A new game released this week that caught our eye is Rhythm Spirit [$2.99] by developer Monad Games. Its focus is on being a rhythm based fighting game, similar to the Nintendo DS title Draglade from a few years ago, but offers more beyond just squaring off against an opponent. It's not the greatest rhythm game, and not the greatest action game, but it combines the two elements in a way that is really enjoyable and does it all with fantastic graphics and a phenomenal soundtrack to boot.

You'll play as the ninja Toshi who is infected with a strange evil spirit that gives him powerful martial arts skills that are controlled by tapping the onscreen buttons in rhythm to the music. Icons enter the screen from both the left and right side and must be tapped when they hit the very middle. Most levels feature one-on-one fighting with how well you do keeping up with the rhythm directly affecting your offensive and defensive performance. Other types of levels are thrown in for variety like the very first level that has you outrunning a group of enemy ninjas, or a level where you must play a song on a flute to appease a giant frog into letting you pass his pond.

This video demonstrates the gameplay and just how crazy some of the game elements are:

What really makes Rhythm Spirit a delight is the colorful 2D art style and the truly excellent music. The soundtrack is bass heavy electronic music with subtle Japanese stylings that really fits the game well. The game suggest wearing headphones while playing and I wholeheartedly agree, as not only does it sound much better but it's easier to pick out the parts of the rhythm that you need to tap in time with. There are 10 levels in the game, each with easy, normal, and hard settings and an A-F grading system based on how well you do.

As we said, it's not necessarily the best rhythm game or best fighting game, but if you're interested in something that's quite a bit different than your traditional game, and contains really high quality music and presentation, then check out Rhythm Spirit .

TouchArcade Rating:

Now, we're not saying Audiosurf is definitely coming to the iPhone... but it seems some of the new changes in iOS 4 make it possible. Engadget reported on a DJ scratching app that takes advantage of some of the new APIs in iOS 4 that allow Apps to directly import the audio files from your iPod library. In the past, the best that you could do is simply play and pause your existing iPod music from within a game -- but not actually do any processing to it.

This led to some awkward workarounds. BeatRider, for example, required you to upload your MP3s to their website and then download the data back to your iPhone within the app. Well, no longer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A63X2xOU2ys

PC version of Audiosurf

This means we should be able to see rhythm games that allows you to directly import your music and manipulate it for your gaming entertainment. Bring it on.

There's something special on the way to both the iPhone and the iPad for lovers of rhythm games, lovers of 8-bit retro-styled games, and, most especially, lovers of both styles all mashed up together. Gaijin Games has teamed up with Namco Bandai to bring an adaptation of their Wiiware title Bit.Trip Beat to the App Store.

One of a series of four Bit.Trip titles by Gaijin (published through the Wii Shop by Aksys Games), Bit.Trip Beat is something like a cross between Pong and Rez as an accelerometer-equipped Atari 2600 might play them. The game puts you in tilt or touch control of an on-screen paddle with the goal of bouncing waves of oncoming blocks whence they came. The impact timings of the aforementioned blocks are synched with the excellent chiptune audio track while abstract / futuristic animations float in the backdrop, both of which give the game its sort of Rez dynamic. And, it's all done up in brilliant colors and oh-so-lovely jaggy, chunky pixels.

The further you progress through the game, successfully returning oncoming blocks, the more complex and evolved the visual presentation becomes. Miss too many blocks, and the visuals slowly regress to a simple, black and white state, in another apparent nod to Rez.

The iOS versions of Bit.Trip Beat will be enhanced beyond the Wiiware original. The only real criticisms that can be found in the many positive reviews of the original are the small number of levels -- three, each with an end boss -- and the lack of an online leaderboard; both of these points are being addressed in the new versions. Aside from leaderboards, additional levels are expected to arrive as in-game downloadable content, free of charge. What's more, the original's four-person cooperative multiplayer support is expected to be brought over to the iOS versions, though we don't have details on just how that will work.

See video of the Wiiware original.

