Taptap Kidnap Review

Taptap Kidnap is a busy, busy game. There is no tutorial, no practice, no handholding -- once play is pressed, the game tosses you right in the middle of the action and doesn't let go until you lose. There is no winning in Taptap Kidnap; there is only struggle.

True to its name, this title is a game all about tapping. Set against the backdrop of an alien invasion, you tap rising floating bubbles to free its captives, then tap those falling prisoners to equip them with parachutes. Sometimes, bombs drop from the popped bubbles instead of people, and you must tap them to diffuse ’em. The stakes are raised when an alien UFO swoops down and puts a tap-blocking shield in the middle of the screen, and you must tap the white weak spots in the shield to deplete it before going back to your previous business of tapping stuff. There is a lot of tapping involved in Taptap Kidnap.

The lack of a billion things on this screenshot could almost be considered false advertising.

 That ain’t a problem in and of itself, but what a goddamn urgent tapping it is.

The game feels a bit too busy, with hardly any progression -- Wave 1 already throws everything at you, and it only gets harder from there. That mentality is reflected in the tutorial, which is seven pages long. Gamers are usually conditioned to expect progression -- start slow to learn the ropes, and challenges are constantly introduced to keep players engaged and on their toes. That, however, does not happen here. Bombs appear about four out of 10 times a bubble is popped,  and the alien ships -- which sounds like a mid-level boss of sorts meant to make your life harder -- actually came about very often, placing their tap-blocking shields that take up half the screen and force you to deal with them. Add that to the huge number of floating blobs and their respective freefalling captives, and I was usually juggling four bombs at the same time plus a dozen falling prisoners while trying to tap something like 20 shield weak spots. There is even a special screen-clearing “super weapon” in the game that’s activated by swiping up, but I was usually so busy with the tapping that I forgot to even use it.

Technically, the game doesn’t aspire to much. It has a retro 8-bit art style, which services it well -- the graphics are monochromatic and well readable, while the sound design is annoyingly 8-bit with all its synthesised effects and lack of real music. On the mobile side, the game runs great and does not feature microtransactions. You can either play in a randomly chosen city out of a dozen options such as London or Rio, or choose levels by watching a short ad to the end instead of skipping it. Cities are more than just a background, though, as they feature scenario modifiers like 20% less UFO attacks or things falling 40% faster.

Such as Dubai's worldwide infamous chopper swarms.

While this admittedly isn’t my kind of game, I must judge the game objectively on its merits alone. On that, TapTap Kidnap is a nicely developed game, with a well executed 8-bit theme and engaging -- if too busy -- gameplay. If your idea of a good time involves a lot of frenetic tapping, TapTap Kidnap is definitely the game for you.