Let's TAP

Let’s TAP is a unique rhythm game, developed by Prope (established by Sonic creator Yuji Naka) exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. In an era when rhythm and health orientated games seem to be making big splashes in the gaming pond, how will Let’s TAP separate itself from the established? Could it be different enough to avoid fading into obscurity within the year?

At first, the notion that you control the game by tapping might make some scoff. Some may be intrigued, leaving others simply uninterested. Admittedly, although interested, I fell into the percentage that thought it was an arbitrary take on the formulaic rhythm genre but since playing it for real, my appreciation of the thought that has gone into this title has dramatically risen.

Just when you thought the wii-mote couldn’t be anymore innovative and multi-functional (without peripherals such as clip-on weapons and the MotionPlus) along comes Tokyo developers, Prope, and slaps us across the face with the shoe of realisation. The fact that games developers can still get something innovative and fresh out of that presumed sub-standard of a controller. It’s like giving a ball to someone and challenging them to come up with as many sports as they can. What Prope has done is unique, fresh, and entertaining.

The premise of the game is to place the wii-mote face down on a flat, stable surface. Sega actually released a limited edition of the game with an official Let’s TAP box, but in-game offers a tissue box as a suggestion. After loading the game, I found myself wandering around like I was suffering from memory loss; searching for a suitable tapping box. It wasn’t long before I decided the box that housed my Mario Kart Wii & Wheel looked decent and large enough. Off we go.

The also suggests putting the wii-mote inside those rubber jackets. Even if you don’t usually have them on, I do advise you at least put them on when playing Let’s TAP as it does provide more friction and keeps the wii-mote from moving about too much.

After the game recognises you have set the wii-mote up properly, it runs you through a very intriguing and helpful tutorial which teaches you the different types of taps. Using varying amounts of pressure will perform light, medium and firm taps. Single taps will navigate you through the menus, double taps to make a selection. Alternatively, you can pick up the wii-mote and navigate using the d-pad or pointer.

The game features 5 modes of play; all support up to a  maximum of 4 players…

TAP RUNNER
Control the man on-screen and race for the finish line through obstacle courses. Run and jump your way ahead of the other three opponents. Featuring 4 stages with 4 courses in each stage, medal in each course to unlock the next. The medals system is a nice addition for people who want to beat their high scores. There’s also a board that displays the top five times.

RHYTHM TAP
Tap to the beat of various music tracks. There’s four to choose from at first but if you obtain a grade C or better on each one, you unlock another four. The selection screen shows a total of 16 tracks to play. Those of you familiar with games like Guitar Hero and PaRappa The Rapper will know what is required to pass levels. The unique quality with Let’s TAP is it introduces the different types of taps using varying amounts of pressure. It’s not just being in time, that would be too simple.

The music tracks might not be in the Top 40 or tunes you’d hear in the club but they don’t have to be. Having said that, there are some pretty good electro-breakbeat tunes and big-beat ambient tracks so “music-fans” needn’t scoff. The levels are accompanied with lush visuals; with moments that react to your tapping.

Very quickly you start wondering whether to twiddle the fingers or close them together and tap with the hands. Use the one hand or use both? That’s one good thing about this game, it still leaves you with options on how to tap. I try to keep the light taps with the left hand and the medium and firm taps with the right hand; using both for fast-paced taps in succession.

SILENT BLOCKS
Bearing some similarities with the popular family game Jenga, blocks are stacked in a column and it’s up to the players to carefully tap them out in a series of party games.

Unlimited Mode sees players take it in turns to remove the blocks until the whole tower collapses. Supports as many players as you want as it’s turn-based. Alchemist Mode requires players to tap out pieces of the tower and align blocks of the same colour to make them disappear and score combos. Race Mode is supports 2-4 players but has to be unlocked in order to made available.

BUBBLE VOYAGER
Control the spaceman on-screen by tapping and travel as far as you can through a hostile alien environment. Power-ups/weapons are available which will come in handy when you need to blast your way through the various obstacles. Manoeuvre by taps and use your weapon by double-tapping.

VISUALIZER
Less of a game but more of a way to see what visual creations your tapping can create, although it contain specific sequences of taps to pull off specific “moves”. Single Stage allows you to play for an unlimited time in the mode of your choice (Fireworks, Paint, River, Gem Game, and Ink). Some of these are very pleasing on the eye; especially Ink, which I wouldn’t call out of place if it was used in a VJing environment. Stage List allows you to play through your own customised stage list.