As a big fan of the Gaijin's Wiiware titles, I can't wait to get my hands on the iPhone and iPad versions of Bit.Trip Beat and hope that the studio sees success enough with the release to bring the other members of the Bit.Trip lineup over to the App Store. No price or exact release date has been indicated.

[ via Destructoid, GameZebo ]

As promised during yesterday's keynote address, Activision released an official version of Guitar Hero for the iPhone and iPod Touch yesterday.

The game costs $2.99 and comes with 6 songs with additional song packs available as in-app purchases. The included songs include:

• Queen - We Are The Champions
• Rise Against - Savior
• The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
• The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
• Weezer - Say It Ain't So
• Vampire Weekend - Cousins

Despite the rather short tracklist, impressions have been positive with particular praise for the game's fun notecharts:

Gotta say i'm pretty impressed thus far. Much better than I expected and way deeper, more challenging and fun than Rockband. I really like the variety in the gameplay created by the slides and "strums" - it adds a lot of challenging segments and can be much more interesting than the somewhat stagnant note charts from TTR3/RB.

More feedback and impressions are available in our discussion forums.

Marking a significant improvement over the recent Justin Bieber Revenge [$4.99] comes tonight's release from Tapulous, Nirvana Revenge [$4.99]. Following the same formula as the rest of the Revenge games, Nirvana Revenge comes with thirteen Nirvana song from several different albums (and live performances) to tap along with for less than you could buy the same songs from iTunes for.

The track list should make any 90's alternative fan happy:

• "All Apologies" (In Utero, 1993)
• "Breed" (Nevermind, 1991)
• "Breed" (Live at Reading, 2009)
• "Come As You Are" (Nevermind, 1991)
• "Heart Shaped Box" (In Utero, 1993)
• "In Bloom" (Nevermind, 1991)
• "Lithium" (Nevermind, 1991)
• "Lithium" (Live at Reading, 2009)
• "Rape Me" (In Utero, 1993)
• "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Nevermind, 1991)
• "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Live at Reading, 2009)
• "Stay Away" (Nevermind, 1991)
• "You Know You're Right" (Nirvana, 2002)

If this is the first you've heard of Tapulous's rhythm games, they're the finger tapping equivalent of Dance Dance Revolution. There are free versions you can try to see how the game works before diving in to any of the paid licensed games. For the iPhone you can either download Tap Tap Revenge 3 Boost [Free] or if you have an iPad, grab Tap Tap Radiation [Free]

There's been a number of games released on the App Store featuring mainstream music acts such as Lady Gaga, Metallica and Coldplay. So it didn't really come as much of a surprise to see Linkin Park 8-Bit Rebellion arrive over the weekend. What does come as a surprise however is that this isn't rhythm-based like most other music games, but rather a side-scrolling beat-em-up of sorts with a heavy focus on social networking. It sounds strange, and it kind of is, but it's also quite refreshing to see something other than the expected. The result ends up being more of an interesting experience, rather than a solid game.

The story has you helping each of the six members of Linkin Park to find their stolen music track. Once all tracks have been found, they complete an exclusive new Linkin Park song which will save the world… or something like that. You'll travel through the seven different locations in the game talking to different characters for clues and performing menial tasks that eventually lead you to each track. The gameplay is a bit shallow and repetitious, and incredibly easy. Battling enemies is done by merely mashing an action button, but there are some pretty cool weapon upgrades to help spice it up a little.

During play you'll collect coins from defeated enemies which can be spent in the shops spread throughout the seven game settings. You can buy gear for your avatar or furniture and decorations for your apartment. There's a heavy focus on this collection and customization aspect, and there's lots of different items for you to buy in the game. 8 Bit Rebellion does a great job of providing fan service with this, and the real life artwork and posters of Linkin Park albums can be adorned on your apartment walls. Even better are the music tracks in the game, which are familiar Linkin Park songs that have been given the 8-bit treatment. I'm not the biggest fan of Linkin Park, but I couldn't help but enjoy the retro versions of their songs. There's eight songs in total, and during the game you'll unlock all the original versions of them as well so you can compare them to the 8-bit remakes.

