I remember the first time I played the game “Tap Tap” was before a French class, when one of my then-classmates Gustav showed it to me (or was it Sam B.A Chan? I don’t remember but I think it’s Gustav). I was then intrigued because of the game’s novelty: literally pressing on the screen to play a note. Since then, I still like Tap Tap as both a game and franchise, but there is usually a need to find something that is both new and familiar at the same time.
There are options. Most likely you, dear reader, have a favorite already. But the music game I was most familiar with outside Tap Tap is Cytus, a subtly beautiful product created by Taiwanese gaming company Rayark. There are indeed some evident flaws, some instances when you think the game feels unpolished or half finished. But the game does so much right that these half-finished bits look like minor mistakes than significant game-breakers. If you are looking for only one really good music game, Cytus is as good an option as any music game for the iPhone/iPad.
What impresses me most about Cytus is how it does more with less. In a way, it really reminded me of Mirror’s Edge in both console form and iPhone/iPad form, with the predominant white background to go with several instances of contrasting colors. Cytus has the same design. White is the major color theme with slight hints of cool light blue, while illustrations for certain tracks will have their own color scheme co-existing with the ivory background. These illustrations are incredibly well drawn and the menu looks as if it’s pulled straight out of Forza Motorsport 3 (another great game with a great white menu setup). The animation of pressing the buttons in-game are OK, but I’m approaching nitpicking territory.
The music deserves CRITICAL acclaim. A quality music game thrives or sinks with its selection of soundtracks, and Cytus has done incredibly well in this regard. The majority of the songs have a techno beat to it, but I never had a sense that I am listening to the same song. There are some tracks that have orchestral elements like piano and string instruments, and some scores have vocals ranging from hymn-adjacent to sugary-pop. Bottom line: I LOVE these songs; a good majority of them are worthy to be put into your music folders.
Now, of course, selecting the music is not everything. You also need to make a game around these soundtracks. Here there are more issues to be concerned about. In the game, you press certain buttons once a black and horizontal scan line intersects them. There are also instances where you need to hold on to a certain button for extended periods of time or when you need to slide your finger through a certain pathway, but that’s about it. Most of the time, the game works really well. However, I found instances of jittery movement and slowdown, throwing me off my rhythm. I usually have these instances, rare as they are, after I restart a soundtrack in the middle of the game. Another potential issue is pausing a game then resuming progress. Usually, music games give you a countdown before resuming play, just to get players back on track. Here, however, there is no such safety net. Once you resume your game you won’t know where the scan line is headed (up or down) or how fast it’s going (super-fast, super slow or somewhere in between). Some indicators that will help players regain rhythm and flow would definitely help, but again, this isn’t a major oversight.
Other reviews note that the margin of error is pretty wide in this game, and I have to agree with them. The time window to touch a perfect note is a bit too lenient when compared to other music games. However, that’s not to say that the game is too easy. The easy mode should be enough for casual gamers, but the hard mode will give them pause. Veteran rhythm gamers, though, should not have a problem. You can also post your score up on Facebook on Twitter, though it’ll be kind of weird since the highest score you can possibly get on any of these tracks is 1 million, and you can’t really compare it to other players.
At the end of the day, Cytus finds a way to be a great game without having most of the bells and whistles one comes to expect from music games. The art style is much better than its contemporaries and its musical score is one of the strongest I’ve seen. A couple of meaningful tweaks here and there and Cytus might *gasp* be the best music game out there.
Final Verdict: Between 4 and 4 and a half, but I’ll give this game 4 and a half. It doesn’t have EVERYTHING, and there are faults, but the product still has so much to offer, and is a game I’ll recommend to any and all gamers. It’s a game that will enter and STAY in your phone for many years to come. Hats off to Rayark’s inaugural game and hopefully there will many more updates for Cytus to come. I won’t be surprised if I give this game a full 5 stars upon further updating.
Note: This is also posted on my blog, Chronicles of Ciahlo. For some reason, someone deleted this review a while back. To that person who did this, please stop. I have decided to put this review (and several others) on both this site and my blog, and this is not a case of plagiarism or the like. If you are going to delete these reviews, at least give me a heads up and tell me so, not leave me in the dark and find out several days later.