Back in 2001, before a little game called Guitar Hero brought music gaming into the mainstream, a small Boston company set out to create a game that would bring the experience of making music to console owners. That company was Harmonix, and the game was Frequency.

At the time, most games in the music simulation genre were developed by Konami, and their Japan-based Bemani series of music gaming. However, the only game from the expansive series to catch on in America was their Dance Dance Revolution series; the games more focused on creating music, such as Beatmania and Guitar Freaks, stayed in their home country for the time being. While the Konami music games tended to focus on Eastern-composed music, Frequency was focused on bringing the Western sound home.

Despite being primarily composed of electronic music from American and European artists, with a sampling of industrial-esque rock here and there, Frequency shares a few similarities with its Bemani counterpart, Beatmania. The player is required to hit a key button when it arrives at the end of a track, and if the button is hit on tune, it creates a beat. If the player can maintain this pattern long enough, then the entire song is created. However, Beatmania relies on a single track for this: every key can create a given sound from any instrument through the course of the song. Frequency separates its notes by 'tracks': a different path of notes for every instrument. A rock song, for example, can have five different tracks: vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and occasionally synth (or a second guitar track in some instances).

Each track generally requires the player to hit two or three sections of notes before completing it, at which point the segment of music loops on its own, and the player must move on to the next track, assembling the song piece by piece. Once every track is completed, then the song sounds as it should. This gives the player a brief point of time to collect bonus points with an impromptu 'remix' session, where the melody can be altered with scratching and additional synth effects, but this is only until the start of a new section. Then the tracks return, and the player must repeat the pattern. If the player can't keep up with the notes or maintain a certain section, the energy bar drops. If it empties completely, the game ends, and the background turns to static. Fortunately, a player doesn't have to stay on the same track to keep the meter going. If a track proves too difficult, it can just be skipped in favor of the next. However, if all other tracks are completed, the avoided one must then be attempted, or the energy continues to decrease for every section that it's ignored.

The player is given other tools to make completing a song easier, fortunately, in the form of various power-ups. Every now and then, a unique icon comes along during the course of a note stream, usually appearing in the pattern of an entire section. If that section is completed, the player earns that respective power up. The Multiplier doubles whatever points the player is currently earning at that time. If the player has maintained a combo thus far(which can normally reach a 4x bonus), this can allow the score to gain as much as 8x the normal amount of points. Freestyle completely removes the player from the field of notes, and instead allows a period of free remixing. This both allows for a reprieve from a difficult section, and a chance to earn additional points (which can be used with the Multiplier effect for additional benefit). Autoblaster completely removes an instrument from the section. This only lasts until the start of the next section, at which point that instrument's section of notes may return. This differs from song to song, as certain sections of a track may not use that instrument at all.

As graphics go, Frequency has a fairly simple appearance. Notes travel through an ongoing tunnel towards the player, with as many as eight separate paths (all connected to one another from side-to-side). The gems that make up the notes should look familiar to Guitar Hero fans. While playing a song, various lights and images pass through the tunnel's exterior, the differing aspects of which appear on the television screens strewn throughout the background. The content of the screens varies from song to song, usually showing either abstract images that go to the beat (such as a set of break dancers in Control Your Body, or a flashing convertible in Motomatic), or images of the artists themselves (No Doubt, Powerman 5000, et cetera). The exact manner in which the screens are shown varies from level to level (one, Videowall, makes the screens its focus, as they are practically all the player can see). The player is depicted by a small avatar shown in the lower left of the screen, that he or she creates, either from predetermined templates, or from scratch, using various colors, blocks, and symbols. The result has a simple appearance, at best, but it's one that the Frequency community still keeps a fondness for.

Frequency (PlayStation 2)

As with all music games, what makes or breaks Frequency's appeal is its music. If you aren't into electronic genres such as techno or trance, it's safe to say this game may not be for you. If you are, or are new to the medium, then Frequency offers a wide variety to select from. Each level initially has four songs to select from. Once all four are completed, a bonus song is unlocked. Frequency has several difficulty levels. The higher the level, the more levels which can be played. For instance, Level 4 can only be selected on Hard, and Level 5 is Expert only.

If you search for the musicians featured in the game, you might stumble repeatedly upon the name 'Symbion Project'. DJ Kasson Crooker, also a member of Freezepop, has been a long-term member of the Harmonix staff, and composes music under several aliases. While his primary moniker that he releases his albums under is Symbion Project, Kasson also goes by (while not being limited to) the names of: The Duke of Panneoken/Belgium Waffles, DJ HMX, Komputer Kontroller, and Cosmonaut Zero(as seen in Amplitude).

Outside of the regular game scenario, Frequency also offers online play for versus and remixing game play, as well as a full remixing section, where the player can rework the beat of a given song from the ground up, using the standard instruments/melodies of the track. There are also several remixed pre-included in Frequency, in case the player wants to see examples of how it can be done. Many of them were notably done by other Frequency artists, such as Josh 'Robotkid' Randall(also a member of Harmonix staff).

As with most music games of the time, Frequency was doomed to a niche following. While it gained numerous accolades from critics(much like its sequel would), gamers as a whole all but ignored the experimental game. Maybe it was the music, maybe it was the control scheme, but this wasn't the game that would get Harmonix Music Systems the attention it deserved. Still, before long, Sony decided to give the company another shot, and this is where Amplitude comes into play.