iPhone App of the Week: Tap Tap Revenge 3

It may seem as if for the bulk of this weekly (or nowadays, semi-weekly) feature that I cover Tapulous' series of rhythm games Tap Tap Revenge, but this one could possibly be the last one for a little while as this new installment to the franchise takes advantage of some 3.0 features that may spell the end of its numerous spin-offs.

The online-centric approach to this new Tap Tap becomes apparent when you first open the app under Wi-Fi or 3G. It first lets you pick an online persona (if you don't already have a Tapulous profile) or avatar, and while you can't exactly customize the facial features, you can pick some clothes and accessories, but I'll be covering that later.

The new menu interface is a fresh break from the usual, as it focuses more on online notifications, and the statistics of your online persona. Basically, Tap Tap Revenge 3's online features include a level-up system, achievements, even an in-game monetary system. You can start some games or challenge some people online by swiping through the menus, which reveal some modes like the usual "1-Player", "2-Player", "Online", and more notably, two new modes called "Chat" and "Quick".

"Chat" basically has you picking a chat room...

...and just chatting away with the most random chatter. Could possibly involve profanity with 12-year olds. The good thing is, at least you have something to do to ease the lull of downloading during online play, because you can also chat while waiting for the next game to load.

"Quick" on the other hand, involves the app picking a random song and then playing a part of it for you. Kinda like Party Play on Guitar Hero 5 in the sense that you can play for short bursts if you feel like it.

The app has a noticeable new look, especially when you're actually playing.

In "Quick", the song will play for maybe 30, 40 seconds before it stops and leads you to the results screen.

After every game, you receive experience points so you can level up, and you gain coins for purchasing avatar items, not songs.

When you tap the "Tap Tap Store" from the main menu, you get to pick from two options: "Tap Tracks" and "Avatar Items".

The "Tap Tracks" includes various songs with a varied price to match. Yes, you heard me. Price. Instead of the old Tap Tap free track of the week model, Tapulous has decided to incorporate a music store into the app. While there are still a ton of free tracks to choose from, "Sugar We're Goin' Down" from Fall Out Boy included, the songs you'd probably like are not free. Even the tracks that have been free for the past two Tap Tap's like Weezer's Troublemaker or The All-American Rejects' Gives You Hell aren't free anymore. This is basically the biggest reason as to why this one isn't free to download from the App Store. Apple's policy dictates that in order for developers to offer premium downloadable content, they must put a price tag on the app, otherwise it's a no-go.

Avatar items are technically free, and use the in-game monetary system instead of real iTunes money. There will probably be several themes to choose from, and the more casual players will probably enjoy that.

All in all, the third iteration of the (probably annual) Tap Tap series is a solid online-oriented version of the venerable App Store juggernaut. It's now #1 in the App Store again, and the in-app purchases will probably spur much more profit for Tapulous this time around. Just hope that they can iron out the occasional lag and slow-downs that some songs suffer from.

Rating: 8/10

Halo Rip-off, and more iPhone games

One of the key focuses of Apple in the App Store business is beating Nintendo and Sony at its game. But the weakest spot Apple has is the same Nintendo problem of shovelware. To quote Jeff Gerstmann of Giantbomb.com, "The iPhone may have 20,000 games, but 98% of it is shit."

Still, the event is here to actually show some decent games.

Assassin's Creed 2
One of Ubisoft's most profitable franchises comes back to the iPhone with better graphics and, well, Ezio. It looks like a ground-up remake, but the graphics are a bit disappointing.

It oversees release with the console editions.

Riddim Ribbon
Tapulous, renowned for its free Tap Tap Revenge games, has previewed its upcoming game Riddim Ribbon. So yes, Tap Tap 3 remains a mystery.

But enough about Tap Tap, it's actually a nice change of pace that the start-up is finally exploring some new ideas. This one is a mix-up of Amplitude and Audiosurf, and despite the stupid name, it actually looks very cool.

I will definitely be tuning in to this app on October.

