Piano Tiles 2, available on the iTunes App Store, is similar to other music-based games that you’ve probably played: a song plays, and you have to tap the falling objects in time with the music in order to get points. In this case, the objects are black tiles in four distinct rows against a serene blue and purple background. You tap the tiles to make the piano play, and one misstep means game over. There are two distinct levels for each song: the main level, in which you can earn up to three stars depending upon how much of the song you were able to complete, and the “endless tiles” level, a sort of expert mode where the song plays much faster and you’re able to earn bonuses like new songs and mystery boxes with coins and energy.
The uniqueness of Piano Tiles 2 mainly lies in its simplicity, which is lacking from many other bells-and-whistles music-based games I’ve played. Many players may be turned off at the selection of music offered: unlike other popular piano games like Smule’s Magic Piano, Piano Tiles 2 does not include any well-known pop songs or other popular music and offers only original compositions, pieces from classical composers like Bach and Mozart, and folk songs. To those unbothered by this, however, Piano Tiles 2 is remarkably laid-back: you aren’t constantly barraged with the option to buy more coins, the level of “energy” you have at any given time is reasonable for the time period you’ll likely be playing, and the level of advertisements that pop up don’t make you want to stop playing altogether. The gameplay doesn’t get stale, because the level of challenge in the songs increase slightly with each level, and there are certain “challenge” levels available. All things considered, Piano Tiles 2 is a game that I’ll be keeping around for a while.