What really shines about this game is the online component. You're constantly connected while playing, and you'll see the avatars of players from around the world walking around inside of your game. At any time you can tap on one which brings up a menu to check out their profile, “poke” them á la Facebook, or even engage in real time chat with them. It's fun to see these people roaming around, and I've already run across some familiar usernames from people in our forums. Each level even has a bulletin board where anyone can post a message for all to see. Full Facebook and Twitter integration are included so you can post various game accomplishments and search out friends. If none of this sounds appealing to you, the entire game can be played just fine offline.

If you're a fan of Linkin Park, you'll likely get a lot of enjoyment from playing through 8-Bit Rebellion. The gameplay is a little too simplistic for serious gamers, but it can still be fairly entertaining at times. It's almost as if River City Ransom, Zombieville and Facebook decided to make a game based on their love for Linkin Park. In reality it feels like the type of game that actually would be played on a social network like Facebook. If this sounds interesting to you, you're definitely getting a high quality experience that's been designed beautifully to suit the iPhone interface. If you're not a huge fan of the band, however, 8-Bit Rebellion may just be a little too flimsy to hold your attention.

App Store Link: Linkin Park 8-bit Rebellion!, $4.99, Linkin Park 8-bit Rebellion! iPad Edition, $4.99

TouchArcade Rating:

Whilst the iPhone is lauded for its tactile innovations in gaming, the device itself has the potential for a much more sensory experience. Few games exhibit this more than the music and rythm category of games, where we've had such gems as the creative Thumpies and the instrumentally excellent Beat-It. Para9 have introduced their own take on the genre with their recently released, muBlip [AppStore].

muBlip is a stylish looking title that marries para9's own original score with shape and rhythm-based patterns in a Simon Says formula. Over the course of each level you are shown several bars of music depicted by shapes that are highlighted on-screen. You are then tasked with repeating the order of shapes on your own, testing both your memory and timing accuracy. There are 10 levels all up, divided into an introduction stage and three additional stages of increasing difficulty.

The physical interaction needed in muBlip goes beyond the simple taps required in many music rhythm games. Where an instrument holds a note in the track, muBlip may have you similarly hold down on a shape, or sliding your finger across the screen to simulate the sustain. The more advanced levels will see you attempting to replicate drum beats or staccato notes, where a set of shapes need to be tapped simultaneously and in rapid succession. If it sounds difficult, that's because it certainly is-- often the slightest touch out of time will see you failing a whole bar of notes.

To its credit, though muBlip feels unforgiving it never feels unfair. Practice will bear fruit as patterns are committed to memory-- the joy at pulling off a feat of finger finesse making it all worthwhile. This focus on memory is further emphasised by a hardcore mode which is unlocked after scoring over 80% of notes on a particular level. Hardcore mode removes the demonstration at the beginning of each bar, forcing you to rely solely on your memory to identify the routine.

muBlip is certainly a game that will put to the test your sensory co-ordination and digit dexterity-- a candid warning to those without either to give muBlip a wide berth. Though the initial 10 levels may seem a slim offering (and can admittedly be breezed through quite quickly), each level features an original, energetic track with a range of instruments that helps shape each level into an individual challenge. For those that accept muBlip as the entertaining sensory showpiece that it is, muBlip will provide an enjoyable, challenging and singular experience.

A video of the gameplay has been provided by the developers above. Furthermore, to allay doubts as to the breadth of content available, para9 have promised that additional levels are on their way.

App Store Link: muBlip, $1.99.

TouchArcade Rating:

Studio Radiolaris has released their followup title to Radio Flare this morning. Radio Flare Redux promises a side-scrolling multi-touch shoot'em up experience.

Pilot your ship to the beat of the universe and blast a galaxy of invaders out of the sky. Weave through an intense sensory onslaught as you dispatch swarm after swarm of enemies, tapping the touchscreen, and your toes, as you go.

Redux contains over 30 levels of varying visual styles and licensed techno, club and house music. The latest gameplay video shows much enhanced visuals from the original release:

We'll post thoughts/impressions about the game in the near future.

