Tap Tap Revenge is a rhythm based music game currently available as a free download for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Originally developed by Nate True, Tap Tap Revenge started life as Tap Tap Revolution and was only available on iPhones which had been jailbroken (hacked). Tap Tap Revenge is similar to the Revolution version of the game but, because of the limitations Apple’s iPhone SDK, doesn’t allow players to tap along to songs from their own iPod music library. Tap Tap Revenge is now owned and developed by a company called Tapulous.

Tap Tap Revenge plays something like Dance Dance Revolution meets Guitar Hero. Spheres and arrows stream across four colored lines challenging players to tap and tilt their iPhone to the current song’s beat. Tapping spheres at the correct time adds points while missing spheres subtracts points. Arrows, indicating a tilt, are optional. At the end of each level the players score, accuracy and streak are displayed.

You won’t here any Top 40 Songs in Tap Tap Revenge. Most of the default and freely downloadable songs are of the independent genre. Songs are classified into four different difficulty levels ranging from easy to extreme and can be played with one or two players. If all this sounds a bit confusing, Tap Tap Revenge comes with a tutorial mode to help get you started.

Tap Tap Revenge is reported to have an install base of over 1 million users which leaves TiltGamer to answer the question: Is Tap Tap Revenge popular because it’s good or because it’s free?

There’s a lot to like about Tap Tap Revenge. The core gameplay works well and is simple enough for most iPhone owners to get into and enjoy. Tap Tap Revenge also comes with a good feature set. Two player mode, downloadable songs and high score submissions all serve to round out a very capably music game. While I like Tap Tap Revenge I probably won’t play it again after this review.

There is quite a lot Tap Tap Revenge could do better. For starters, there is no in-game streak indicator. For me, this is an essential part of rhythm based games and I’m really surprised it’s not included. Additionally, players can’t fail a songs in Tap Tap Revenge. You will loose points for misses but the song will never end based on your performance –or lack there of. Not surprisingly, one factor that can make or break or music game is the music. In Tap Tap Revenge the songs aren’t all that memorable. In addition, I found the tapping patterns to be pretty inconsistent with regards to how they fit the song. On some songs, like Tap Tap Tap, the tapping pattern fits the song beautifully while on other songs, like Turn Yourself Around, the tapping pattern didn’t really get me in the groove. Tap Tap Revenge looses a lot of points on replayability because it lacks unlockables or a career mode. Players have access to all songs right from the start which makes each gaming session a single use experience. Other then submitting high scores (which is nice) there’s nothing to keep players coming back for more.

All in all, Tap Tap Revenge is a good music game for the iPhone. The tapping and tilting action are a great use of the iPhone’s technical abilities while the downloadable content does add some replay value. I think Tap Tap Revenge is popular because it’s free, it’s pretty good, the genre is popular and there’s nothing else like it on the iPhone. While, It’s definitely worth your time and memory to check out I don’t see it as people’s go-to-game when they have a few minutes to kill. Download Tap Tap Revenge for yourself and let me know what you think.

By: Aaron Robbins