Thumpies is a surreal, almost psychedelic tribal adventure that works on a visual level as well as it does on an audio level; the 16 unique tracks produced by David Kerr, have a very earthy, rich quality to them and are mostly composed of short sequences and stabs that are filled in by the player. Indeed, as you progress through a level, you will start off with a simple loop and then play a new layer over the top of it; it’s almost as if you’re composing the music yourself.

Each song has its own set of instruments that range from drum hits to growling bass, vocals, string stabs and percussive effects; the variety is truly astonishing, each song having its own distinctive sound and character. And you’ll play each of the instruments on bongo drums or mushrooms that appear in each environment in different positions—our only gripe with these is that the hit area is sometimes insufficient, demanding precision.

Timing is critical. You have to tap the drums exactly when the bouncing Thumpies land on them; continue to get the sequence right and you’ll move onto the next part of the song a lot faster, miss a beat and you will have to play the sequence some more. Levels are easy early on but get increasingly demanding, with multiple Thumpies bouncing around all over the place—you’ll definitely find yourself using at least two fingers to play, but laying your device on a flat surface seems to get the best results. The game gives you a percentage score at the end of each round which shows your performance in all of the song’s component loops so you can see how well you did.

As well as the rhythm based gameplay, the game also incorporates a neat collectible in the form of butterflies. Thumpies are rather partial to these little insects and will happily gobble them up if they’re hovering nearby, but if you manage to snag them they will be stored up to unlock new characters that will appear randomly in game. The difference between the various Thumpies is nothing but cosmetic, but it is a nice little reward for simply playing the game and having fun; you can even choose which of them that you’d like to appear (and they get disappointed if you reject them from your roster!).

The strongly tribal aesthetic gels superbly with the music and sound design; you have a tree that sheds its leaves every time you unlock a new level and otherworldly environments that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Tim Burton film.

Weighing in at 132MB, Thumpies is a big download. But it is well worth it; for your £1.79 you are getting a polished, unique and highly engaging rhythm game that sports three difficulty settings, a bucketful of kooky characters and fantastical environments. We’d say that it was one of the best rhythm games out there right now for the platform, and that if you like the genre you should definitely get this one!

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