Indie record label Delicious Vinyl has released self-themed rhythm game which includes a number of hits from their catalog.

We don't expect this one to have much appeal amongst our younger audience, but some of you are going to really enjoy the song list:

• Young MC, "Bust A Move"
• Tone Loc, "Funky Cold Medina"
• Tone Loc, "Wild Thing (Peaches RMX)"
• The Pharcyde, "Passin' Me By"
• Masta Ace, "Born To Roll"
• Mr. Vegas (feat. Pitbull & Lil'Jon), "Pull Up (Club Mix)"
• Masta Ace, "Slaughtahouse (Eminem RMX)"

As a rhythm game, it offers a reasonably fun experience (on the harder difficulties) with additional sound effects (samples, scratching) when you hit the note properly. Unfortunately, the actual experience of scratching along with the music just isn't nearly as satisfying as hitting more traditional beats. The timing isn't as obvious and the audio/visual feedback is more limited. But if you're a big fan of the music, you're not going to find these songs in Rock Band.

App Store Link: Delicious Vinyl DJ, $2.99

Auditorium has arrived for the iPhone. The musical puzzle game began life as a Flash game that can still be played on its website.

In Auditorium you have to guide a flow of light particles into the audio containers on the game board. Each level has a different set of movable pieces that all have different effects on the flow of these particles, from simply controlling its direction, speed, or even attracting or repelling the flow. The early levels start in grayscale, but quickly make way to vibrant colors and different audio containers that can hold each the various particle colors.

The iPhone version of the game contains 25 levels across 5 different acts and naturally uses touch and pinch controls to adjust the placement and strength of the pieces. Additional "movements" (levels) can be purchased for $0.99 a piece, adding 14-17 levels per pack. Some of the more advanced pieces that affect particle movement are reserved for the add-on content. A Lite version of the game is also available which contains 5 different levels and starts off slightly more difficult to give you a better taste of the game. Auditorium is an original game that's worth a try if you've never experienced it before.

App Store Link: Auditorium Lite, Free, Auditorium, $2.99

Despite the release of Tap Tap Revenge 3 with in-app purchases, Tapulous is still releasing specially themed versions. The latest band to get this special edition treatment is Metallica.

The game includes new Hard and Extreme landscape modes with 4 or 5 tap rails, respectively, rather than the usual 3. List of tracks included are:

• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Fuel
• King Nothing
• Sad But True
• Some Kind of Monster
• Enter Sandman
• One
• Seek & Destroy
• All Nightmare Long
• Master of Puppets

App Store Link: Metallica Revenge, $4.99

Early this month Empty Clip Studios gave us an exclusive preview of the upcoming iPhone port of their download / retail Wii rhythm puzzle title, Groovin' Blocks. Those anxious to get their hands on this one can now try the full [link] or lite [link] version, which went live in the App Store yesterday.

Each of Groovin' Blocks' 50 levels is played to a pumping techno soundtrack with scrolling beat-indicators on either side of the screen.  Block clusters slide onto the playfield in a Tetris-like fashion, and will ultimately come to rest at the bottom of the screen.  A tap on the 'drop' button will quickly drop the piece into place — but if you "hit a beat" (tapping the drop button during a beat of the soundtrack) the blocks will be bigger, brighter, and worth more points.  Hitting consecutive beats without a miss increases your score multiplier — but miss a beat and it drops back to zero.  Hitting the occasional Superbeat, shown brighter in the scrolling beat display, will double your current score multiplier.

Certain blocks contain power-ups that can be collected only if you hit a beat when placing said block.  Power-ups are unleashed when the successfully placed block is destroyed by a match-three scenario.

See our preview video for a closer look.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

GameSpot calls the Wii version of Groovin' Blocks "a music-based game like no other."  As we said in our preview look, there's no shortage of match-three puzzlers in the App Store, but Groovin' Blocks' musical / rhythm component really does set it apart from the pack.

