Tap Tap Lycaon : Too Difficult

Tap Tap Lycaon takes the African wild dog of desert legend and gives it one problem: it cannot stop bouncing. The temple it lives in has walls that open to let blades through, and the lycaon has an appetite for danger that keeps sending it straight back up towards them.

The subtitle is not a joke. Every touch of the screen bounces the animal, which means the height you are at, the wall you are drifting towards and the blade about to appear are all decided several taps in advance. Held in portrait, the play area is tall and narrow, so there is nowhere sideways to escape to. The lycaon has lives to spare and you will use them, which is rather the point.

How to play

Keep the lycaon bouncing and keep it away from the blades that slide out of the temple walls. Each touch of the screen sends it up again, so its whole path is built out of the taps you make. Tap in a rhythm rather than in a panic, and watch the walls rather than the animal, since a blade shows itself a moment before it matters. The run lasts as long as you can keep that going.

Controls

Touching the screen is the only input, and each touch makes the lycaon bounce once. There is no left, no right and no way to slow down, so the timing of a tap is what steers it: tap sooner to stay high, later to let it fall closer to the floor. The screen is held upright, within reach of a single thumb.