Tricky Taps

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1

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Review:

Tricky Taps is a family-friendly 1-Button Arcade-style game released on mobile devices in 2019 and ported to Nintendo Switch. In this game, players try to safely guide a ball through a mechanical contraption not by controlling the ball, but by controlling the contraption, with one button dedicated to moving sliding platforms, pinball-like flippers, and other elements within the machine.

The presentation here is extremely simple, but sufficient for this game, with everything being rendered in simple, colorful, untextured 3D shapes, and with the elements you can control being colored blue (or on some levels, cyan). This is all backed by a jazzy background theme with some flute to keep things light, that works well for the whimsical nature of the game.

A single button operates all of the movable elements at the same time, with your success determined by your timing and how long you hold the button. Occasionally you’ll be introduced to new elements, and you must get a feel for how they work.

Despite the simple controls, simple premise, and simple visuals of Tricky Taps, I found the gameplay to be enjoyable and oddly relaxing, timing button presses to flip or shift the ball from one mechanism to the next. The game has a good amount of content, too, with 150 levels and an endless mode for score-chasers.

When it comes to complaints, it mostly comes down to this game’s simplicity, and how I can’t help but feel like there are missed opportunities here. I feel like it would have added a lot to this game to have diverging paths players could choose, and the simple visuals make it seem like this game would be a perfect fit for a level builder.

However, for only $5, this is a pretty decent time-waster, and players looking for a simple Arcade-style game they don’t need to put too much thought into, and who don’t mind simple, unimpressive visuals, will likely find Tricky Taps well worth a look.

tl;dr – Tricky Taps is a family-friendly 1-Button Arcade-style game where players guide a ball through a machine by controlling mechanical elements of the machine, all with one button. The gameplay is simple but enjoyable, and there’s plenty of content here. It’s just a shame that the presentation is so simple and the game doesn’t capitalize more on the potential this lays the foundation for. But for only $5, this is a fun time-waster worth the small price tag.

Grade: B-

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