Nova
A decidedly Halo-like shooter, Gameloft's Nova is a first-person shooter that has you shooting aliens. Yeah...

It features the same controls as Brothers in Arms, and while it's not necessarily bad, Wolfenstein 3D's controls are much better. Still, the graphics look pretty.

Madden NFL 10
The venerable sports series is making its debut on the iPhone this holiday season with intuitive controls and even a button that makes those plays flow in slow-bustin-motion.

Draw your strategy, and control your kicks... just for kicks.

iPhone App of the Week: Lady Gaga Revenge

Despite the major upgrades Tapulous has made to its free flagship Tap Tap Revenge 2 (now just Tap Tap Revenge + Themes!), I've decided to consider that the recently released Lady Gaga Revenge (or if you prefer, Tap Tap Revenge: Lady Gaga Edition) is a bit more fun to review, because it requires less screenshots it's pretty good in its own right.

Tapulous has offered premium content and artist-centric Tap Tap games in the past, but I think, technically, Lady Gaga Revenge is one of the best of the premium games.

Before anyone flames me, I have to say that I'm not saying Lady Gaga Revenge has the best playlist (in my opinion, that title belongs to Coldplay) but there are some pretty catchy tunes in there, and the selection of songs Tapulous has made for the game are pretty spot-on.

To once again clarify, I said that this app was technically the best because I think the interface Tapulous made for the game is much less "flashy" yet creative at the same time (the Coldplay one was too "flat" and Tap Tap Dance is too shiny at times).

True, the placement of Lady Gaga herself can be a bit distracting, but the flashes are just subtler as they are merely on the lower left and right portions of the screen, and the multiplier count is even presented in cards, ala Poker Face.

In addition to that, Lady Gaga Revenge is also the first Tap Tap to utilize the iPhone in a landscape orientation. But instead of just 3 places to tap, it's now four.

It's much more basic, and it's darker so it's a bit of a relief to the eyes since the motif is kind of subtler. Thankfully, activating Revenge mode is automatic during these stages, and the arrows disappear as well.

Like all the other premium Tap Tap games, you'll have to achieve a bare minimum of 85% completion in half of the songs of a specific difficulty. Notably, the Kids difficulty has been omitted.

And like all the other Tap Tap's, you'll be able to challenge a friend to beat your score through E-mail, buy the specific song through iTunes, post your own score to the worldwide leaderboard (or just your Facebook wall), or just visit Lady Gaga's website.

One other thing that has been derived from the free counterpart is the "news feed", but this is more catered to the Lady Gaga fans. Basically, it will alert you if Lady Gaga's been chosen as Rolling Stone's cover girl or whatnot.

Overall, this game is very much catered to both casual and hardcore Lady Gaga fans. The usual complaints like undefined charting (and sometimes downright bad charting), the inability to play online and download new songs persist, but in a technical aspect, it's probably the best premium Tap Tap app out there, but that doesn't say much to dethrone the actual Tap Tap Revenge from still being the best, especially since it's free. If you hate Lady Gaga though, there's obviously no reason for you to even be reading this review since you won't get it anyway.

I'm just thankful that Tapulous has gotten rid of the crashes!

Rating: 8/10 [App Store Link]

iPhone App of the Week: Tap Tap Revenge Coldplay

Continuing in the tradition of the Guitar Hero franchise, the popular iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge has had its share of focus in a specific band: Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, and now, Coldplay.

Also in the same vein as aforementioned guitar game, the game has you strumming (or rather, tapping as the name suggests) to the tune of a specific song- that's after you choose it of course.

But before you start singing to Viva La Vida, you have to select the difficulty you want to tackle with "Kids" basically being "Easy" mode but with the option of being able to tap anywhere on the screen without failing, "Easy" being easy, "Medium" being slightly harder than easy, "Hard" being... hard and "Extreme" being a notch higher than "Hard".

