When trying to think of a way to review this game, I was suddenly struck by a brilliant idea – ask Matt for advice. Now, some people may tell you that was a poor decision, but I did it anyways. And lo and behold, Matt was right. I couldn’t review Beaterator as a game, per-se. Because, well, it just isn’t a game at all. But I’ll get to that in a second. First off, I want you to know that I have several years of experience as a musician, and with mixing live sound. I have used (analog) mixing boards from 8 – 32+8 channels, and have run PA systems in Auditoriums with seating for 100, all the way up to seating for 800 people. So there, I’m (sort of) qualified to review this “game” as what it really is – a very solid, easy to use, 8 channel beat mixer/pocket studio, all rolled into a nice convenient package. That package, of course, being your handy dandy PlayStation Portable.

Beaterator has a simple concept, really. There are 8 channels at your disposal, you can have up to 4 loops per channel, and it’s completely customizable. That’s 32 loops that you can mix on the fly in “Live Play” mode. Or you can have all 32 concurrent loops set up in advance when recording in the “Studio Session” mode. Beaterator has you mixing and beat making from the get-go with a ton of songs, courtesy of Timbaland, that are pre-made and ready to rock. You just select a song off the list, and start picking and running the loops of your choice. Literally within 5 minutes of opening the package, I had my own custom track playing with one of the provided Timbaland setups. It’s that easy.

If you don’t want to “sell-out to the man” and use a pre-made loop, you can craft your own in the “Studio Session” mode. There is a song creator, a drum pad mode for making your own custom beats, and you can even record your own vocals. All of these can be used in conjunction with the Timbaland setups, or not, for your own unique free-flow musical expression. The “Studio Session” mode is where Beaterator really shines in my opinion, with almost unlimited tempo, note, and tone control, and bazillions of sounds to choose from, including synths, bass lines, kicks, drums, guitars, and even back-beats. You can also add up to two effects per channel, like Compression, Chorus, Delay, Distortion, 3-band EQ, Multimode Resonant Filter, Flanger, Noise Gate, Phaser, and Tremolo. Beaterator does much, MUCH more than I can’t even mention everything in this one review. With the massive amount of flexibility Beaterator offers, and a veritable armada of studio quality effects and sounds, you will not be hard pressed to put your creative juices to work.

I really have no complaints about Beaterator, from a musical standpoint. It’s comprehensive, and very solid. However, I do think people could be confused into thinking they are picking up a game, when they actually aren’t getting a game at all. That would suck, but that’s also why we learn to read in school. If you are a serious beat-master, and plan on saving your work, you will want a large memory card. If you are looking for a game, this isn’t it. But if you are looking for an on-the-go handheld studio/beat mixer, Beaterator is right up your alley. A PC application of this quality would come with a $500 price tag, at a minimum. Comparatively though, with Beaterator’s deep libraries of sounds, effects, and tracks, in concert with multiple editing/creation modes, and the ability to record or upload your own vocals, the music creating ability is unparalleled at only $40. I’m giving this “PSP Application” a 5 star rating