January 14, 2009, 2:06 PM — Talk about addictive. Free iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge has an instantly-familiar interface to anyone who's ever played Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Supplied music tracks play in the background, and colored dots rain down from the top of the screen to the bottom. When the dots intersect the white bar along the bottom of the screen, you have to tap the dot. When an arrow scrolls down, you have to jerk the phone to the left, right, or down, depending on the arrow, as if tapping an invisible object.
There are four difficulty levels, with Extreme foisting a literal shower of dots down upon you. Tilting the phone doesn't register with the same degree of accuracy as tapping, though, making the tilting bits an exercise in frustration. It would be nice if there were a screen-based option that could take the place of moving the phone, such as tapping at the edges of the screen.
Tap Tap Revenge offers the option of downloading numerous free songs in addition to the few that the game comes with. Other than a couple tracks by Weezer, The Offspring and Daft Punk, most are from obscure bands. But free is free, and you might find something indie you like. And there are more tracks being added all the time.
There's a head to head local mode, where two players face off on corners of the same phone, and there's also online play, where you compete for high score in real time with other players. Online play isn't actual head to head, but the constantly-updated ranking during the match is a nice touch.
Tap Tap Revenge is possibly the best free game for the iPhone. It's fun, musical and addictive. Adding in the ability to import your own tracks in a future version would make it just about perfect. We can only hope.
