Mixed Hands-On Preview: That Old, Familiar Song
Blog Andrew Joseph 14 Jun , 2025 0
I remember the first time the boy gave me a mixtape (well, mixed CD, same difference). It's not even a romantic gesture – he did them for all our friends. My Morrowind Music, Naruto Ops, Queen and Kansas (inexplicably) and um This song. It's a nerd thing and the wildness of absolutely blasting that makes no sense at all.
So I'm really grateful OK Mixtape, let you feel huge and think about big ideas. Of course, I've made my own Spotify playlist for myself now, but someone handed you a perfect choice and order physics song and they curated one for one, moment, time and time for one.
So, what if that, in the form of a video game? That's the whole premise of the aptly named game mixtape I previewed last week on Game Day. The mixtape follows three teenagers: Rockford, Slater and Cassandra, though it tells this from Rockford’s perspective, and their Summer Last Mixtape: A Collection of Musical Tracks, encapsulating their last night with their best friends. Look, Rockford has a huge dream and heads to New York in the morning to perform huge, ridiculous swings in their future career, which is their incredible, proper teenager, unlikely to pay off (although Rockford is full of confidence). So Rockford formed a pretentious lineup of songs, each with the crew’s last night’s mischievous back-back (occasionally interrupted by flashbacks or songs they don’t have to include).
Look, even if the entire Schtick in Rockford is a musical elite, they are right for one thing: Do Excellent mixtape compiled. The whole game is in “That the the the the” which begins with Devo, and the part I play is through Jesus and Mary Chain, Alice Coltrain…I don't want to spoil it because the song itself is yes It's such a basic part every moment and a lot of heavy moves have been made to make the overall nostalgic halo of Mixtape work.
Actually, one of the things I think I like the most about mixtapes is beside From the musical perspective, this is not a game full of specific pop culture references like many other nostalgia. The song has been covered. I don't stop every few seconds, point to an artifact or joke, and say, “I know!” However, the mixtape manages to effectively capture a very special reminiscent flavor, from Rockford's room decorations to how the character treats tender, golden, almost automatic light penetrates into everything at the opening.
Here’s another thing that shocked me: frankly, these three main characters are very annoying! I like it! This is how they are teenager. Teenagers must be at the forefront of adulthood, but teenagers! I'm 34 years old! I can't take them seriously remotely, and I shouldn't have done so. Although the trio has very different personalities, they all have slightly exaggerated self-beating, but I remember my feelings since I was 17, 18, and 19, and think my worries are the center of the universe. Annoying quirks and so on, I'd love to spend the whole night in the game.
The most despicable thing I can say about mixtapes is that at least in the clips I played, you are not Doing Very. There are some skateboards, and there is a sequence where you can walk through town on a cart, in both cases you can drive, but I'm not sure if there are any good activities or bad activities or any reason to try very hard. You can play music loudly in the car. Most of the time, from the perspective I've seen, you're walking around the room, watching things while talking to friends. The funniest gameplay is an extension where you can simulate two clumsy teen tongues while being fun and disgusting. I can feel that a wider range of games might be as a series of specific video game flavors as a series of mini games, but it's hard for me to explain to you what you're going to do, mostly throughout the mixtape.
The truth is, regardless of whether the rest of the game is full of action or not, I'm not sure this is important for the mixtape's goal. This is a resonance The arrival of the game, and the atmosphere of the mixtape are impeccable. I would love to have Rockford take me on any journey they and their friends are going to go on a song.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior journalist at IGN. You can find her post on bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Is there a story tip? Send it to [email protected].