App Store Links: Groovin' Blocks, $1.99, Groovin' Blocks Lite, Free

Rhythm games have been a part of gamer culture since Bemani popularized them outside of Japan with Dance Dance Revolution in the late 90's. Since then, the core game concept of DDR has varied widely from things as obscure as shaking maracas in Samba de Amigo on the Dreamcast to emulating a full band in EA's newly released Rock Band [App Store] on the iPhone.

Rock Band allows gamers to choose from playing the guitar, bass guitar, drums, and even singingwhile rocking out to a particular song. In console versions, you use plastic guitar, drum kit, and microphone. On the iPhone and iPod Touch, each of these instruments are played by tapping four areas on the screen to match up with the musical notes coming down the screen.

We extensively previewed the game, and preferred it to the other available rhythm games:

Where Rock Band pulls ahead of the pack of rhythm games on the iPhone is when it comes to overall immersion while you're playing the songs.

Obviously there's only so much immersion that you can achieve when you're pretending to play a guitar by tapping on the screen of your iPhone, but playing the tracks in the iPhone Rock Band works just like its console big brother in that every note you miss causes the music to be interrupted. This seems to add so much more to the game than just tapping along to a song like other similar games on the platform with music that just keeps playing regardless of how poorly you're doing.

Rock Band for the iPhone comes loaded with 20 songs, and additional songs can be purchased in game in packs of two for 99¢. This is not only cheaper than buying the songs themselves from iTunes, but also significantly cheaper than buying them inside of any other iteration of Rock Band.

Also included is four player local bluetooth multiplayer, achievements, Facebook connectivity, and along with both single song game modes and a "World Tour" career mode. Keep in mind, because of the in-game DLC, Rock Band requires the 3.0 OS.

The iPhone version of Rock Band does a great job at emulating some of the feel of the console original, and thanks to the four distinct playable tracks in each song, the game also offers an experience not found in competing games on the App Store. With the cheapest DLC to be found in the Rock Band series, the iPhone version will be hard for fans to pass up. Reactions so far seem positive in the thread our forums, with the main complaints relating to veterans of Rock Band finding the iPhone version to be too easy, along with the somewhat expected complaint regarding the track selection.

App Store Link: Rock Band, $9.99

I admit when we first got approached by EA about Rock Band I was skeptical. After all, Tapulous has been through three revisions of Tap Tap Revolution, the latest of which we reviewed recently and includes an immense in-game store to buy new music to play along with a bunch of other features. However, where Rock Band pulls ahead of the pack of rhythm games on the iPhone is when it comes to overall immersion while you're playing the songs.

Obviously there's only so much immersion that you can achieve when you're pretending to play a guitar by tapping on the screen of your iPhone, but playing the tracks in the iPhone Rock Band works just like its console big brother in that every note you miss causes the music to be interrupted. This seems to add so much more to the game than just tapping along to a song like other similar games on the platform with music that just keeps playing regardless of how poorly you're doing.

Each song can be played in four distinctly different ways-- Guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Every instrument has its own track that you tap along with, and they all match up with the music just as well as the other versions of the game. Each mode is also playable in three difficulty levels. Easy should be easy enough for anyone to jump in to, and hard seems fairly challenging.

Rock Band features several modes of play. If you only have time to play a single song, there's a quick play mode. If you want to play through various gigs as your band seeks fame and fortune there's a world tour mode, and if you have friends with the game both online and local bluetooth multiplayer is included. I don't have anyone to test these multiplayer features with, but they're all in there, and I can imagine some pretty hilarious impromptu bluetooth jam sessions among groups of friends that have the game.

The online component uses Facebook to log in and connect you with your friends, and according to EA you will even get push notifications when friends of yours invite you to rock out online. Included in the initial release are 20 songs from a ton of great bands, and there is an in-game store where you can buy additional tracks. In the build I have, there is one additional content pack which features two Smashing Pumpkins songs for 99¢.