App Store Link: Radio Flare Redux, $2.99

There are a lot of crazy rhythm games on the App Store, including the recently released Thumpies, but Bulkypix's Maestro Green Groove takes the cake in being the most insane musical game I've played so far on my iPhone.

Maestro Green Groove is a crazy combination of a beat matching and platforming. You control a pink duck who struts along the level, and by swiping up or down you pluck the rope he's running across to make him either jump or fall down. Fruit are scattered throughout the level, and each fruit you pick up plays a musical note. Also, there are special strings that glow which must be strummed by swiping across them just as the glow is completely fading. To make things even more complicated, various monsters pop up which must be tapped to eliminate at the same time the circle that appears comes in to contact with them.

If you manage to do all these things at the right time, you'll actually be playing a piece of classical music. The way it all flows together is nuts, and there is so much going on at once that you're frantically swiping your finger and tapping that the first few times you go through a song there's little you can do to not end up failing and having to do it over again. After a little practice, you're bombing through levels watching your smug smiling duck parade around as you bust out Beethoven's 5th. It's awesome.

Here's a video of me doing poorly:

According to Bulkypix, Maestro Green Groove is "nearly ready" to be launched on the App Store, and when it finally appears for download it will be priced at 99¢.

It takes a lot to stand out amongst the crowded rhythm game section of the App Store (or any section of the App Store, really) but Big Blue Bubble's Thumpies [App Store] manages to easily set it self apart. Crazy graphics combine with an interesting gameplay mechanic where each level has you tapping out beats that layer on top of each other until you've eventually formed a fairly complex song.

The most immediately noticeable thing about Thumpies is the art style which seems to be this odd combination of Where the Wild Things Are, the Madballs toys from the 80's, and the Fire Gang from the movie Labyrinth. The entire game is dripping in whimsical charm between the sprawling tree that makes up the level select menu, butterflies fluttering around everywhere, and even the backgrounds of each level that pulse with the beat of the music.

After selecting one of the unlocked songs (of which there are 16 in total) and then choosing one of three difficulties, the Thumpies will then fall from the sky to bounce on top of tree stumps and mushrooms and you must tap the screen when and where they land. This is simple enough when there is only one spherical creature bopping around the screen, but as the songs increase in difficulty, even more pads for the Thumpies to land on are introduced along with additional Thumpies you will need to manage at once.

If you're like me and not particularly musically minded, juggling all these Thumpies in the air to the beat of the song (especially when Thumpies are landing on half-beats) can be deceptively difficult. On top of this, there are additional Thumpies that can be unlocked by collecting and saving up differently colored butterflies that will be floating around as you're tapping out your beat. As soon as they appear on screen you need to try to tap them because if one of the Thumpies flies by them they will munch the butterfly right out of the air.

Completing each section of the song requires you to fill the meter at the top of the screen. The meter increases when you successfully tap in time with the beat, and decreases when you miss a beat. When the meter is full, the Thumpies cheer, the portion of the song you just completed where you were tapping out the bass beat merges with the rest background music, and you begin the next section of the song which might have you tapping out some crazy vocals to add. When a song is complete, you're scored on your accuracy, and the next song (or songs) leading up the branches of the level select tree is unlocked.

Thumpies is an amazingly creative game, and thanks to the multiple difficulty levels should be approachable enough for kids and challenging enough for adults. The thread in our forums is filled with people who are leaving absolutely glowing reviews of the game, and I find myself in agreement with all of them. If you enjoy rhythm games at all, you really need to give Thumpies a spin.

App Store Link: Thumpies, 99¢

TouchArcade Rating:

Last week was absolutely loaded with sneak previews of games, and thanks to the wonderfully fast App Store approval turnaround time so far this year, B-Boy Beats, Robot Rampage, and Drift Sumi-e are all available for download.

B-Boy Beats, $2.99

From our preview:

The gameplay of B-Boy Beats amounts to keeping your index and middle fingers on the screen of your iPhone and moving them in time with the red and green circles to dance to the songs. This actually seems to take quite a bit of getting used to, as instead of most rhythm games where you're just tapping things along with a beat, you often need to keep one finger down while you move the other one around. Doing well takes an awful lot of brain power as when the songs speed up you almost instinctively just try to go back to quickly tapping like you do in Tap Tap Revenge and other games.

