Weekly Free iPhone/iPod Touch App

Every week, the OWC Blog staff picks a free app for the iPhone/iPod Touch to try out and review. This week’s app is Tap Tap Revenge 3 by Tapulous.

App Description

TAP ALONG TO SOME OF THE BIGGEST BANDS IN THE WORLD INCLUDING KE$HA, BLACK EYED PEAS, METALLICA, AFI AND SMASHING PUMPKINS. With over 100 free songs and 100 premium bundles, why pay $7 for other music rhythm games when you can get the original and most downloaded music game on the iPhone and iPod touch for FREE.

BUT DON”T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT …..

“Absolutely marvelous.” 148Apps

“Pure awesomeness.” Gizmodo

“Tapulous is becoming a marketing force in the music industry.” BusinessWeek

“Does this game deliver a gaming experience that continues on with the amazing experience we have come to expect from Tapulous? In my opinion, YES!” iPhone Reviews 2.0

“Tapulous pretty much has the market covered in terms of getting great music playable on the iPhone.” TUAW

In several head-to-head reviews the FREE Tap Tap Revenge 3 has won over the paid Rockband ($6.99) hands-down. NO WONDER IT IS A 4.5 STAR GAME!

AMAZINGLY DEEP PLAYLIST ……

Take a deep breath and read this (partial) playlist. 30 Seconds to Mars. A Prefect Circle. AFI. Airborne Toxic Event. All-American Rejects. Angels & Airwaves. Asher Roth. Ben Harper. Blink-182. Bush. Coldplay. The Crystal Method. Dashboard Confessional. David Guetta. Depeche Mode. Duran Duran. Elton John. Evanescence. Fall Out Boy. Fat Boy Slim. Flyleaf. Foo Fighters. George Thorogood, Godsmack. Gwen Stefani. Hinder. The Hives. Ingrid Michaelson. JET. Jackson 5. Jane’s Addiction. Jimmy Eats World. Kaiser Chiefs. Ke$ha. Keane. Keith Urban. The Killers. Korn. LCD Soundsystem. LMFAO. Lady Antebellum. Lady Gaga. Lifehouse. Lily Allen. Lynyrd Skynyrd. Marilyn Manson. Maroon 5. Megadeath. Michael Franti. Motorhead. New Kids on the Block. Nine Inch Nails. No Doubt. Ok Go. OneRepublic. Owl City. Papa Roach. Phoenix. The Prodigy. Queens of the Stone Age. Rascal Flatts. Rise Against. Robbie Williams. Rush. Shwayze. Silversun Pickups. Smash Mouth. Smashing Pumpkins. Snow Patrol. Social Distortion. Spoon. Steppenwolf. Steve Miller Band. Sublime. Sum 41. The Temper Trap. Thievery Corporation. Thriving Ivory. Tiësto. Vampire Weekend. War. Weezer. Wolfmother. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. EVERY WEEK, WE FEATURE A NEW HIT TRACK FOR FREE DOWNLOAD IN THE GAME.

MORE THAN JUST A MUSIC GAME ……

– The funnest live chat system on the iPhone with hundreds of thousands of users. Connect with friends and meet people who share your musical interests
– A fun and addictive online game with insane weapon action
– A complete avatar system so you can show off your rocker persona
– Frequent contests where we give away signed artist guitars, signed albums and other prizes

This app is for users 13 and over.

OWC Chris’s Review

I never got into the whole “Guitar Hero” thing. The gameplay is different than actually playing a guitar, and that throws me something awful. Tapping a rhythm on a surface, though? Shoot, I can do that; I do that on the car ride in to work…

And such is the case for Tap Tap Revenge 3: tap along to an assortment of songs, and rack up your score. A wide range of musical genres are represented, and they have a free track a week. On paper this sounds like a game I’d be interested in. In reality, though, it left me a little flat.

Game mechanics are about as expected. Spheres come down one of three tracks, purportedly in time to the music, and you have to hit them as they cross their respective targets. Simple enough.

The problem is, the speed of these spheres coming down the track is not linear. Right at the end, there’s a weird slowdown. Fortunately, this can mostly be overcome as long as you have some sense of rhythm. It shouldn’t be there, though, as it can be somewhat annoying. Then there’s the somewhat dubious nature of the spheres themselves. What part of the music are they following? Drums? Bass? Guitar? Vocals? I could never really figure it out.

