Review: Let’s Tap (Wii)

Author: Rees | Date: June 26, 2009

In the current console generation, I think it’s fair to say that the Wii is probably the winner as far as sheer variety is concerned. Thanks to the system’s motion controls, fitness games, party games, darts games, and many, many other genres nestle in quite nicely on the system with all the usual shooters, racers and the like.

This is where Let’s Tap comes in. From the name alone, you’d be forgiven that this was a tap dancing game (I certainly did) but in reality it’s actually perhaps even a little stranger than that. The game is controlled by placing the Wii Remote face down on a cardboard box and… tapping on it. Don’t worry if you don’t own any spare cardboard boxes, however, as the limited edition version comes with two boxes fully assembled and ready to go.

So, upon firing the game up we’re treated to a lengthy and somewhat annoying unskippable tutorial, and we’re presented with the following game modes (all modes support up to four players):

Tap Runner: A racing game where the aim of the game is to tap the box rapidly, yet gently, to advance the player’s character across the screen. Obstacles and tap-controlled challenges mix things up a bit, requiring different tapping techniques to overcome.
Rhythm Tap: A rhythm game in a similar vein to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, where the player must tap with varying intensities in time with markers that scroll across the screen.
Silent Blocks: A Jenga-like game where players must gently remove blocks from a stack.
Bubble Voyager: A side scrolling shoot ‘em up style game where the player collects stars and shoots obstacles. Also includes a 4-player battle mode.
Visualizer: Not so much a game, but a mode where players can create various visual effects in time with music.

Let’s take a look at these various game modes in a little more depth.

Tap Runner is a lot of fun in single player, but where it comes into its own is in multiplayer. It’s a simple concept that is easy to pick up, and the controls work surprisingly well. The levels start off very easy and the difficulty ramps up from there, throwing various obstacles such as simple hurdles, crushing blocks, electrifying orbs, and teleporters into the mix. The entire game is controlled by tapping (obviously), with a frantic yet gentle tap to advance forward, and a hard tap to jump. Tap Runner also has players inflating balloons, as well as other tap-controlled challenges to overcome.

Rhythm Tap is a slightly weaker game mode, and if you’re into rhythm games you’ll probably find it a little too simplistic. The selection of songs is good (although you won’t have heard most of them anywhere before) and the controls are difficult to get to grips with, with soft, medium, and hard taps required depending on what coloured discs the game decides to send your way.

Although Guitar Hero and Rock Band fans will tire of this quickly, it should appeal to the man in the street as a very accessible music game which can be enjoyed straight away. I’m just not so sure that the different tap intensities are registered properly by the Wii Remote. That or I’m just rubbish at tapping a box.

Silent Blocks is the game’s shining star, a puzzle game so addictive that it would probably sell in the millions if released on its own as a WiiWare title. The premise of the game is simple – the player has to tap to select a block, and then a series of gentle taps will carefully nudge the block from the pile. Tap too hard, however, and the whole pile will be knocked over and the game is over!

When groups of 3 blocks come together, they will merge together into various stages of special block, and creating these special blocks is the aim of the game. It’s a deceptively simple game which will provide fans of puzzle games with hours of fun, and the multiplayer mode works very well too.

Bubble Voyager is fantastic fun in single player, and is only let down by its lack of levels. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to control a side scrolling shooter with one hand, this is probably the only place you’ll experience it, and its competent level design means that it would even work quite well with traditional controls. The Asteroids-inspired multiplayer battle mode, however, is a bit of a flop and I found it to be an exercise in frustration due to poorly implemented controls.

Finally, the visualizer is mostly pretty pointless, with pre-scripted actions happening as you tap the box, however one or two of the available visualizer options do contain some more interactive surprises. The visualizer is probably the game’s weakest point, but I’m sure that it’s unique and interesting enough to attract some fans somewhere.

Overall, Let’s Tap has a high level of polish and a colourful and trendy music and art direction. Its simple controls make it easy for anyone to get into and the games are generally pretty good. The areas where the game falls down compared to the likes of Raving Rabbids and WarioWare are the limited number of minigames available and the general slower pace than its frantic competitors.

The game’s tap controls do feel a little gratuitous at times, as any of the games here could be played with a normal controller quite successfully (note that Let’s Tap doesn’t give you this option), but on a system where games need gimmicks to garner attention it could be much, much worse. The tap controls do work very well, even for navigating the menus, and are very easy to pick up.

I really wanted to hate Let’s Tap the first time I played it, but it’s definitely grown on me to the point where even this stalwart old-skool gamer has come to appreciate its quirkiness and charm. This probably isn’t a must-buy on the system at the moment, especially as it’s just been released and prices are still high, but a game that any self-respecting Wii gamer should experience at some point.