I refrained from music/puzzle games like this for a reason… they just seem to challenging for me. This game however finally bridged that gap and let me tell you, it’s awesome!

Thumpies ($2.99; FREE)

I swear to the powers above that I was swearing James off for assigning this to me. However, Thumpies is not your ordinary music game. It combines great graphics and an ultra addicting gameplay as its hook line and sinker!

Presentation

It’s a bit tough to describe Thumpies. It’s like something pulled out of a children’s book (think somewhere in the art style of Where the Wild Things Are). The game is quite dazzling, from the glowing trees, to having butterflies all over the place. The original soundtrack is very creative and sounds great.

Controls

Tap on the mushroom or tree stump as the thumpy falls on it to make a sound. Tap on butterflies on the screen while doing this for extra points. Tap at the right time in a row and the thumpies will become “energized”, which makes filling up the meter faster.

Gameplay

Thumpies a rhythm game unlike Tap Tap or Rock Band. In Thumpies, you are essentially creating beats to make one song at the end. Each level has a number mushrooms or tree stumps which falling thumpies will fall and bounce on from. You have to tap once they land on the surface, and this makes a sound. Each level has different sets of thumpies, each set creating a different beat which makes a song at the end.

To complete each level you have to fill up the bar at the top of the screen. The meter increases when you tap in time, and decreases when you don’t tap on time or miss a beat. Trust me, juggling all these thumpies around on the screen can get quite hard. The game has 16 original songs, which I’d love if they added more via update or DLC.

Suggestions

Some sort of  leaderboard system. Plus+, OpenFeint, anything. OpenFeint would be nice because maybe we could send challenges to friends (like Jet car Stunts). It’d be a really nice addition. More tracks via DLC would also be more than welcome.

Conclusion

Thumpies is a great creative game, with the increasing difficulty to see how many balls you can juggle in the air (pun intended). If you’re into rhythm games at all, you really should give Thumpies a try, and if you’re not sure at least check out the lite version. Any kid can play it, but even adults like James enjoy it (I think he’s an adult anyways).