Included track list:

30 Seconds To Mars - "Attack"
AFI - "Girls Not Grey"
All American Rejects - "Move Along"
Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
Blink-182 - "All The Small Things"
Blondie - "Hanging on the Telephone"
Foo Fighters - "Learn To Fly"
Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
George Thorogood & the Destroyers - "Bad to The Bone"
Jethro Tull - "Hymn 43"
Joan Jett - "Hymn 43"
Lynard Skynyrd - "Simple Man"
Motorhead - "Ace of Spades '08"
Pixies - "Debaser"
Presidents of The United States of America - "Ladybug"
Rise Against - "Give It All"
Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"
Smashing Pumpkins - "Cherub Rock"
Steve Miller Band - "Take The Money and Run"
The Go Go's - "We Got The Beat"

I went into Rock Band for the iPhone skeptical that EA could provide something that hadn't already been done before by the existing rhythm game competition and came out fairly impressed. Rock Band has already been submitted for approval to Apple, and is expected to go live sometime next week!

Tapulous's Tap Tap Revenge 3 [App Store] is the third generation of Tap Tap Revenge games, and with the inclusion of downloadable content (DLC), Tap Tap Revenge 3 finally has become what the series should have been from the start, with a complete in-game store to buy all kinds of licensed music tracks to play.

If you're unfamiliar with the series, Tap Tap Revenge is a rhythm game similar to Dance Dance Revolution that you play by tapping with your fingers and shaking the phone. The game's roots go all the way back before the App Store even existed, and was one of the first jailbreak games for the iPhone that was more than a simple card or marble rolling game.

Prior to OS 3.0 and the advent of in-game DLC, Tapulous sold music packs through separate games on the App Store. Available for $4.99, these individually bundled games featured music from Weezer, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Nine Inch Nails, and Dave Matthews Band.

In Tap Tap Revenge 3, there are close to 50 bundles of music that can be purchased in game. 6 track bundles are sold for $2.99, and 2 track bundles for 99¢. Each of these bundles also comes with their own theme with various art from each of the bands that scroll across the screen as you play their corresponding songs. (Full track list available on TUAW.)

Aside from the array of optional music to buy, Tap Tap Revenge 3 has over 100 free indie songs, and Tapulous plans on adding free music every week for users to download. TTR3 also has a full online component with various multiplayer modes, avatars to choose from, and tons of other social features like in-game chat.

If you've never played a Tap Tap Revenge game, Tap Tap Revenge 2.6 [App Store] is free and will give you a good idea in what to expect in the sequel. Otherwise, Tap Tap Revenge 3 is available for 99¢, and with the potential of nearly unlimited content to be added to the game via the DLC store, there's not much reason to not pick this up if you're a fan of rhythm games.

App Store Link: Tap Tap Revenge 3, 99¢

Red Rocket Games' Mevo & The GrooveRiders [App Store] rhythm platformer is free for the next 24 hours.

This charming rhythm game is presented as a side-scrolling platformer in which your controls consist of two buttons that must be tapped in time with the music. Mevo runs and jumps across the level on his own and your taps must be timed as he runs past the corresponding icons. Miss a note and Mevo will stumble. Miss enough and the game ends.

We really liked it when we first covered it in June, and the game has since seen regular updates with more levels and gameplay modes.

App Store Link: Mevo & The GrooveRiders, Free (1 day)

Pompom Games' Poppi [App Store] is a game that couldn't really exist on any other platform but the iPhone without losing quite a bit of the experience.

The goal of Poppi is touching the screen to juggle the various shapes that fall from the top, bouncing them off other shapes and off the sides of the screen before finally colliding with matching shapes and popping off the screen with a fun star explosion particle effect. As the objects bounce they make different sounds, and eventually strange melodies emerge out of the juggling chaos of Poppi.

