Big box games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero (or their App Store equivalents) aren’t so different. At the end of the day, they have you strumming or drumming along with the beat of a song. Recent App Store rhythm game release WINta [Free] is different. It has you pounding out beats to the vocals of a given track, meaning the beat isn’t all that critical to your success. Freedom from the norm!

The vocal-first mentality of WINta won’t strike you as much of a surprise when you take the time to consider who made the game. This is a product of visionary game creator Masaya Matsuura’s imagination. Matsuura-san is responsible for the creation of the Parappa the Rapper series, as well as Major Minor’s Majestic March for the Wii.

It doesn’t take long to master WINta. Its UI is cold and efficient. During each vocal segment of a song, a pattern of psychedelic squares are presented. Whenever the singing starts, you simply press a corresponding square that begins filling up with his or her words.

Sadly, you won’t be able to do much with WINta unless you’re willing to put down some cash. The game comes with a light, yet informative tutorial and just one song. Other songs can be added at a price, of course, making this a freemium title of sorts.

Interested? Give it a try. While WINta is not my cup of tea, I can see a fair few music game fans having a good time with this. Plus, it’s free. Download it already, silly head. What have you got to lose?

UPDATE: We’ve received a very important detail about this WINta — it’s a OneBigGame published App. That’s notable because OBG is a non-profit publisher who brings developers together in order to create games that benefit charity. Specifically for WINta, a portion of each additional music track sold will go to Save the Children and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Neat!