I’m very impressed at what Prope and Sega have brought us. When you hear the “rhythm genre”, I guess most people would visualise pressing buttons on a joypad or forking out extra money on an instrument peripheral controller such as drums or guitars. What Let’s TAP does is essentially turn a cardboard box into an intuitive, control method that’s original and fresh. That’s partly possible thanks to the often under-appreciated mechanics of the Nintendo wii-mote and the ability to detect the different intensities of vibrations.

Tap Runner’s a simplistic racing game where the main challenge is timing the jumps as any stumbles will slow you down. As you progress, the courses become more extravagant and should provide some difficulty even for the most rhythmic of gamers.

I found the Rhythm Tap games quite addictive. Let’s be honest, it’s no Guitar Hero or Rock Band; with most of the tracks sounding like they’re made on an old-school MIDI keyboard. They sound good though, with deep basslines and nice variation in time signatures, some of them are pretty decent. It may be releatively easy to hit most of the beats on time but the real challenge is getting the high-scores; which require “perfect” hits. Rhythm Tap will definitely be one of the game modes that will be played the most, with support for up to 4 players.

Personally, I found Silent Blocks rather boring. Good intentions lead you to try and land a high-score but eventually, you wonder why you bothered. Even when you play with others, the fun soon wears off.

Visualizer appears to have no set goals to achieve but as you begin and randomly tap, you realise there’s “hidden” combinations of light, medium, and firm taps; each one releasing a burst of imagery and so you begin to try and work them all out. A nice break from the other game modes but I shouldn’t imagine anyone spending too much time on these, as beautiful as they look. Something for the hardcore completionist, I suppose. However, like I said before, this particular mode has a rather interesting VJing feel to it. Placing the wii-mote on a drum-kit or near some speakers should produce some interesting visuals. Lot’s of experimentation to be had here!

Bubble Voyager is a simple side-scrolling shooter where you control the rocket-man by tapping. Fast consecutive taps will increase his altitude and send him forward slightly. Double taps will shoot his weapon.
I have to say, I felt like I was playing a game of the future as I was literally controlling the game by twiddling my fingers. Although all you do is move about and shoot, the background visuals are very lush and quite “techie”, which I feel runs parallel to the thinking behind the control methods.

Any game that can turn a cardboard box into what feels like a new-age machine is scoring well in my books. Although I place my rather sturdy box on the coffee table and careful not to over-tap, the box will inevitably move from its spot. Playing this game in the daytime and early evening is nothing unusual but attempt to play late at night and you’ll make yourself some enemies. Perhaps one of the noisiest game around.

The game does lack online modes; which seems to be so important in many of today’s games. However, I do wonder what areas of the game would even benefit from being able to connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. I suppose by definition a party game should be played with others but in this case, I don’t think sans online has prevented Let’s TAP from a score it deserves. Yes, it would have been nice but let’s not get too picky.

If the game detects a Let’s Catch save file, it will unlock extra game modes which otherwise would require you to clear certain games. For example, Clearing ”Alchemist” in ”Silent Blocks”  mode will unlock the “Binary mode”. If you clear all Rhythm Tap tracks with grade S or higher, you will unlock an additional four songs. Clearing the “Gem game” in “Visualizer” mode will unlock the Ocean mode.

All in all, Let’s TAP is very fulfilling. There’s not quite as much as I’d hope for in terms of content but what it does provide is very innovative and scores itself some bonus points. Just when you think the rhythm game genre has been milked for all it’s worth, with the exception of the instrument that the game is trying to emulate, Let’s TAP proves that there’s still plenty of life in the wii-mote alone, MotionPlus or not. I would definitely welcome more innovative titles like this, perhaps via WiiWare.

Prope should be very proud of themselves for offering us a gem of a game. At the very least you should rent this out just so you can see for yourself how fresh this game is. Check out the various videos of Let’s TAP below to get a better understanding of the game.

+ Original & fresh control method
+ Eye-candy visuals to accompany game-play
+ Easy to pick up, difficult to master
+ Can connect to Let’s CATCH to unlock in-game extras

- No online
- Perhaps a little noisy at times
- As varied as the game is, would like to have seen more depth

Score – 8/10

Rhythm Tap video

Silent Blocks video

Bubble Voyager video

Visualizer video