Tap Tap Revenge 3 review

Damien McFerran

We review Tap Tap Revenge 3, the latest music game from Tapulous

Published on Oct 16, 2009

Every now and then a video game genre comes along that punches through the wall of geekiness that tends to enclose our beloved hobby and makes games accessible and popular amongst all kind of people. At the moment, that genre is the music game, otherwise known by the more unintentionally suggestive moniker of 'Rhythm Action'.

Thanks to the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, we’ve seen an influx of casual players entering the video game arena, drawn like moths to a flame by plastic instruments, engaging gameplay and the opportunity to pretend that they’re Jimi Hendrix.

Thankfully the iPhone isn’t being left out of this musical uprising; we’ve already seen other titles in the popular Tap Tap series hit Apple’s device, but Tap Tap Revenge 3 is without a shadow of a doubt the most epic instalment yet, offering massive improvements over its predecessors but also harbouring some rather less welcome 'innovations', too.

But first – the good stuff. Tap Tap Revenge 3 looks seriously slick, with well-designed menus and colourful visuals. If you’ve followed the franchise from the start then there’s little here that will shock or amaze you, but you’ll already be aware that the game is very easy on the eye.

The gameplay involves tapping discs at the bottom of the screen when coloured orbs (known as 'Tappers') pass over them. It’s all about timing here; you’re rewarded for tapping at precisely the right moment and there’s even a gauge which lets you know if you’re too early or too late with your tap.

On some of the more hectic songs you’ll find yourself frantically prodding your iPhone’s screen like some kind of deranged mental patient, and while the gameplay sounds incredibly basic on paper, when it’s combined with decent musical accompaniment it really comes alive.

There’s more than just tapping to consider, though; you also have tap and hold commands, which must be used whenever you see an Tapper with a trail behind it. The developer has also include gesture control, so when certain arrows appear you have to either tilt the phone to the side or make a tapping movement with the entire phone. This helps break up the constant tapping but it’s not going to please hardcore fans, which is probably why the option has been included to remove these motion-based segments.

Add to this a packed range of options, an online mode where you can play against other music lovers and a chat facility that allows you to get to know the Tap Tap Revenge community a bit better, and it should come as little surprise to learn that this app has become one of the best selling games for the iPhone, topping the charts in several different countries in just its first week of release.

However, the biggest bone of contention is the way in which you get additional songs to use in the game. It only comes preloaded with 3 tracks to begin with, and although there are plenty of free songs to download, they’re all by relatively unknown bands; as anyone who has played Guitar Hero before will tell you, a large part of the appeal of this type of game is playing along to a beloved piece of music.

The famous artists – such as The Killers, The Smashing Pumpkins and The Foo Fighters - are all cordoned off in the “paid for” area of Tap Tap Revenge 3’s online store, with packs of songs ranging from 59p to significantly more for larger selections.

To be honest it’s not a terrible way of distributing music and the relatively low cost of the app itself mitigates the expense of bumping up your library of tracks, but there will be some gamers that will scoff at having to buy the core game and then lay out additional cash for more content.

However, paid-for DLC and micro transactions are the future of iPhone gaming it would seem, and if you’re ready to be swept along with this digital distribution revolution then Tap Tap Revenge 3 is waiting. Just make sure you have deep pockets or you’re unlikely to get the most out of it.