The synaesthesia genre has long beguiled academics and intellectuals, attempting to bolster their "games are art" arguments. Despite this, games that attempt to blur the boundaries between the player's sense of hearing and vision have found at best modest commercial success.
Groove Coaster (App Store, Taito, £1.99) could be the release to change all that. It may be an archetypal example of the synaesthesia game – all streaks of neon and delicate techno – but it is one of the finest.
Both accessible and abstract, all it asks is that you tap your finger to the music it plays. Your guide to when to paw at your iPhone/iPad is a single line that flows through 3D space, twisting and turning to the rhythm, playing tricks on your mind all the way. Markers on the line dictate when to tap, and the result is a hugely compelling experience that is intense and hypnotic, drawing you deep into the minutiae of each piece of music through visual representation.
Hungribles (App Store, Futuremark, £1.49) also represents a gaming archetype, albeit a far more mainstream one. A cheerful 2D title that charges you with catapulting projectiles at targets, it's reminiscent of that giant of the platform, Angry Birds. However, Hungribles has more than enough of its own ideas to distinguish it from its giant rival – with smart use of gravitational physics involving different orbiting bodies. It may lack the finesse of Groove Coaster, and all the hip posturing, but it's a good quality addition to any iPhone or iPad.
