Since this version of the game is pretty similar to the Switch and Quest ones I'll only be talking about the Apple Arcade exclusive additions, like the story mode. I'll link my review of the Switch version here for my overall thoughts on the game!

Why the story mode is exclusive to this version is beyond me. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than the career mode! It's not a crazy story or anything but it's so goofy and over the top, so it's a little disappointing that the version most people probably own didn't get it. I thought having StreamiGo as a single chapter instead of an entire mode was better, and it was awesome to see these characters finally talk and the new characters exclusive to the story mode! You can also dress up Amigo in his friends' outfits in this one, which I thought was neat!

At the end of the day it's just nice to see Amigo and friends again for the first time in ages. Here's hoping he'll make a return with a new story (that isn't Apple Arcade exclusive) in the future, spreading that love for music anywhere he goes!

My initial excitement for this version of the game began to wear away throughout the story mode, and hit an all-time low in the final 2 chapters.

While the story has some fun twists and turns, it's padded to hell and back and often has extreme periods of inactivity just for the sake of inflating the chapter count artificially to 10, and the runtime to around 10 hours. It could really be said and done in around 2, especially when the track selection loops about a third of the way through the campaign (there's songs in the main mode that don't get used, adding those into the mix at least would've helped somewhat).

Difficulty is all over the place. While it's a rhythm game with different difficulties which is perfect for the learning curve playing in Free Play provides, the story mode spends about half of the runtime on the easiest of Normal mode charts before mismashing in Hard, Super Hard and Crazy charts before just dropping the facade entirely and hitting you with the most insane charts in the game for the last 2 chapters, BUT THEN every now and then after a bad one sprinkling in Hard's easiest charts as an apology. The balance is all over the place and I resorted to using the game's item system after a while to automatically pass stages.

On top of this, it's clear some of the charts were not properly tested for touch screen controls (seems to mostly share charts with the console version, but the control schemes on offer there make hitting the notes way more managable). While not impossible, some are pretty unfair given the hand movements you're expected to do to hit them. It's just way too unfair of a spike in what was such a boringly easy game only a few hours before. It feels like another move to artifically pad the runtime even more, something the game would've done perfectly fine without.

Combine the tedium of the story padding and the pain from the balancing and you're left with a game that despite having an exclusive story mode and being nearly on par with the console release... you should probably avoid in most circumstances in favour of the console version instead.

it’s fine! no real complaints! considering i played it for free with an apple arcade trial i had a solid time. nice to see the franchise return! solid production value for the most part (aside from the story mode) and a good soundtrack! the story mode was a pretty fun way to experience all the songs (except for the sonic songs at least) but it was pretty poorly written. it padded time way too long and tons of broken english and whatnot. the little FMV cutscenes while few and far between were pretty fun! i also wish you could select difficulty for songs in the story mode, it got insanely difficult near the end to the point of me needing to cheat and use items. either way, was happy to finally have a new samba de amigo and this was a worthy addition!