Review: Tap Tap Revenge NIN

Rhythm based games are quickly becoming “The Game” to own, manifesting in all forms from miniaturized plastic instruments that quickly gobble the living room and knockoffs of anything that so much as brings up the word beat, in a musical sense of course. “The Game” to have for the iPhone has always been Tap Tap Revolution and since its Jailbreaking reliant days, have provided hours of fun for casual users, asylum for Dance Dance Revolution fanatics and of course something to pass the time from those big boy console games. Tap Tap Revenge rose from the ashes of the fractured Jailbreaking community and took center stage on the iPhone’s own App Store from day one and has only gotten better thanks to a partnership between Tapulous and Nine Inch Nails. The end result is a tapping frenzy synchronized with a sonic felatio of music.

What makes the newest iteration of Tap Tap Revenge so appealing is the partnership between a band providing content that powers the game which is sure to tickle the sweetspots of fanboys and challenge seeking gamers alike. Besides dipping into Nine Inch Nail’s latest albums, Ghosts and The Slip, to assault finger tips everywhere, the close integration of the band’s theme throughout the game makes it all the more enjoyable. You’re almost immersed in a complete NIN induced music frenzy sans mic throwing and a graveyard of beat down broken instruments. The close integration between not only the music and album production make for a tight knit game that doesn’t skip on features and doesn’t sell out for the sake of appealing to a niche userbase.

The App is further sweetened by a promotion being ran by Tapulous in which floor tickets for NIN’s remaining shows of this year will be gifted to a select few who manage to conquer their way into a score of 150,000 of higher. Oh and don’t forget that one of you lucky tapping connoisseurs will be worthy of receiving a Les Paul guitar signed by Trent Reznor himself. There will be no pork based appetizers as a consolation prize, however.

Whether you’re a fan of Tap Tap Revenge or Nine Inch Nails, none of that matters once you plop down and unleash your fingers of fury. Sure you’ll get an extra dosage of NIN’s newest release but it’s still a challenge worth taking up by dedicated Tap Tap fans. While the few tracks included from The Slip make waves, the remaining selection is slotted full of Ghosts songs. Despite any perception you may have of the instrumental laden album, they translate quite nicely into Tap Tap, possibly due to the emphasis of hitting dots as they roll down the screen and not trying to impose your horrible Karaoke playing skills on the general public.

The setlist for Tap Tap NIN consists of 13 tracks which all contain difficulties of Easy, Medium, Hard and Extreme. The tracks included are below.

-1,000,000
-Discipline
-3 Ghosts I
-Echoplex
-18 Ghosts III
-19 Ghosts III
-Head Down
-21 Ghosts III
-26 Ghosts III
-Demon Seed
-31 Ghosts IV
-Letting You
-9 Ghosts I

What’s interesting to note however is the comparisons in price between the NIN version and Tapulous’ free version. The price of $4.99 doesn’t technically consist of the cost for songs. The six songs from The Slip can be had for free from Nine Inch Nail’s website while two songs from Ghosts can also be obtained for nothing through the teaser posted for the album. The 5 remaining Ghosts tracks make up the whole 36 song disc and comes to $5 for the whole shebang or 14 cents per individual slice of sonic solace. That puts 70 cents into the cost of the game’s music but the price is worth every penny considering the excellent quality of the game and awesome integration between Nine Inch Nails. This kind of development skill and expertise is rarely seen as gaming companies butcher a brand until its assimilated into a cookie cutter environment.

Gallery On Flickr Tap Tap Revenge (NIN)