As for the music itself, let’s just say I’m disappointed. The default artists are either ones I never heard or, if I have, ones I’d never be listening to. I was never able to find the “free weekly track,” though somehow I suspect that it’d be yet another house/urban/r&b song I’d not be interested in. However, I was able to find plenty of tracks by artists I enjoy… for an additional purchase. That, of course, would have disqualified it as a “free” app, so I stuck with the defaults.

Overall, I can see the reasoning behind this app’s popularity, simple gameplay in a popular genre, combined with music a lot of people (myself excluded) enjoy. If you don’t mind the “give away the razor, and sell them the blades” song purchase model, there’s a lot of options for music. I, however, not being a particular fan of this game’s genre or the music included, will probably delete it from my iPod after this week.

Final Verdict: My guess is that younger people with money to spend on extra tracks will really enjoy this game. Just not me…

OWC Mike H.’s Review

This game requires a lot of front end roadblocks until you can actually get into it to try it out including: avatar selection, e-mail address, Facebook linkage, and even the need to install the first song even after installing the app. That’s a lot to go through before finding out if you even like the game.

I get that Guitar Hero type games are popular but I’m not a huge fan of “games” which are essentially asking me to “press here”. That’s just not my idea of fun. Imagine if the first arcades were simply turn left or turn right games without any visual stimulation that you’re moving Pac Man to the left and gobbling up pellets and killing ghosts… hey that sounds like a character with a goal. Click here “games” just seem like a step back and just a bit too boring for me. Perhaps if I had an air guitar I might be more open to this game (because who doesn’t like air guitar!!!).

If I did like this game, the overall fit and finish of the game feels like an underwhelming also-ran to better games out there, even compared to the original Tap Tap Revenge. Boy, am I glad I filled out dummy info in the opening screens; this app’s getting deleted.

OWC Grant’s Review

The lengthy setup was a bit of a downer as we’re accustomed to playing right away…but once all the formality was done, the game itself is decent. Not much humor nor strategy…but as you accumulate points, you can download more game music. That’s where this game shined for us as it had some good street/rap tunes. And anytime lyrics rhyme with Uncle Fester of the Addams Family, that earns big props from my test crew.

Yea or Nay: A semi Yea… challenging but not among our favorites reviewed thus far. Perhaps more appreciated by teens and young adults used to the Dance Dance Revolution arcade game.

OWC Michael’s Review

I’d have to agree with OWC Mike H, that setup to play the first game is a bit long depending on how much information you want to give the app. But once set up, there is so much here to keep your interest.

First off there is the game itself, similar to Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero, the rhythm line is brought to you by balls (or stars, or blocks, etc) sliding down the screen to three tap zones. Simply tap the ball on the tap zone as it crosses and you rack up points. With four different levels (Easy, Medium, Hard & Extreme), the intensity and complexity increases. While Easy can mostly be played using only one finger, Extreme songs have the targets coming fast and furious requiring 1,2,or 3 taps at a time. But it doesn’t stop there, there are also arrows in play for you to shake the device while tapping for another level of intensity.

The music is mainly independent artists with a few mainstream samples if you’re not willing to fork over any cash for song packs (which can be purchased in game). The higher you go in levels, the more songs become available for free. Tapulous even offers a new free song each week to keep your Tap Tap library growing and the game changing so its not the same old ho-hum each time you pick it up. Yes, the music varies in genre, but if you’re ok with leaving your musical comfort zone, there are really some good artists and tracks to be discovered.

Another part of the game is your avatar, which is fully customizable from hair, clothing, skin tone, accessories, background setting, etc. Coins are earned for good play which can be used to purchase items to make your rockstar persona unique. The higher you are in levels, the more items become available.

Then there is a huge list of achievements / awards that are earned the more you play such as 5 songs, 10 songs, or 25 songs played in one day; Completing a song with 80%, 90%, 100% accuracy; and exploring and perfecting all the aspects of the game (of which there is a lot – I didn’t get through everything before this review was due). There are online options to play with others and make friends, you can have the app automatically post your achievements to your facebook page. There is an in-game chat option and a 2-Player mode which splits the screen to play heads up for the best score. The list goes on…

My Overview: I’ll definitely be keeping this one around with top billing on my games page.