Despite quite a few naysayers in both the comments of our preview article, YouTube comments, and the forum thread, this game is one of the better rhythm games I've played on the iPhone largely because of how different it feels playing it compared to the typical tap to the beat rhythm game. B-Boy Beats comes loaded with nerdcore and once you get in to the gameplay, dancing with your fingers is a lot of fun. (And even more fun if you draw some Nike Dunks on your finger tips.) This is a game that badly needs a lite version, as you really need to get a feel for the game to fully appreciate it.

---

Robot Rampage, $1.99

From our preview:

Robot Rampage is a seemingly endless survival game where you play as a gigantic robot armed with a super laser. Your massive robot is controlled with a variety of touch gestures. Tapping on the side of the screen causes the robot to move in that direction, holding a finger down on the screen fires the laster in that direction. The robot can also punch and stomp by tapping on either side of the robot's torso to punch, and tapping its legs to stomp. As you destroy your surroundings, a gauge in the top left corner fills up. Once full, you can tap and hold the robot to charge up a massive attack that clears the screen.

If you like giant robots, cheesy Sci-Fi B-movies, and destroying cities with huge lasers and robot fists of fury, it's safe to say you'll enjoy this quirky survival game. Gameplay is a little on the simple side, as all you do is rampage through a seemingly endless and random cityscape destroying buildings, soldiers, tanks, and other meager human defenses. OpenFeint integration should provide quite a bit of replay value if you enjoy competing in online leaderboards.

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Drift Sumi-e, 99¢

From our preview:

The game involves drawing a single stroke along the racetrack as the path for your car. You must try to hit and connect all the red clipping zones and try to make it through the course as fast as possible. After you draw your single stroke, you sit back and watch the playback in 3D as your car drifts around the corners. Multiple camera angles are provided along with drifting smoke effects. Your ultimate score is based on the smoothness of the line and speed of your run.

Drift Sumi-e is an interesting blend of gameplay reminiscent of Draw Race with a really cool looking sumi-e art style. Gameplay is simple, although it seems to take a back seat to the extremely elegant graphics as most of the game is spent watching your car drift around corners and taking snapshots with the unlockable in-game camera.

Tag Games, creators of Car Jack Streets [App Store], recently sent us an early copy of their upcoming rhythm game B-Boy Beats. This oddly amusing game has you break dancing with your fingers to 17 songs from popular nerdcore hip hop artists MC Frontalot, Optimus Rhyme, and others.

When trying out this game I went through three distinct phases-- First off, I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at another rhythm game, especially with how many there are on the App Store and how wildly the quality of these games vary. As I loaded up B-Boy Beats and went through the extremely simple tutorial, things weren't looking good. It wasn't until I was about half way through the first song the game has you play that I finally got it, and then couldn't stop smiling as my fingers were breakdancing up a storm.

The gameplay of B-Boy Beats amounts to keeping your index and middle fingers on the screen of your iPhone and moving them in time with the red and green circles to dance to the songs. This actually seems to take quite a bit of getting used to, as instead of most rhythm games where you're just tapping things along with a beat, you often need to keep one finger down while you move the other one around. Doing well takes an awful lot of brain power as when the songs speed up you almost instinctively just try to go back to quickly tapping like you do in Tap Tap Revenge and other games.

The following gameplay video shows me doing poorly in one of the early stages:

Once you get in to it, dancing with your fingers turned out to be way more fun than I was expecting it to be. I admit I had to look up what a "B-Boy" was on Urban Dictionary, so while I know almost nothing about breakdancing, I'm still really looking forward to this game's release on the 14th for $2.99.

Gizmodo found an awesome video of someone in Korea playing the recently released Taiko no Tatsujin [App Store, Japan Only], a drum game which hasn't made its way to the US or European App Stores yet. Taiko Drum Master, as its known around these parts is played with a set of thick drum sticks and a matching drum pad that plugs in to whatever console you're playing the game on.

