Zya Review

Zya is a rather harmless game, urging those who play it to really get in touch with their musical side as they create a number of semi-unique tunes. It's a great way for younger audiences to figure out how bands really work together in order to make a certain style. Unfortunately, in Zya you're automatically prone to paying out of your pocket quite a bit in order to expand your musical library.

The main setting of Zya is set in the recording studio as you team up with Snarlz Barkley (no joke), the dog record producer, who helps you put together the perfect band and sound that will make you sell millions of fictitious albums. While this does come off as particularly cheesy, the good intention is still there. The tutorial explains it all, giving you a grasp of how you piece together the right people, equipment and sound to make your perfect song. You must not forget to let the application use your microphone on your iPhone or iPad. When you get to the vocals you're given an option to either use what they have stored in the game, or record your own voice singing whatever your heart desires. You can even make up your own drum beat that will mix its way into the overall tune. It's just too bad you can't actually hear it in the final mix. The program kind of substitutes your possibly lackluster drum beats and turns it into something different.

There's a number of levels that you can go through as you explore through different genres of music along the way. The character designs are a little odd, mainly because they all have gigantic heads and tiny bodies, but they're comical at the same time. Each person fits the musical stereotype, and the graphics overall are pretty great. The body structures may be weird but each piece of equipment or button is rather well designed for a simple music application. Also, when you're putting together a multitude of songs, you have the option of saving it and sharing it with your friends. It urges you to be more creative instead of just pushing random buttons and completing a level, which does make Zya pretty useful as a way to open up people creatively. And let us not forget that there's a number of recent pop songs in here, so there's a little bit of profanity sprinkled in.

We can't talk about an application without pointing out that dreadful moment when it asks you to pay in order to move forward. You can create a number of songs, but after a certain point you can't buy the latest rock bassist unless you shell out a few bucks. The prices are a dollar or two higher than one would expect out of Zya, but in a way it's kind of worth it. Personally, I would rather be patient and earn the fake money to get the next character, but there are others who will want to move to the next level faster. At least there's little bonuses given to you as you surpass each level that add to the amount of coins you have.

Zya is a fine platform for young-ish people who are trying to get a better grasp of how music is being made. I'm not a big fan about the price system, along with how quickly you run into the possibility of paying so shortly after you start playing, but it's still a good time waster.

App Store Link: Zya for iPhone & iPad | By Chilingo Ltd | Price: Free | Version: 1.0.1 | 355 MB | Rating: 12+