'TapStar' – Sony Music Licensed Rhythm Game
posted by arn on July 3rd, 2009 4:02 PM EDT in $0.99, Music / Rhythm, iPhone games, iPod touch games
EpicTilt recently released a new rhythm game to the App Store called TapStar [$0.99]. While there are a number of rhythm games available on the App Store, TapStar's claim to fame is that it includes exclusively licensed content from Sony Music. That means the first release includes full versions of a number of known artists and songs including:
- Lit/My Own Worst Enemy
- Romantics/What I Like About You
- John Mayer/Say
- Britney Spears/I’m A Slave 4 U
- Pink/Get the Party Started
- Sarah McLachlan/Fallen
- Cyndi Lauper/Girls Just Want to Have Fun
- Warrant/Heaven
- TLC/Creep
As well, the developer promises free updates with more songs in the near future. 11 that are listed as coming "very soon" include: Kansas/Carry On Wayward Son, Three Days Grace/Never Too Late, Cheap Trick/I Want You to Want Me, Cheap Trick/Surrender, John Mayer/Waiting on the World to Change, John Mayer/Your Body Is a Wonderland, Sarah McLachlan/Angel, Spin Doctors/Two Princes, Spin Doctors/Little Miss Can't Be Wrong, Los Lonely Boys/Heaven, and Warrant/Cherry Pie.
This first version of TapStar will seem a bit rudimentary to rhythm game fans as there are no special tap-and-hold or slide notes. Instead the game offers a pretty straightforward tap-mechanic without even many graphical flourishes letting you know how accurate you've been. So, compared to DDR, it's a bit of a bland experience. Meanwhile, the game uses Pump It Up style corner buttons that are mapped to virtual buttons on each corner of your iPhone.
The developer, however, has revealed that many features didn't make it into the 1.0 release, so we should be seeing more in future updates that improve the graphics and animation. He also predicts a total of 60 tracks to be added within the next 90 days for free, but can't exclude the possibility of micro-transactions beyond that.
While it's hard to recommend a game just based on future promises, the current $0.99 promotion price makes it hard to pass up if you love even one of the songs included.
App Store Link: TapStar, $0.99
thx for the kind words.
and to everyone.. this game has 1 goal. to make an awesome rhythm game for YOU.
so if you have ideas for features, let us know.. we will try to get them in.
if you have ideas for upcoming music youd like, we are getting a form put together where people can vote.
the gameplay will also drastically get better as far as point score based on accuracy. combos, multiplayer. alot of exciting stuff.
the main gial we had was to get out a game that ran SMOOTH and on sync on ALL idevices.. hopefuly there are no lag issues and frame jumps, but if you do experience these please let us know.
right now we have minor visuals and run ~60fps on apples slowest device so we have a lot of headroom to make the game visually amazing while still keeping it smooth as butter.
Instant buy!
Good rhythm games are seeded rarely. I bought this because I like the control scheme. I hope it's good!
I think Tap Tap has the correct rhythm pattern down. This doesn't even feel like a natural rhythm unless the harder levels introduce more. I would be wanting to tap when there was no arrow based on this video.
Sounds cool to me. Does anyone know if Sony publishes Linkin Park's stuff? Three Days Grace, Kansas, and Cheap Trick are great too though, so there is definitely stuff to look forward to.
It looks simple because the youtube poster is playing on level "Amateur" if you notice in the level selection. It's a lot more fun on "Pro" and "TapStar" levels.
switched the video to one that shows the harder mode.
arn
looks like it might be fun
boring songs tho
if you can make this sort of game use your own music i would pay atleast £5 for it…
taptap revenge would be amazing if it uses your own music
@marc
http://toucharcade.com/2009/05/29/beatrider-touch-use-your-mp3s-in-this-rhythm-game/
arn
Downloaded it, and so far, definitely worth the price. I personally think it plays a lot more naturally than the DDR port did, and the song selection, though currently meager, is quite nice. How many rhythm games have Elvis Presley songs? The overwhelming amount of John Mayer makes me a bit ill, but, again, even if there's only one song you like, it's worth it. Granted, it's not as spectacular or diverse as Tap Tap, but Tapulous has set a considerably high bar that I don't think any games have matched yet. Let me put it this way: if I'm going to be choosing a paid app that's either a bit simplistic but has a diverse song base, or a really shiny app that's…Lady Gaga's album…I don't even think this is a real decision.
And arn, I respect beatrider, but I thought it was a little clunky and didn't respond well. At all.
@tyrran
yeah, automatic song analysis has it's issues and is definitely not as good as songs that are manually generated like this. I just pointed it out since the guy was asking about it specifically.
arn
I changed my mind.
The stepcharts don\'t make any sense and seem like randomly created.
That's no fun at all playing it so Dance Dance Revolution S sill remains N°1
That's sooo unprofessional. An the arrow blinking sucks…
FIX IT – I PAID 4 IT!
kintaro is a tapulous fanboy … obviously a hater sent from tapulous… shame on you tapulous…. the beats and stepcharts are clearly better in TS than TTR
i am neither a tapulous or TapTap revolution fan since it's 2 easy for me pushing just 3 buttos (lol)
I love this game, I just want more songs. The "stepcharts" don't seem randomly created at all, especially on harder difficulties.
I just want more gameplay, like hold down vs. just tapping.
There is agood xhance a rececnt update will include a track creator section to construct your own levels and share with the community. These will also be availble for the multiplayer addition where not only will you challenge other players, you can play a custom track / level / map whatever. And the other play can choose to save it.
That way you can make insanely hard levels
THX GOD,
so I can fix the stapcharts myself!
okay i like the idea of the game but i agree with kintaro360 the charts seem a little off. and not only that they all are too similiar it makes the game kinda boring for me, but hey i trust these guys will do a good job at making this a great game