Naturally, the iPhone port utilizes your fingers on the touch screen, but obviously fails to provide the feel of actually using the drum sticks. Since the iPhone uses a capacitive touchscreen, you can't just use any old drum stick to beat on the screen as you need something electrically conductive. (Which is why your finger works, but a typical stylus doesn't.) Thankfully, it would seem cased meat products are the perfect replacement for Taiko drum sticks:

I had joked with friends who were complaining about the lack of a stylus with the iPad that they could just use a hot dog. At no point did I really think someone would actually decide to use cased meat to beat on the screen of their iPhone. Perhaps the hot dog stylus will be more popular than I originally thought.

Nearly five months ago now Tapulous first announced Riddim Ribbon [App Store] on stage at an Apple keynote. Oddly enough, aside from graphical changes, the game that is available today is almost exactly what Tapulous promised at the event. Three songs from the Black Eyed Peas are included along with three additional 99¢ tracks available via in-app purchase. (Two by Tiësto and one by Benny Benassi.)

The objective of Riddim Ribbon is to guide a ball down a track, and tilt your device to follow a green line that moves left and right to one of the three songs you select on the main screen. When you stray from the track, the music begins to fade out until you're only hearing the faint backbeat to the song. Laid out on the green line are silver spheres to pick up, ramps to jump over, and hoops to jump through. All of these different pickups and obstacles are arranged so you're hitting them with the beat of the song, an experience that's actually pretty cool if you haven't played a similar racing rhythm game before.

As you're rolling down the tracks in Riddim Ribbon, you will be faced with both forks in the road and ramps that lead to secondary portions of track that allow you to mix the song by turning or jumping up on to the same portion of the song remixed by one of a number of different DJ's included in the game. By replaying individual songs and choosing different paths to take, you can come up with a number of different remixes of the same song.

Riddim Ribbon is a game that sounds really cool when you describe it, yet it somehow manages to be not that fun at all when you're playing it. The way the music is visualized is great, and the tracks are laid out very well to match each song. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to get bored of the three included songs, and the tilt controls are frustrating.

Instead of like most racing games where you tilt to move right or left, then hold your device level straight to go straight, the amount you tilt directly translates to your position on the track. This causes you to spend most of your time holding your device at an awkward angle instead of making small tilting movements to steer as you're probably used to if you've played many racing games on the platform.

As mentioned previously, the way you interact with the music in the game is really neat but by default an announcer is almost constantly talking over it telling you how "dope" and "ill" your performance is along with announcing the many checkpoints on each song. It likely won't take you long to turn this off in the options.

Riddim Ribbon is a great idea for a game that ultimately is ruined by frustrating controls and gameplay which is too easy to get bored of.

App Store Link: Riddim Ribbon feat. The Black Eyed Peas, $2.99

TouchArcade Rating:

One of the features that piqued the interest of quite a few people when iPhone OS 3.0 was originally announced was Apple finally allowing developers access to the iPhone/iPod touch music library. Gamers were anxious to see something similar to Audiosurf, a PC game that turns music tracks in to actual in-game tracks for you to race on. Unfortunately, the limited access developers actually ended up with to the device's music library prevented much more than the in-game music player menus that have been implemented in some games.

Avatar Labs' recently released Rhythm Racer [App Store] doesn't allow you to play your own tracks, but it does a good job of providing a similar Audiosurf-like experience. You race down a track, tilting to move your ship right or left to follow the notes and fly over jumps to collect bonus rings.

The controls work well, and the music combines with the gameplay to create a really neat experience, especially if you've never played Audiosurf. Rhythm Racer is even free to try, initially loaded with a single track. Within the game, you can buy a second track for 99¢, but that's all the extra content that seems to be available currently.

The sensation of speed is good, and while there isn't much to do in the game after you race through the two tracks, the game uses OpenFeint for both online leaderboards and achievements which could provide some replay value if competing on online laderboards is your thing. Since the game with one track is free, it's definitely worth a download, if for no reason other than to hold you over until Riddim Ribbon arrives.

App Store Link: Rhythm Racer, Free (DLC Track: 99¢)