Tentatively released on New Year’s Eve, Stegersaurus Games–the work of one-man team Daniel Steger–challenges you to keep the rhythm while vanquishing your foes in Battle Beat. What’s so fresh about Battle Beat? Well, a couple of things actually. For one thing, it combines the rhythm genre with the strategic defense genre. The even more surprising and excellent element is that you’re welcome to use your Guitar Hero or Rock Band instruments in the game. Actually, Battle Beat is designed to be used with these controllers (although according to the developer, a good ol’ 360 controller is compatible with the title as well).

Take the role of a commander in outer space who must defend his home world from hordes of aliens. Place your soldiers as you see fit and make sure you keep up with the beat! Battle Beat can be found on the XBOX Live Indie Games channel for 400 Microsoft Points ($5), so dust off your plastic instruments and become a hero.

Read on for a trailer.