Pocket Gamer: If you think about it, musicals are just martial arts films for pacifists. The only difference between dancing and having a kung-fu battle is that one involves smiling and moving your limbs harmlessly in time to violins and the other involves frowning and moving your limbs harmfully in time to violence.
Mad Acorn embodies this fundamental similarity. Not only is it about punching things, but it's about punching them in time to music as you romp from left to right across horizontally scrolling levels. The enemies are beats, and so you both dance to them and beat them.
AppSpy: Mad Acorn is the first in APD's series of TapTap Comix and a great start as it marries modern art forms in to a fun, interactive package that's perfect for rhythm game enthusiasts.
TMA: There was a time when I was really into the original Diablo, and like many players I thought I was going to wear out my mouse with all the button mashing. Mad Acorn is that game for my iPod Touch. In fact, sometimes I get worried that I’m going to leave a finger indentation on the screen where my thumb is most active. Then I forget about my concerns as the next wave of bad guys roll by. I’ve never been a fan of Tap Tap Revenge style games, but when a game in an established genre tightly integrates music into the mechanics, that’s a whole different story. Not to mention that Mad Acorn is the cream of the crop in that regards.
Pocket Gamer: Mad Acorn may not be the most polished or generously equipped rhythm-action game, but it's charming, original, and works perfectly in all the ways that really matter.