The simple gameplay is set on a colorful and slowly changing background, and the entire package creates a very soothing experience similar to games like Zen Bound [App Store] on the iPhone and Electroplankton on the Nintendo DS.

The white rings in the video show where the finger taps would be occuring, and also shown in the video are red spiked objects and bombs which are to be avoided. Poppi is a fun game, and because the sound is such a vital part of the feel of the game, we recommend playing with headphones.

App Store Link: Poppi, 99¢

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

Red Rocket Games recently released an iPhone version of original PC game Mevo and The Grooveriders [App Store]. The developers describe their title as a "Mario meets Guitar Hero" music game.

That description concisely describes this charming little rhythm game. Mevo and The Grooveriders is presented as a side-scrolling platformer in which your controls consist of two buttons that must be tapped in time with the music. Mevo runs and jumps across the level on his own and your taps must be timed as he runs past the corresponding icons. Miss a note and Mevo will stumble. Miss enough and the game ends.

It's really a hypnotic experience that should please most fans of rhythm gaming, and I suspect just watching this video will cause some people to instantly buy the game no matter what else I might say:

There is one caveat, however, and that's the game's length. The 7+ minute video above actually shows the entire game on the iPhone as it stands now -- 3 levels (though there are 3 levels of difficulty to play across). The developer has said that they are planning on porting over the remaining levels from the PC version (15 in all) over to the iPhone and that they will be free updates.

Still, the game is only $0.99, so it's not much of an investment to simply get it now.

App Store Link: Mevo and The Grooveriders, $0.99

The much anticipated BeatRider rhythm game launched into the App Store tonight with a full version [$4.99] as well as a generous Lite version [Free].

BeatRider is a rhythm game in which the player taps along with the music. While the basic concept is the same as popular apps such as Tap Tap Revenge and Dance Dance Revolution, BeatRider has one unique feature that has not been seen in the app store yet: the ability to use your own music.

There's a reason we haven't seen this feature before -- Apple doesn't make it easy. App Store apps are restricted in what they can access and the music library is off limits. In order to get around this restriction, the developers of BeatRider came up with web-based solution that works very well. You simply upload your MP3 or M4A song files to your free account on MyBeatRider. Once uploaded, the songs are processed and available to download within the iPhone application. The app downloads the songs to your iPhone or iPod Touch which can be played later even offline.

The system works surprisingly well, though given the size of the files (4-8MB) you are transferring, we recommend you stick to fast Wi-Fi connections. Even the Lite version allows you to upload and download songs, giving you the full experience. The difference between the Lite and Full versions is that the Lite only allows you to hold 1 single song while the Full version allows up to 20.

The resulting quality of gameplay can be variable depending on the songs. Songs with strong beats seem to fare better with the automated analysis. MyBeatRider offers a list of frequently played songs and most uploaded songs to help guide your choices. I found Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas and Paper Planes by M.I.A. to be particularly good songs to try. Meanwhile, TouchArcade forum users are listing songs they recommend in this discussion thread.

The game, itself, works as you might expect. Tap on the notes as they cross the bottom. The game also includes tap and hold as well as tap and slide mechanics. Songs are given up to 6 different levels of difficulty and even the easy difficulties can be challenging. When testing the game out, I recommend sticking to "Easy" and above. As tempting as "Very Easy" is, the resulting note-mapping simply wasn't very fun for several of the songs I tried.

All in all, a really nice title that offers a full featured Lite version to try. Give this one a try.

App Store Link: BeatRider Touch, $4.99, BeatRider Touch Lite, Free

Fans of the Dave Matthews Band will be pleased to hear that Tapulous has just released Dave Matthews Band Revenge [App Store], the latest release in the highly popular Tap Tap Revenge music / rhythm game series.

