Taito's Groove Coaster is a trippy, addictive and pitch-perfect musical game for iPhone and iPod.
Images courtesy Taito

New iOS music game Groove Coaster is as well-crafted and addictive as anything on the platform.

The concept is simple as can be: Your little ball of light travels along a twisty roller-coaster line, upon which dots appear to the beat of an original piece of dance music. Tap the screen, anywhere, on the beat.

As the game progresses, it gets harder — you might have to flick, scratch or hold your finger down instead of just tapping, and you’ll have to keep a close eye on the line to tell what you need to do while listening to the music. But it doesn’t get any more complex than that.

Created by the team behind recent revivals of Space Invaders, Taito’s Groove Coaster is a music game from the old school. If you enjoyed PaRappa the Rapper or Elite Beat Agents, you will find this to be just as engaging.

Groove Coaster stands out for two reasons. First, it has an appealing visual style. It’s clearly inspired by vector graphics games like Tempest. If it seems a bit too close to Rez, at least it lifts with respect and skill. It’s a pleasure to look at. You can really feel the pulse of the music in the graphics.

More importantly, you feel like you’re making music. Many poorer games in the beat-matching genre feel like you’re pressing buttons along with a musical track you’re just listening to. But in Groove Coaster, the musical blips that accompany each tap of the screen are timed to your hits, not the song. If you play perfectly, the music sounds better.

As you play through the game, you’ll unlock 17 songs, each of which has three difficulty levels. Through in-app purchases, you can add two more tracks for $1 each.

If you’re intrigued by Groove Coaster, now might be the best time to get on board: The app currently costs $1, but will go up to $3 in a few days.