Let's Tap

$30, Wii

Teaches: fine and gross motor coordination, rhythm, movement, logic, temporal relations, art

CTR Rating: 88%

CTR Review

Amazing, innovative but noisy, this is an ideal party game for up to four players who may have never encountered an interactive experience before. It stretches the boundaries of user interface, by tapping into (pun fully intended) the motion sensing technology inside the Wii's controllers. You start by placing a Wii Remote face down on any surface that can pick up the vibrations that result from a light finger tap. A thin tabletop works just fine; a cardboard box is recommend. Note that the silicone skin is handy for keeping the controller in place. Once your Remote is in place, you are forced to take a one time only tutorial that introduces you to the basics of the game. Next, you can choose one of the five types of tapping games. Tap Runner is a running race, where each tap equals a step, through 16 courses. The harder levels include hurdles, an ice wall and electric fields. Rhythm Tap (one of our favorites) plays a song and lets you try to match the rhythm with your taps. The closer your match, the higher your score. It feels a lot like Guitar Hero, only with single taps. Silent Blocks lets you use different types of taps to vibrate brick-like blocks loose from a standing column, one at a time. Bubble Voyager is a side-scrolling shooter where harder taps make you float higher in order to avoid objects. A fast double tap launches missiles, needed in order to blast through walls. The last activity is called Visualizer. It is a freeform activity that lets you create fireworks or splotch paint on the screen. The harder you hit, the more paint you throw. Our testers found these games to be fun, but wished the background music could be turned down in the last activity. All are very easy to play -- if you can tap a table, you can participate. Note that the setup menus take a bit of figuring out, especially since they use the unique "tap" and "double tap" interface. All in all, this is an incredible game, that is worth a look. Developed by Prope for Sega.