The game brings the following features:

• 10 smash hits from Dave Matthews Band, including two hot new singles off their upcoming album: Funny The Way It Is, Shake Me Like A Monkey, Tripping Billies, Everyday, Ants Marching, American Baby, Crash Into Me, What Would You Say, So Much To Say, Two Step
• New themes, graphics and effects, inspired by Dave Matthews Band videos and discography
• Four addictive difficulty levels, each with unlockable boss tracks
• Superior stability, multi-player mode, a Dave Matthews Band news feed, and Facebook Connect to flaunt your scores to the World

Fans of the series may also want to have a look at Tapulous' Tap Tap Coldplay [App Store], which was released last month.  It features themes and effects inspired by Coldplay's videos, along with the following tracks: Lovers in Japan (Osaka Sun Mix), Lost, In My Place, Fix You, Life in Technicolor II, Clocks, Yellow, Shiver, Speed of Sound, Viva la Vida, Viva la Vida (Thin White Duke Remix).

App Store Links: Dave Matthews Band Revenge, $4.99, Tap Tap Coldplay, $4.99

DifferentCloth's Lilt Line [$2.99] is an original music/rhythm game for the iPhone set to a dubstep soundtrack by 16bit.

In a world of match-3 games, DifferentCloth delivers a refreshing concept that I love -- but a little more in theory than in practice.

The game is stylistically simple which seems to work. The gameplay is also somewhat simple. Steer a growing line through a simple maze while avoiding the walls. Tap on the screen as you pass white bars which represent beats in the music. Manage to accomplish both of these tasks and you are rewarded with a smooth playing soundtrack. Miss a bar or hit a wall, and the music still stutter and your score will lower.

The game contains only 10 levels of progressive difficulty and has been criticized for being short, though getting a perfect score on each level will take some time.

Music/rhythm gamer fans or anyone looking for a different type of game will find this an enjoyable experience, but with its relative simplicity and short length I don't necessarily believe it will appeal to the broader audience.

Some other reactions can be found in our forums.

App Store Line: Lilt Line, $2.99

Here's a collection of recently released games that are well worth a try: a platformer, a rhythm game and a puzzle game.

Each developer has kindly provided a free Lite version for their games so you can give them a try yourself. That said, the games only cost $0.99-$1.99 and all seem to provide plenty of content. The prices listed besides the game titles link directly to the App Store.

• iDroids ($1.99, Free) - A nice looking side scrolling platformer that we've had our eye on for a while. You control a droid who is trying to rescue his wife while fighting and swinging your way through iDroidOpia.

  The game itself uses on screen buttons to control movement, jumping and weapons. While everything seems to work right, the game isn't really as immersive or engaging as I had hoped it would be. Fortunately, there is a lite version that takes you through a tutorial level and a regular level which provides plenty of gameplay to make a decision. The full game is only $1.99 which represents a special launch price. A YouTube trailer is available and discussion of the game in our forums.

• World of Tunes ($1.99, Free) - The latest offering from Korean developer Com2uS, World of Tunes is a charmingly designed rhythm action game.

  The game offers 4 modes of play which revolve around tapping on the little "Tuney" creatures at the right moments in time with the music. The music seems to be all original songs and the Story mode is set to a loose story complete with Boss attacks. The gameplay video shows how the game is played as well as boss battles.

  Overall the game is being very well received in our forums and a recent price drop from $4.99 to $1.99 should make it much more tempting. The free lite version contains two of the four modes of play.

• SuperNova Blast ($0.99, Free) - This game seems a bit simple with so-so graphics and an ugly icon... but is still worth your time. This is a chain-reaction game -- and there are a number in the App Store -- but something about this one is a bit more compelling.

  The $0.99 version of the game contains 250 levels. Each level contains a grid of stars in different energy. Tapping on a star makes it go from Blue -> Green -> Red -> Yellow -> until it finally explodes and shoots blasts in each of four directions. These blasts cause nearby stars to increase their size/energy. The goal is to make all the stars explode within a limited number of taps.

  The free version of the game offers 15 levels of play which is plenty to find out if you like the game. Some of our forum members are also enjoying it.