See that check, those circles and that lock at the right of the song's name, artwork and artist name (which is basically Coldplay)? They are basically markers that determine whether you've passed the 85% mark. If it has a check, you've passed, and if it doesn't, it's either you haven't passed it or you have yet to play it. When half of those blank circles become checks, the lock becomes unlocked and you can play the "special song".

So let's say we're still on our way to unlocking the special song, and you've started a song.

At first, the screen shows a faint picture of the band, and suddenly, the white tappers come in. Personally, I like the spherical tappers in the 3D plane better, but the 2D plane utilized by Coldplay is also pretty decent.

As you progress, the background color changes, the pictures change, and the screen lights up. It's a really nice effect. Garner enough points though and you can swing your way into Butterfly mode, aka, Revenge mode, aka, Overdrive, aka, Star Power which basically doubles the amount of points you can earn.

After the song ends, you're able to see how you did, as well as send your score to the online leaderboard, challenge a friend who has Tap Tap Coldplay, or if you're in a Wi-Fi zone, visit Coldplay's website, or buy the specific song on iTunes so you can sync it to your computer when you connect your iPod touch or iPhone.

After you play enough songs, you're now able to play the "special song".

Basically, the layout of the game becomes radically different from usual, the background becomes even more interactive (eg, the song's lyrics appear on screen) and... yeah, it's purely cosmetic.

But unlike Tap Tap Dance before it, you can now access any difficulty on the spot instead of having to play on Easy to unlock Medium then playing Medium to unlock Hard and so on. Personally, it's not much of a problem, but the compelling-ness of having to unlock the last song in a difficulty becomes rather moot due to the fact that you can play that song in the next difficulty anyway- except Expert, of course.

Aside from that, the same problems that these kinds of narrow-focused games have arise: no downloadable content, a premium fee (unlike Tap Tap Revenge 2 which is free), and no online play. There are also no band-specific gameplay mechanics at least, so basically, the game is very much identical to Tap Tap Revenge 2 in that front.

Obviously, this game is geared for Coldplay fans like me, who just want their Coldplay fix to be more interactive.

Rating: 7.5/10

Tap Tap Tap to the sequel

From the pre-App Store days to now, Tap Tap Revenge has existed in one form or another. Now, Tapulous marks a 2.0 release of its flagship (free) rhythm game/app for the iPhone/iPod touch.

The trailer after the jump...

I personally like it, but it crashes a lot. No, this is not a review yet, but I'm just saying.

Tapulous introduces a new engine and gameplay mechanics (first drafted out in Tap Tap Dance), new local and online multiplayer modes like the Challenge mode as advertised (I think you also need to have a free Tapulous profile for that to work), and some 150 free downloadable tracks from the get-go.

While console owners have their Guitar Hero and Rock Band, iPhone and iPod touch owners have Tap Tap Revenge. Despite the fancy peripherals of the console franchises, Tap Tap has one edge: it's free, and it constantly evolves. Hell, the DLC is free too.

Tap tap tap to the next level

Tapulous, maker of popular iPhone apps, has sent me an e-mail regarding 2 major projects they have come out with, and I was just amazed when I clicked the iTunes Store link. Unfortunately, unlike the original Tap Tap Revenge, they're not free.

Tap Tap Dance

Featuring Technologic by Daft Punk as an unlockable, this game is a sneak peek of the future of the popular game, Tap Tap Revenge. I saw the screenshot with low expectations (because I thought that Tapulous was gonna start milking the popular app starting today) and I was just... blown away.

Tapulous has to make a few adjustments on it, because it kinda lags- and they know it.

Christmas with Weezer

I'm not that crazy about this one, but it's cute. If you wanna get on with the Christmas spirit (plus bonus tracks) then be my guest and get Christmas with Weezer and is actually probably the Tap Tap Revenge version that tries to milk the franchise. You know, like the Nine Inch Nails version. But I guess Tapulous has to pay the bills, eh? Don't really understand why Apple has to charge a hundred dollars a year for the App Store, TBH.

But is it me, or does the name Weezer sound like a nickname for a person with asthma?