Beat Hazard Arcade's gimmick seems out of place in 2026 but the gameplay is as compulsive as ever

If you're a long-time mobile gamer, chances are the name Beat Hazard is familiar to you. We reviewed Ultra all the way back in 2012, after all. Back then, the musical gimmick pulled us in, but we stuck around for the frenetic bullet-hell shooting. Fast forward fourteen years, and pretty much the same sentiment applies to Beat Hazard Arcade, albeit for a slightly different reason. 

For those who aren't aware, Beat Hazard's shtick is that it'll generate space battles to blast through based on your own music library. Sounds epic, right? In theory, it is. However, sadly, in this day and age, it feels a little outdated. I'm a huge music fan, yet I don't have a single song stored on my phone. It's all streaming these days, meaning unless developer Cold Beam can work something out with Spotify or Apple Music, most people won't be able to engage with this part of Beat Hazard Arcade. While Beat Hazard 3 introduced an 'open mic' option to get around this on PC, that's not an option here.

I had a quick check in case I'd thrown a few Poets of the Fall tracks on my phone. You never know when you'll find yourself in a predicament where Spotify isn't its usual reliable self. Alas, all I had were a few interviews. I suspect blasting ships and rocks wouldn't have the same techno-beat thrill if the soundtrack were me talking to Andy Tudor, lovely man though he is. 

Is that a reason to avoid it entirely? Absolutely not. As mentioned at the top, while it's a fun gimmick, it's not the reason Ultra impressed us all those years ago. The gameplay blew our minds and, thankfully, that's timeless. It turns out delightfully silly explosions and colour overloads can't get old. 

If you can't beat them, beat them anyway

The twin-stick set-up works well here, with dynamic analogue sticks allowing you to place your thumbs wherever is most comfortable. The left controls your movement while the right unleashes a bombardment of rainbow bullets. It's easy enough to get to grips with, although avoiding the numerous enemies and projectiles might take a little longer.

For that reason, it's best to keep on the move, dodging past enemies and grabbing the score multipliers that float around in the depths of space on occasion. It all plays exceptionally and, when combined with Beat Hazard Arcade's built-in soundtrack, becomes an incredibly compulsive score chaser. 

You see, even if the battle-your-own-soundtrack aspect goes unused by most, it doesn't mean music doesn't play a key role. A host of tracks by electronic music producer Johnny Frizz are absolute bangers, perfectly pulsating along with the space action. In truth, they're likely to work better than your own tunes anyway, given they're tailor-made for the game. 

So, if the idea of a techno party where the dance floor is illuminated by beam upon beam of colourful lasers fired from spaceships appeals to you, definitely check out Beat Hazard Arcade. You might even love it so much that going relatively old-school by storing songs on your phone to eke more replayability from Cold Beam's latest effort is a no-brainer.