Original, and fun! The controls work great! A decent budget game - with a good multiplayer.
A tutorial will introduce you to how much force you should tap with for a light, or firm tap. And the consistency that you get by tapping on any old box is pretty impressive.
The game has 5 modes - Tap Runner, Rhythm Tap, Silent Blocks, Bubble Voyager, and Visualizer.
Tap Runner is where the game shines, where you tap quickly (but lightly) to run, and do a medium tap to do a small jump, and a firm tap for a larger jump. It has a nostalgic feel to it, kind of reminding me of those old school games where you have to hit 2 buttons alternately as quick as you can - except this time you're tapping. There are 16 unique levels, each with different obstacles you have to face, from hurdles, to swinging ropes, to blowing up balloons as fast as you can to pop you over a jump. Most of the tracks also have small sections where you can jump up to one platform for one set of obstacles, or fall below for a different set.
This game works excellent with multiplayer -- running through in first place only to hit a hurdle right before the finish line, and see your friend jump over it and reach the goal before you will leave you wanting to keep going for re-matches! I have only played 2-player, and since the camera zooms out to get both players on screen, I can imagine it might get a little small to see if you have 4 players, but a little window zooming in on your character gives you an idea of how you're running. This is easily the best mode of the game for both single and multiplayer. Although very short and easy for single-player.
The visuals for this mode are well done, you're kind of floating in space, but the stick-figureish see-through people are kind of fun. It would be nice if the stages had different looks to them, but the same background and color schemes are used throughout, but it's forgivable because of the variety in obstacles.
Rhythm Tap is a DDR/Rock Band-esque mode where you tap along to circles that pass you by - with a light, medium, or firm tap. It seems like the game doesn't really care about how hard you tap though, and cares more about missing a beat than if you tap when there's nothing there. There is a combo counter at the bottom also. An OK mode... but could be improved upon with a use of multipliers, better visuals, and better music.
Silent Blocks is a puzzle game where you 'tap' out blocks from a tower, to try and leave blocks of the same color touching to make different jewels. I haven't spent much time with this mode yet, but it's a fun puzzler at least for single-player. The game isn't too puzzling intellectually, but you have to make sure you tap lightly, and pull the right blocks out in the right direction to make sure the tower doesn't fall over.
Bubble Voyager is a side-scrolling game where you're constantly moving sideways, and downward by gravity, and you lightly tap to go up, and tap firmly to fire a missile to destroy enemies and obstacles. One of the more challenging modes, where you are judged not by a score, but by how far you go before being destroyed. The tapping controls didn't fit as well for me in this one, but that may change with more practice.
The multiplayer is much different, where you're constantly spinning, and you tap to move in that direction, and again tap harder to fire a missile at your opponents. I don't think I will be utilizing the multiplayer mode of this one too much, as its kind of difficult to control.
Finally, there is Visualizer - kind of a pointless mode, but somewhat fun and relaxing. You can tap out different patterns to make paint drawings, fireworks, and others. It's kind of fun at first, but will get old pretty fast. I think this mode was more designed for kids perhaps, where they can tap away and see fireworks light up the screen. There's no scores or achievements, the visuals are OK, I think if the fireworks looked better this could have been more cool.
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Overall, its a pretty good package, not for a full-priced game, but at the budget price, it's probably worth it just for tap runner. The unique controls are awesome, and easy for anyone to pick up and play, or sit down and tap in this case. I think it's great that someone has found another way to use the Wii remote - and for a first time effort it's pretty good.
There are some improvements that could have gone a long way - such as being able to have different profiles, an online scoreboard would have been great, and more thought into the other modes would have been nice. With the exception of tap runner and bubble voyager, the other modes kind of seem tacked on. But tap runner is a great mode, and I think the multiplayer will keep me coming back for more. A good refreshing game!