Let's Tap Nintendo Wii Review

Let's Tap Nintendo Wii Review
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I do WHAT with the remote?

The Nintendo Wii is known best for its unique control methods and motion-control twists that it allows developers to employ in every game on the system. From tilting the Wii remote to steer a race car to using the controller like a golf club and hitting the links, nobody does it like the Wii.

The Wii remote is a very sensitive piece of hardware and it really shows in Let’s Tap. The game is played by placing the Wii remote at the end of a box. The player then taps the box at varying degrees of intensity to control the action on the screen. Any box will do, but for the purposes of this review I used a ordinary cereal box. At the beginning of the game it suggests that you use the Wii remote cover in order to assure the remote stays in place on the box once you get your “tap” on. I would also recommend this, as relying on mere gravity to keep the remote in place didn’t work as well as one might hope.

The level of sensitivity that the remote can detect is quite astounding. The game can sense three different levels of vibration and will cause things to happen on screen in accordance with your tapping intensity. That is a very good thing as everything from menu navigation to pausing is done by tapping.

Party Time

Let’s Tap is, at its heart, a party game and that’s just what you should expect out of it. There is no engaging single player component or any kind of a story whatsoever so don’t expect one. What it DOES offer, however, is one of the most pick-up-and-play game experiences I’ve ever encountered.

Let’s Tap includes five separate, and entirely different, minigames. These games include Bubble Voyager (a side-scrolling shooter), Rhythm Tap (a very Guitar Hero-esque rhythm game), Tap Runner (a 4-player Track N’ Field-style racing game), Silent Blocks (a block-pulling balance game), and a visualizer that is really nothing more than a series of fun tech demos (think of it as an interactive screensaver for your TV).

Some of the games are of higher quality than others, but as a whole they make up a pretty time-consuming package that works very well with the control scheme that they are wrapped around. Tap Runner and Rhythm Tap are the best of the bunch and are likely to soak up the majority of the time you spend with Let’s Tap. Silent Blocks is a blast the first few times you play through it, but it can lose some of its luster unless you have a large group of people you’re playing with (again, this IS a party game). Bubble Voyager is extremely unique and an amazing technical feat, but it’s also every bit as challenging as a traditional Japanese shooter and that might very well put some of the more casual players off. Lastly, the Visualizer is just that, an anti-game where the whole point is to simply mess around and see what you can come up with.

Overall (4 out of 5)

Let’s Tap is a one-of-a-kind diversion that is best enjoyed with a group of friends, just as it says right on the box. The control scheme is something that must be experienced to truly appreciate the work that must have went into how precise the game senses the slightest taps and for that alone it’s worth hunting down. I’d recommend it as a rental if you’re not going to be hosting any gatherings or don’t normally allow people to congregate in your residence. However, if your house is more of a centralized gathering place for you friends I would highly recommend throwing down the cash to put this gem in your library as it’s the perfect example of a unique game idea done right.

Screenshots

This post is part of the series: Let’s Tap Guide

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