Nintendo Wii Review: Let’s Tap

When people hear the words Nintendo Wii, two things come to mind: party and creative controls. Sometimes the latter of the two tends to fall short due to rushed production schedules and ported titles with force-fed waggle controls. This of course rains on the whole party factor. Now that Wii Motion has come to save the day, gamers have been getting an upgraded taste of the new gaming experiences heralded by the Wii. Games like golf and tennis now feel more “real,” with added control sensitivity to the rotation of your wrist.

Now Sega and Prope have taken an entirely new direction with the Wii, and this one doesn’t require an extra $24.99 to get Wii Motion. “Let’s Tap” is a game that uses the Wii-mote in an entirely new and innovative way. For starters, you don’t even have to pick up the Wii-mote to play it – well, that is, except for navigating a few of the early menus. In “Let’s Tap,” gamers place the Wii-mote face down on a solid object; the game recommends a tissue box. It sounds strange, but after playing you’ll see why you may want to find an extra tissue box or two so a friend can play as well.

The game is called “Let’s Tap” and that is exactly what you do. As you tap the surface, where the Wii-mote rests, the Wii-mote picks up the vibrations of your tapping. The game sets up an excellent tutorial to get you started. Your taps work almost like a computer mouse when navigating the game menus. You can tap once to go to a different option, or double-tap to select an option. Inside games, depending on the heft of your tap, your avatar will respond differently. I initially setup a chair to tap on, but after a few games, I realized the hard surface was hurting my index fingers from the repetitive tapping. So, I switched to the tissue box, and I was good to go.

Let’s tap features five different games: Tap Runner, Rhythm Tap, Silent Blocks, Bubble Voyager, and Visualizer. Each game has its own unique feel and directive. So, if you’ve got a Wii Party up, this tapping experience will be a definite plus. However, playing this game alone will be a severely dampen the experience. This game was meant for multi-player. The game features vibrant colors that can only be deemed mesmerizing.

The first game featured is Tap Runner. In this game, you are a neon stick figure that in a track race against up to four other players. The initial game is a simple track with hurdles. As you improve, you will unlock other racetracks, featuring a variety of obstacles. It’s great fun watching your stick figure get electrocuted, or pumping a balloon until it pops and propels you into the air. After a while, if you’re playing alone the boards will get repetitive, but, for parties, the fun won’t stop.

Rhythm Tap is the second game featured. It, initially, feels like rock band with your index finger. The game has three hit levels for notes. Unfortunately, the game lacks complexity and there are only a few songs that aren’t recognizable. I felt like I was missing several notes and there wasn’t any repercussions for being offbeat.

Silent Blocks is like a combination of Jenga and Connect Four (or Tetris). In the basic mode you simply remove pieces, without making the tower of neon blocks fall. Alchemist is the more entertaining mode. You remove different colored pieces here as well, but you’ve got a larger tower to contend with. As blocks fall you can connect color patterns to boost your score. Remove a red square separating two blue squares below it, and one above it and the pattern will be made and disappear in Tetris style fashion.

Bubble Voyager is a side-scrolling 2D game. This is the closest thing to an action game you’ll get in “Let’s Tap.” You’re outfitted with a jetpack on your back; each tap boosts you a little higher into the air. Gamers have to navigate through treacherous terrain collecting stars for points. I wanted this to be the most fun game, but I found that the tap mechanism was awkward to use when trying to navigate through a few tight corners. Two many taps and you run into the spiked ball above you; too few taps and you land on the spiked spheres below you.

The Visualizer is the least entertaining of all five modes. The first screen is like an Etch-a-Sketch painting game, performed through tapping. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any real point to playing this game. There are a few variations involving water and fish, but none of them really amount to anything that’s truly engaging.

“Let’s Tap” once again proves that the Wii is the life of the party. The bright visuals are a definite appeal. My main complaint is that there are only five games included in this package, and I feel several more could have been added. With the Visualizer not really counting as a game, you only end up with four competitive games to play. This is a title to check out, if only to get a sense of how creative developers can be with the Wii controller, a small budget and a desire to be the life of the party.