Originally released in 1983, “Tapper,†later renamed “Root Beer Tapper†for its arcade release, is a demonically difficult title with a sublimely simple premise: serve drinks to customers, and clean up after them. If you have time, pick up your tips and wait for more drunken hobos to come in.
Lather, rinse, repeat, right?
Well, there’s a catch. If you don’t keep the drinks coming, your patrons throw you down the bar in a drunken rage.
How’s that for a Shyamalan-ian twist?
What sounds relatively easy at first however gets incredibly difficult when you have 20 customers quickly marching down the isles of the bar at you like drunken stormstroopers.
Nevertheless, in spite of its insane difficulty, for 400 Microsoft points, “Root Beer Tapper†on the 360 Live Arcade is a nice blast from the past that proves a simple idea can spawn a challenging game which can provide a few days of fun.
It’s also living proof that only in the ‘80s could a wacky game like this work and actually be solid.
Divine forces have said that this style of gameplay is what spawned the cult hit “Plants vs. Zombies†and after a few go-rounds with it, you’ll see why. Defending your bar by slinging drinks down the isles and hurrying to clean up the empty glasses, the action quickly gets frenetic, but it’s also undeniably fun and addictive. So much so that you’ll keep continuing your game, even when you know it’s only a matter of time before you lose.
Luckily, if you’re smart, it eventually gets to the point where you start memorizing the patterns of your patrons and you’ll be an awesome bartender. So good in fact that even Sam Malone, the bartender from “Cheers†will have to tip his well-groomed toupee at you. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to get past the third stage though. Intended as an arcade game, “Root Beer Tapper†is great in that setting, as a quarter is barely an investment for the five or six minutes it takes to get to level three, where the difficulty gets kicked up a supreme notch and the casual gamers get tossed away like last night’s buffalo wings.
Because of this, in your own home, it gets remarkably frustrating knowing that not even the hardcore of the hardcore could hold a candle to this title, which is easily one of the most difficult games ever made.
That ‘80s charm holds it all together though, as the mini-games in between every new bar you go to [four in all, a regular bar, a sports bar, a punk rock bar and an alien bar] and the midi-tunes will keep a smile on your face. The game may be beating you senseless, but it’s your own fault, you’re just not good enough. The question remains as to how good you have to be however. Even after beating the game, you get sent back to the first stage, with the action getting even tougher, which separates the gaming Jedi from the gaming gods.
In the end, there may be better arcade titles to choose from, which you’ll actually be able to beat, but “Root Beer Tapper†provides the ultimate challenge, with plenty of retro-nostalgia, which ultimately form a cocktail worth downing.
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