Tap The Bug Is Casual Gaming At Its Most Relaxed
Tap the Bug (Free) by ThunderBull Entertainmen is an entertaining, arcade-style game that doesn’t take much thought, but does take a lot of tapping. Although the game is incredibly easy, it is fun and has enough replay value that it is worth the free download for fans of casual gaming.
Think: Whac-A-Mole for your iDevice. Your goal is to whack the bugs when they pop their heads up from the barrels. Your whacking tool is a hammer that squeaks when you miss your target. When you hit, the bug cries, “Ow,” with just the hint of an echo to make him sound like he is inside a metal drum.
There are 24 levels across six worlds. The different worlds are represented by pictures of famous architecture from all over the earth. Each world adds more barrels and each level within the world gets incrementally more challenging. On the first level of the first world, you must whack 20 bugs, not necessarily in a row, and you have two barrels. By the final level, you have 12 barrels and a goal of 100 bugs. They pop up faster and require more attention, but the final level is far from impossible to beat.
You don’t suffer consequences when you miss a bug. You could miss three in a row and still complete the level. There are no star rewards. There is only a rundown of how you did — how many bugs you whacked in a row and how fast you completed the level. You can play through all 24 levels within an hour’s time, less if you have good reflexes.
This is a casual game that nearly redefines casual. In easy mode, you practically fall asleep while playing and hard mode is only slightly more difficult. I recommend you don’t even play the game in easy mode. Young children would benefit from the simplicity, but your average adult will find the slow pace to be excruciating. In hard mode, the game becomes more challenging as you progress, and therefore makes it worth playing.
One serious problem with the game is that it freezes up a lot. Presumably, it is a temporary problem and the developers will fix it in an update. But, it is a free game, so complaints should be kept to a reasonable minimum. You will have to restart the level, but it is an easy enough game that you won’t be too upset.
Overall, this free, universal app is not the top of its class when it comes to challenging games. It is entertaining enough to give you something to do for an hour at the bus stop, but it won’t win any awards. It has a bad habit of freezing up in the middle of your game, but you may still want to give it a try for a bit of casual gaming fun.
