Even on an iPhone 4S, I’ve had occasional bouts of stages hitting lag spikes that they never fully recover from, making it a bit harder to pinpoint timing. Unfortunately, Tour doesn’t seem to do much to alleviate those concerns. When playing previous Tap Tap Revenge games, I’ve always had issues with tap feedback as well as the occasional slowdown and jittering (making note paths seem not as smooth). Still, the pick bonus is not really enough to keep your inventory full, unless you plan on buying quite a few song packs. I’m glad that Tour offers picks with song purchases as anyone looking to invest some time in Tour will most likely want to pick up additional songs as soon as possible anyway to supplement the small offering that come with the game (the music store actually features a decent catalog across various genres). Thus, players end up resorting to either straight purchasing of picks via IAP, saving up daily bonuses (and missing some daily locations in the meanwhile) or earning picks via purchasing paid songs. The problem is after a few days of playing, you’ll quickly realize that the daily bonus and level-up rewards aren’t nearly enough to keep you playing (and completing) locations on a day-to-day basis. You start out with a small amount when you first launch the game, and can earn additional picks with level-ups, as well as with a daily rationing for simply logging in. It’s bad enough that players can only participate in one location every 24 hours, but in addition to that, songs played at a location in Tour mode requires guitar picks (an in-game currency) to play.
Unfortunately, the game’s freemium aspects hold back the full potential of Tour Mode. It’s nice to see some sort of overarching story mode worked into the Tap Tap universe and it certainly succeeds in giving players something to come back for. Once you complete the last song, Tour mode ends until the next day, when a new location is picked. Passing songs awards Notes (which can be used to buy superficial items for your ‘wall’) and experience, with additional rewards of Notes and random items should you pass all the songs at a particular location.
Every location has a set amount of free (and DLC) songs that can be played from, which can be annoying when it turns out a premium song you paid for in the music store isn’t available for the day’s location. Songs can be played on any difficulty, and each venue gets progressively harder, imposing a limit on how many notes you can cumulatively miss for the song.
Every day, the Tap Tap servers pick a location in the world to perform a total of five (three plus two encore) songs. Where Tour looks to mix things up a bit is with the inclusion of its (aptly named) Tour Mode. Tour does do a lot to shake up the basic formula as taps, holds, swipes, and shake moves all return with little in terms of actual changes. While Tour offers the same basic gameplay with new tracks (as well as a decent backlog of free and premium songs in its store), not much else has been improved upon or changed, save for the addition of a new freemium-based mode.įor those unfamiliar with the series, Tap Tap Revenge is a rhythm game that follows in the footsteps of Dance Dance Revolution with players tapping notes along three lanes to the tune of whatever is playing. Tapulous returns to the iOS music scene once again with Tap Tap Revenge Tour (Free), the latest in a string of Tap Tap Revenge games that stretch all the way back to before the App Store even existed.