Phase

From the creators of Guitar Hero comes Phase. Dance-mat madness meets ipod game in finger-tapping fun. But how does it compare to its older, bigger brother?

Harmonix have had some fantastic success in recent years. Ask any gamer to name an interactive music game and Guitar Hero would undoubtedly be the immediate answer you would get. So, here comes Phase for the iPod, but how will it compare? Will it be a surprise special guest or shabby support act?

The game itself is very clever. Rather than just providing a form of visualization (as with the ultra dull Musika), Phase recognizes the tempo of a song and syncs the game play with a good degree of accuracy.

The aim of the game is all about rhythm. As the song plays you are tasked with tapping out the correct beat on the scroll wheel which is dictated by images on screen in a very similar way to how you would play a Dance mat style game.

One feature I liked is that you can add your own tracks from iTunes to the Phase playlist and so relieve yourself from the torrid tunes that it comes loaded with. So, time for some finger tapping fun with the Beastie Boys! Creating the special Phase playlist to enable this however proved less straight forward than perhaps necessary and so it's worth reading the instructions on this first.

You can change the games LSD inspired landscapes or choose to randomize them, either way we didn't find that we actually took in much of the Journeys ambient graphics since you are transfixed on the bottom half of the screen where all the action is.

Quick spin mode provides you with a one-track game whilst the Marathon mode provides a multi-track game with increasing levels of difficulty.

So our verdict! Out of the two interactive-music games for ipod then Phase easily wins hands down. If however you have ever rocked your axe with Guitar Hero then don't expect the same tantalizing rushes of adrenalin as it just isn't fair to compare this to what many believe to be one of the best games ever made. Comparing it to the other games for iPod, Phase has some unique qualities and will provide you a few hours of fun. Is it a game that you will keep coming back to? Well, I doubt we will but it was fun whilst it lasted.

3 out of 5