Dissonance is a real-time strategy (RTS) Half Life 2 modification where the player must control a musical avatar in order to raise an army, dominate the airwaves, and conquer the other, lesser forms of music. Dissonance pits three specific musical genres against one another using the wealth of imagery associated with each of the genres. 听The player can take the reins of the Metal genre and its medieval barbarians, the Techno genre and its futuristic force of robots, or the Classical genre and its horde of magical creatures. 听Each faction in the game has a unique look, feel, and sound that culminate in the form of each faction鈥檚 avatar.
The gameplay of Dissonance consists of the player taking control of one of the faction鈥檚 avatars and using the power of their music in order to capture the hearts and ears of the planet. 听As the theme of Dissonance focuses on music, so does the gameplay. 听Musical notes, or 鈥渂eats,鈥� are the only resources in the game (though beats can be of different types, see Gameplay section). 听Each faction represents a specific genre of music, which actually serves as that faction鈥檚 soundtrack.听
The battlefields in Dissonance each have a number of speaker towers that the factions fight to control. 听When captured, these towers generate beats for that faction鈥檚 soundtrack. 听By capturing towers and collecting beats, that genre鈥檚 music gets louder (literally) and stronger. 听Either the player can use the beats to summon a massive army to defeat his enemies or he can grab a stage and hold a killer concert to dominate the airwaves.
The Creation Song, once a unifying force in the Musical Realm, slowly died out over the centuries as the worlds it brought forth from the darkness began creating songs of their own. 听As the Creation Song died out, the peaceful musical realm became embroiled with conflict. 听The worlds, left on their own, sought to spread their musical influence to other worlds by force. 听The decades-long conflict razed countless worlds to the ground and left only three worlds victorious. 听The armies of Classical, Metal, and Techno have conquered the weaker worlds while growing their forces. 听Only one task remains, the complete annihilation of the two opposing factions. 听Launching offensives on one another鈥檚 worlds, they seek total supremacy through the airwaves and through destruction. 听To the victor goes the entirety of the musical realm and the ability to reform it in his or her own image.
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