the new Sony PlayStation Plus premium service

    June 28, 2022Royce WilsonBy Royce Wilson

    GAMES subscription services have been pretty well established for a few years now in Australia, but Sony PlayStation were notably absent from the party.…

    Minsc & Boo
    TABLETOP GAMING

    My favourite cards from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate

    June 27, 2022ArlentricBy Arlentric

    Dungeons & Dragons lore and storytelling meets the world’s most popular collectable card game: Magic: the Gathering in the recently released card set Commander Legends: Battle…

    ANZPL Season 4 Champions
    ESPORTS

    World Of Tanks ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final: Champions Decided In Sydney Derby

    June 27, 2022Darren 'Str8JaktJim' MacneallBy Darren 'Str8JaktJim' Macneall

    The ANZPL Season 4 Grand Final is here. The Sentinels take on the Skorpions to find out who will be the Season 4 champions!

    Game on Australia Logo

    Game On Aus is an Australian games publication working across written, video and podcast, and supported by an ever-growing community of content creators and fans!

    Copyright GameOnAus 2022. Privacy Policy

    CONTENT
    • News
    • Gaming Reviews
    • Podcast
    • Tech
    • Indie
    ABOUT GOA
    • About Us
    • Contact

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.